Russia is attempting to streamline their military and cut back on the number of personnel they are employing. Instead of over 4 million Russian soldiers and officers, they are cutting back to 1 million with 150,000 being officers by 2012. Currently there are 300,000 officers in the Russian military so the cut will be roughly 50 percent. This is a highly controversial move by the Russian military.
Do you think that this is a wise move by the Russian Military? Obviously this move will be welcomed by the United States. We are supporting troop reduction of every nation in the hopes of having lowered threat levels for domestic and foreign security. It is without question an intelligible move for Russia from an economic standpoint. With the plummeting price of oil and the global recession, it is obvious that Russia needs to cut costs and lower spending or face an ever widening debt like the United States. This brings me to the main point of the article: Should the US adopt the lean and mean philosophy of the Russian military? Should we cut down on military personnel in order to save money in this very difficult economic time? If we are to cut down, what areas of defense should be cut first? Should we cut personnel or bloated military spending budgets? Can we afford to reduce our protection at a time of such global turmoil? Is it likely that president Obama will follow Russia’s game plan since he is set on creating a world of global diplomacy?
March 18th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
So the Russians have cut their conventional forces in half and the Americans will probably follow… In an unrelated matter, I hear Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was recently hosiptalized when party leaders could not get him to stop giggling and high-fiving his generals…