SCMP/Washington Post: On the road to war with Russia, traffic may be biggest US enemy
Basic logistical challenges such as narrow roads, flimsy bridges and a tangle of bureaucracy mean Nato troops and weaponry could be too slow to move should Russia launch a lightning seizure of Nato territory in the Baltics.
US commanders are worried that if they had to head off a conflict with Russia, the most powerful military in the world could get stuck in a traffic jam.
Humvees could snarl behind plodding semis on narrow roads as they made their way east across Europe. US tanks could crush rusting bridges too weak to hold their weight. Troops could be held up by officious passport-checkers and stubborn railway companies.
Although many barriers would drop away if there were a declaration of war, the hazy period before a military engagement would present a major problem. Nato has just a skeleton force deployed to its member countries that share a border with Russia. Backup forces would need to traverse hundreds of miles. And the delays – a mixture of bureaucracy, bad planning and decaying infrastructure – could enable Russia to seize Nato territory in the Baltics while US Army planners were still filling out the 17 forms needed to cross Germany and into Poland.
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WNU Editor: If war breaks out between NATO and Russia .... traffic jams will be the least of everyone's worries.
9 comments:
Exactly. Russia will not invade Poland or other EU states because they know our defense plans call for tactical nukes and we will use them. On top of all the countermeasures which will dwarf anything Russia can even remotely bring to the table we'd crush them to nothingness in the following economic war
China would probably take advantage and make our job much much harder.
If war comes it would almost certainly go nuclear.At the tactical level the russians would probably blanket the eastern flanc of NATO with nukes while NATO would not be able to respond at an equal level since there are far fewer tactical nukes available for NATO.At the strategic level there wouldn't be much difference.End result Europe is gone.
If Russia can field a better army and air force than NATO, which has many times Russia's wealth, then it's clear NATO has lost the will to do what it takes to defend their interests as an alliance. At one time in the past NATO didn't have problems with logistics because it was normalized and practiced with the Reforger exercises. NATO can quickly fix these logistical barriers. Does it want to is the question.
I yearn for the good old fulda gap days.
No outright war is coming, only low level incursions. No one, even Putin wants to risk all out war, just too damn expensive these days.
I do feel this low level war is about to escalate on many fronts; Syria, China Sea, Europe/Turkey maybe more
Perhaps the US should just go ahead and get a war started while it is ready. LOL
You got your facts wrong. Nato - which the US is part of - has many more tactical than strategic nukes. The US has been spearheading this for decades, eg precision low-yield and modifiable nukes, while Russia has more doomsday style Megaton nukes. In any case, nato dwarfs Russia and even putin isn't that stupid
We do not wish for war with Russia. All incursions over last decade (Ukraine, Georgia) were started by Russia, let's not forget that
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