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From: al@ames.UUCP (Al Globus)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: poll
Message-ID: <830@ames.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 28-Feb-85 19:34:42 EST
Article-I.D.: ames.830
Posted: Thu Feb 28 19:34:42 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 4-Mar-85 08:16:57 EST
References: <527@decwrl.UUCP> <680@sdcsvax.UUCP>
Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 33

> 
> More and more countries
> would adopt stances hostile to the U.S. (and pro-Soviet, since they
> have a far superior conventional military presence that can pressure
> little governments out of the way)

I believe the Soviet conventional superiority ploy to be a myth.  Military
power cannot be measured simply by counting weapons, a number of other
factors are CRUCIAL. 

Specifically,
one should note that Russia has thousands of miles of hostile boarders, while
the U.S. doesn't have a inch.  The Russian fleet must plow through narrow
bottlenecks to get to the open ocean and is divided into four widely
separated groups.  Soviet 'allies' in Eastern Europe have repeatedly
revolted and could not be trusted in a major war.

One should note that when Hitler invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941 the
Red Army outnumbered the Wermacht in tanks, men, planes, and almost every-
thing else.  In some cases by margins of 2 and 3 to one.  Yet the Germans
went through the Russians like a hot knife through butter - almost reaching
Moscow in a few months.

When Japan attacked Russia in 1905, Russia's fleet heavily outnumbered
that of the Japaneese.  By the end of the war most of the Russian fleet
was on the bottom while the Japaneese lost only a few ships.  Only recently
has the Russian fleet recovered, but the cause of the defeat still remains -
an inescapable geographic distribution of the fleet into small parts that
can support each other only with great difficulty.

Also, never forget that Russia is essentially a land power while the
US is primarily a naval power.  This is important in any analysis of
relative military strength.