• Russia’s army has grown bigger despite sustaining losses when it invaded Ukraine, says a US general.
  • US Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli said the Russian army “is actually now larger — by 15 percent.”
  • “Russia is on track to command the largest military on the continent,” Cavoli said.
  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    130
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    3 months ago

    Yes, that’s what happens when you have forced conscription.

    Large doesn’t mean effective.

    • geogle@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      45
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      3 months ago

      Just an FYI, both sides including conscripted soldiers. Russia is 18 - 30, Ukraine is now 25 - 60.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        27
        arrow-down
        14
        ·
        3 months ago

        Okay? Ukraine also has a fraction of Russia’s population. Why would that give it a larger army?

        • geogle@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          34
          arrow-down
          7
          ·
          3 months ago

          Your argument before made it seem as though conscription was one sided. I’m not arguing with a stranger on the Internet… that’d be silly

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            16
            arrow-down
            12
            ·
            3 months ago

            Forced conscription makes a large military in a country with a huge population much larger. Ukraine isn’t even relevant to the equation.

      • frezik@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        3 months ago

        My armchair General theory is that conscription works better for defensive armies than offensive. Taking a random 18 year old and forcing them to go fight in a different country only leads to questions of why they are there. Convincing that same 18 year old that they should sign up to go fight in a different country out of misplaced patriotism works a lot better. Ironically, that means giving people the choice tends to support imperialism more than forcing the issue.

        Thanks for coming to my TED talk.