# Why are the Russians being more militarily expansive? Who exactly do they fear? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 24, 2008, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-russians-being-more-militarily-expansive-who-exactly-do-they-fear/474225 "2008-11-24T07:53:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-russians-being-more-militarily-expansive-who-exactly-do-they-fear/474225/41 "2008-11-26T16:46:45Z")
to repudiate the idiotic “neocon” policies of the past 8 years! I think he ough to tell Medvedev that: -we will deploy the missiles when IRAN has a successful ICBM test -we will hold off until IRAN detonates a nuclear weapon That way, we can mollify the poles, and not piss off the Russians. I agree, poking sticks at the bear is foolish and gains us nothing. What does it take? Do we need to empty the state department? ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-russians-being-more-militarily-expansive-who-exactly-do-they-fear/474225/42 "2008-11-26T17:00:25Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > I see. > > Did the Russians sell these systems to the Iranians and Syrians anyway? No. I don’t think so. There was some other rumour that Iran had received some from Belorussia. I doubt it. And they probably won’t have been much use if they had. These are complicated weapons system useless without trained Russian (or Ukrainian) personal. The Middle East has a long history of making bollocks of expensive Russian weapons. I don’t think the Russian weapons industry has any interest in having their weapons shown to be useless by incompetent operators. ---
**Author:** ![QuanSu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c37758/32.png) [@QuanSu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuanSu)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-russians-being-more-militarily-expansive-who-exactly-do-they-fear/474225/43 "2008-12-02T20:02:01Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > You are putting big, nuclear missiles in countrie close to them. Ok, I’ll bite. Name one country that has US “big, nuclear” missiles deployed. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-russians-being-more-militarily-expansive-who-exactly-do-they-fear/474225/44 "2008-12-02T20:58:36Z")
It seems to me that Russia’s real worry is China - the Caucusus and Europe are just conveniently bullyable. China has a burgeoning population. Russia has lots of land. Russia needs to deter China from taking that land. And, realistically, China can stand the loss of millions of people. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-russians-being-more-militarily-expansive-who-exactly-do-they-fear/474225/45 "2008-12-02T22:50:13Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > It seems to me that Russia’s real worry is China - the Caucusus and Europe are just conveniently bullyable. China has a burgeoning population. Russia has lots of land. Russia needs to deter China from taking that land. And, realistically, China can stand the loss of millions of people. Russia has lots of land **nobody wants.** You think the Chinese want to live in Siberia?! The only thing there to interest them is the gold mines, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Henrichek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5daacb/32.png) [@Henrichek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henrichek)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-russians-being-more-militarily-expansive-who-exactly-do-they-fear/474225/46 "2008-12-02T23:29:07Z")
More news about Russia’s military expansions: [ul] [li]Reducing Ministry of Defense and Central Command staff from about 22,000 to 8,500.[/li][li]Officer corps. is being cut from 355,000 to 150,000[/li][li]Reduce number of units tenfold (leaving only completely staffed ones).[/li][li]65 military schools cut down to 10.[/li][li]Reducing training grounds from 296 to 163.[/li][/ul] Well, it’s part of their new reform package announced this fall. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-russians-being-more-militarily-expansive-who-exactly-do-they-fear/474225/47 "2008-12-02T23:41:38Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Russia has lots of land **nobody wants.** You think the Chinese want to live in Siberia?! The only thing there to interest them is the gold mines, etc. [Is Siberia becoming Chinese?](http://www.russiablog.org/2006/03/siberia_is_becoming_chinese.php) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-russians-being-more-militarily-expansive-who-exactly-do-they-fear/474225.md?page=2)