Exzellenter Artikel von Kamil Galeev
auf seinem Substack:
Russia makes more weaponry than its enemies. If nothing is done about its military production, Russia will likely win this war.
Establishing the new rule of politics:
"Always bet against the US allies"
That will have the absolutely destructive effect on the US policy and standing in Asia. The Russian victory in Ukraine will radically devalue the worth of the US alliance in the eyes of the world.
Yes, America lost asymmetric wars before. But those were the asymmetric wars. This will be the first time, it is defeated in the
symmetric warfare. Its standing will be adjusted accordingly.
Yes, never bet against the US rule will stand for a while (don't declare the war, don't attack the US soil). But now it will be supplemented with
always bet against the US allies. Promises, guarantees and commitments are not worth much. And not because America is treacherous, but because it is weak. Being weak it backs off easily.
The world is guided not so much by the "rational choice" (pure abstraction, disconnected from reality), as by impressions (real thing, actually exists). Previous defeats in the asymmetric warfare may have raised a
suspicion of weakness. But the belief in the US ability to win a
symmetric war has never been really questioned since 1991. Now it will be.
In the post war reality, the world will be governed by the new impression:
The US is withdrawing from the symmetric wars, because
it cannot win them.
And the US commitments are not worth much, because the US is incapable of fulfilling them.
Should Ukraine lose, the Asian countries will have every reason to fear that the following scenario in the Pacific:
- The US give promises they cannot and therefore will not fulfil
- You stand against the invader
- You get steamrolled
- You are left to your fate among ashes and ruins
Why not accept your fate now, skipping the ashes & ruins part?
Should Ukraine lose, I expect "standing up against China" becoming a politically indefensible position in Taiwan. 16. The preventive lowkey surrender will look as the only reasonable & responsible choice from the Taiwanese standpoint. With a good degree of certainty, you may consider Taiwan as gone.
Yes, there are strong reasons for the US to avoid a potential escalation with Russia. But most of these reasons apply to an escalation with China, perhaps even to a greater degree. Therefore, we can expect the US to be
less decisive about China than it is about Russia. Overall, defeat in Ukraine will vastly undermine the US political standing in Asia. Its allies will be under impression that the US is either uncommitted to winning or incapable to win. Probably, both.
While China seems to be committed to win at any cost. Only a fool will stand on its way.
Now an interesting thing is that the US
have every chance to win. That is because the supply chain for precision metalworking equipment is controlled by its allies
And metalworking is how you make weaponry. No, it's not all about microchips. Production of complex weaponry such as an intercontinental ballistic missile is primarily
constrained by the metalworking capacity. And metalworking capacity is mostly
precision machining capacity
SLBM Sineva, Krasmash Plant made
Krasmash production processes. It’s machining, for most part. Almost all missile parts from the engine to the body must be machined.
Now what you need to understand about machining is that it is
the most digitised production process in the entire chain. And for this very reason, it is the most import reliant. Russian capacity for the production of weaponry is heavily reliant on its capacity to machine. The Russian capacity for machining, in its turn relies upon the import of equipment, parts, consumables from and the tech support by the US allies for the lack of alternative.
In late 20th c. machining has rapidly switched from the manual to computer control, making the process far more productive, consistent and requiring less qualified labor input
Consider a single example: the Kalinin Machine Building Plant. Now part of the Almaz Antey corporation, it has been a major producer of air defence missiles in Russia
1976: manually operated, steel instruments, often domestically produced
2012: computer controlled, carbide instruments, nearly 100% Western import
Transition to the computer control had a double effect on catching development powers:
- Allowed them to produce precise parts (-> weaponry) cheaper and more consistently than before
- Widened the gap with the leading global producers of machinery too far, to be realistically bridged in the foreseeable future
Long story short, it made the military production of the developing world more efficient, but at the same time absolutely
import and tech support dependent.
And China is a catching development power itself. It cannot substitute for the Western import, and won't be able for a while. It may produce more lasers than anyone. But when you want a precision laser cutter, you are not gonna buy Chinese
You gonna buy Trumpf (Germany)
Western machine tool producers may not be technically breaking sanctions. That is because sanctions are designed not to work. Trumpf for example, c
ontinued supporting its laser cutting equipment in Russia well into this war and is almost certainly continuing it now
Once again, it's not about Western producers "breaking sanctions". It is about Russian capacity for metalworking (= weaponry production) being almost fully based upon the equipment imported from the US allies between 2003-2023
If you want to make an S300 erector...
... You will need a Tos Varnsdorf (Czechia) machine
Production of metalworking equipment has been outsourced to the West, long, long before this war started
How can Russia even continue producing complex weaponry if we don't see the Russian machinery around? Where is Russian machinery?
People with above room temperature IQ have been asking this question for long, long time
And if your ruling class has not been asking this question, that is not because it is "dumb", but because it consists of low curiosity people
They are not really low in intelligence. They are just l
ow in curiosity.
People on top spend half of their life forcing their way to the top and the second half guarding their position
You spend your youth climbing the ladder, and maturity kicking the ladders away
There is no time for curiosity or pursuing any sort of deep personal interest
Our social hierarchies select for high ambition low curiosity people. Productive, socially intelligent, people on the top tend to be shockingly narrow minded
They can't think out of the box, because they don't have out of the box knowledge. They never had time to acquire it
A life spent in acquiring unobvious knowledge is the life not spent in forcing your way to the top of the hierarchy. And vice versa, a life spent acquiring the knowledge that allows you to even
ask the right questions will not lead you on top.