- 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.
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.