BFC, For your modern Russian module

[John Kettler]

Found a remarkable online pub called Moscow Defense Brief while researching, of all things, the IDF heavy APC Achazarit for the thread discussing the Georgia/Ossetia/Russia fray. In exploring the main site, I found this wonderful survey not merely of the history of military parades on Red Square, but a complete breakdown of exactly what units were shown in the last one and when the identified equipment first entered service.

http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/2-2008/item1/article2/

Unless there's been a big change since the collapse of the Soviet Union, I don't lose sleep over what the Taman Guards Division has, since that was one of the so-called "court" divisions which looked spiffy but never really had time for combat training, seeing as how it spent its time getting ready for, performing at and refurbishing its gear for the next parade or high level visitor. The 106th Airborne Division, though, is something else entirely and is the very sharp end of the Russian spear.

Note particularly the heavyweight status of the writers for this magazine.

http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/2-2008/item7/

Regards,

John Kettler

[leakyD]

Good stuff, JK. Thanks for the links.

I like the last sentence re: May 9 parade:

"Those who wish to see Russia a weak and divided state were disappointed with the parade of May 9th, and we can only hope that they will be even more disappointed in the future."

[John Kettler]

leakyD,

Glad you enjoyed them! Given the quote you cited, I recommend you search the forums under "emerging alliance" to see what I've been saying about the multinational counterpoise emerging in opposition to, er, global U.S. practices.

Regards,

John Kettler