The Russian navy, because of budget cuts, has suspended or canceled construction plans for many larger ships and subs leaving the Navy to apply all its procurement efforts to obtaining smaller ships on budget and on time. Not only are the smaller ships cheaper but they can be built quickly and are easier to monitor for quality control. The shipyards producing these smaller ships know they are fortunate because so many other years have had construction contracts canceled or suspended.
I keep getting my hopes up when Putin talks about blue water ships or--be still my heart--super carriers. But no, the Russians are being rational and only talking big to hide their decline.
This abandonment of blue water ships will eliminate one of the three traditional sources of Russian weakness.
Russia already has lost part of a second, the Caucasus, from the collapse of the USSR.
And while Russia has technically lost the third, Poland, Russia's bizarre hostility (well, it makes sense in this sense) toward NATO means that Russia oddly focuses on driving through to Poland to "rescue" Kaliningrad and en passant taking Belarus, Poland, and the Baltic states.
I do keep wondering if Russia will get a painful whack with the clue bat.
#WhyRussiaCan'tHaveNiceThings
