Russia and Ukraine

[Anomalocaris]

Russia held back her air force for the obvious reason,  to hold it at highest possible state of readiness in case of NATO intervention.    The moment it is committed on any significant scale for other goals, its reserves of fuel, ammunition, spare parts, reliable sortie capacity before maintenance and overhaul, and unfatigued flight and ground crew will begin to drain away, and it’s state of readiness will decline.  

If the Russian airforce already has a couple of weeks of intense operation behind it, and NATO enter the fray fresh, Russia will be at a great disadvantage starting from the moment of contact and there is no way to make it up.

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All those are interest for the kindergarten and not at all how the world does work or how it can work.

Why should this be "kindergarten"?

because no adolescent would be so naive as to think major power that follow these, as oppose to cynically making hay for pretending to follow them when circumstances suits, and throwing them away like the rubbish they are when circumstances don’t,  could really survive for long.

this is a rubbish system because it is incapable of really rewarding those who follow it, instead in practice it rewards those who are most successful in cynically pretending in championing it while ruthlessly ignoring it.  

In effect the system outlined is one of foxes guarding the hens that particularly rewards the fox that succeeds in killing the other foxes so it can devote more of the hens itself, set up under the pretense of being for the benefit of the hens.