Quote:
Originally Posted by ramlaen
the 1991 war was a far bigger conflict than the 2003 war.
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By which metric? The prior was the expulsion of an unwelcome invading force and the Kuwait government did paid the bill for military expenses. The latter was the invasion of a country which had plenty of experience after being at war with Iran for a decade. At first the casualties expected from the USA army were thought to be similar to those from the Vietnam war, but superior technology did paid out in the end. Which does not change it was a lengthily and costly occupation with its share of crippled for life war veterans.
Putin expects to quickly squash Ukraine like they did with Chechnya, but even if he does not, it is not exaggeration to say Vladimir has been preparing for this war since he became Russia's head of state. I am no mind reader, but the reason the USSR fell was because they went over budget with the war in Afghanistan, if you look now they have a very low debt to gdp ratio, he is prepared for this war to last for years if needs be and squash any internal revolts like Lukashenko is doing atm in Belarus.