Russia lost land because of corruption and Western intelligence operations .Not Afghanistan.
@SiCiSi
Guest Column From George Abert, Formerly Of Air Force Intelligence - PaulCraigRoberts.org
Guest Column From George Abert, Formerly Of Air Force Intelligence
Why did Turkey shoot down a Russian Air Force jet?
Turkey is so militarily inferior to Russia that it is unlikely Turkey would commit an act of war against Russia without encouragement from Washington.
We might think that Turkey would feel shielded by NATO, but it is doubtful that many European members of NATO would risk nuclear annihiliation by going to war with Russia in order to save Turkey from the consequences of such a reckless and irresponsible act as shooting down a Russian military aircraft and lying about it. Turkey has issued no apology and no believable explanation. Unless Erdogan has lost his mind, Washington is behind the shootdown, and the reason is Washington’s desperation to decode the new Russian technology that gives Russian forces total control over a battlefield, whether on land, sea, or air.
When the Russians deployed their forces to Syria they also deployed some new stealth technology. So far as I know they’ve only used this technology in Syria twice, once during their first sortie and one other time when some Israeli Air Force jets entered what they knew was Russian operational airspace.
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Nugh said. A Former USAF intelligence higher up explicitly doubts that NATO members will sacrifice themselves for Turkey. Lol.