While Russians celebrated a quick win over Georgia, after-action analysis revealed major weaknesses in the Russian military. Outdated equipment, poorly trained troops, weak intelligence, and spotty logistics are only a partial list of problems facing the Russian military.

Much like neighboring Ukraine, Russia has long needed to downsize its military. This would allow it to devote resources to better training and equipment for the remaining soldiers. Stalin rightly said that quantity has a quality all its own, but that was then. As the Israelis have shown repeatedly, small armies equipped with American gear can handily defeat massive, Russian-armed forces.

As with Ukraine, the officer corps in Russia has resisted reductions in force size, particularly of the officer corps. However, the recent economic crisis is helping to facilitate changes in Russian force structure. And according to some analysts, the Kremlin is also using the United States as a bugbear to force through changes, using the “threat” of NATO to convince critics of the need for reform.

Yesterday, President Medvedev announced a “comprehensive rearmament” of the Russian military. Despite the poor economy, he plans to spend $43 billion dollars on weapons modernization in the near term. This is part of a larger $200 billion spending plan initiated last year. This plan includes the following acquisitions: “renewal of its [Russia's] land-based arsenal of intercontinental missiles, build a fleet of nuclear submarines designed to fire advanced Bulava-3 underwater-launched missiles, add to its force of strategic bombers, and build many new warships, including up to six aircraft carriers.”

Some of this is plainly nonsense and saber-rattling. The Russians plan to spend $200 billion all-told on rearmament. Don’t plan on six new Russian carriers, not even midgety Russian carriers. $200 billion buys a lot of toys, but not an unlimited amount.