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1. lnxw48a1 (lnxw48a1@nu.federati.net)'s status on Thursday, 15-Sep-2022 01:02:45 EDT lnxw48a1
   #Ukraine success destroys #Russia claim to be a superpower https://nu.federati.net/url/287841
   
   I think nuclear weapons and the willingness to use them / threaten to use them is currently the main thing that makes one nation "a superpower". Otherwise, the Taliban would be the superpower (having driven both the USSR and USA out of Afghanistan within the past 40 years).
   
   Yes, I am aware that by that definition, North Korea is a superpower.
   
   Having a significantly better and bigger conventional military than most other nations has to count for something. Until that military is tested in battle, one does not know how well or how poorly it will perform, but one already knows that nukes can bring unprecedented devastation ... and that nearly everyone gives nuclear-armed nations some leeway.
   
   (In the case of Russia, I suspect their corruption problems are a big contributor to their poor battlefield performance, as is their top-down authoritarian organization.)
   1. GeniusMusing (geniusmusing@nu.federati.net)'s status on Thursday, 15-Sep-2022 08:47:50 EDT GeniusMusing

      in reply to
      No Plan Survives First Contact With the Enemy – Quote Investigator
      https://quoteinvestigator.com/2021/05/04/no-plan/
      
      >Kein Operationsplan reicht mit einiger Sicherheit über das erste Zusammentreffen mit der feindlichen Hauptmacht hinaus.
      
      >No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy forces.
      
      1871 Helmuth von Moltke