Russia vs. USA

So without giving all my arguments up front I believe that Russia has an equal maybe a slightly more powerful military than the US. A lot goes into this including committments and the ability to conscript or to mobilise industry to fight war. The US has a lot of high tech gadgets (nothing the Russians haven't duplicated or made better) but this high level of technology is expensive and slow to produce and is the primary disadvantage the US has against Russian conventional might.

Furthermore, the Russians have developed great counter measures to US offensive weapons while the US has not focused significantly on defensive weapons. This leaves the US open to counter attacks while Russians can shoot down cruise missiles, stealth aircraft, destroy US Aircraft Carriers and etc.

My favorite example of just how much better the Russian tech is in practicality and use is the Russian's new version of a flame thrower which fires like a bazooka and acts like a fuel air bomb.

The bazooka (smaller than a US anti-tank missile or Stinger Missile) is shoulder launched and can destroy a bunker the size of a 2 car garage (blowing it to pieces).

While this is not beyond the capacties of most developed nations simply most developed nations do not manufacture such weapons. This weapon if distributed to the majority of infantry troops puts the Russians at a great advantage to current US methods of war (which usually consists of elements or squads remaining mobile by being attached to a transport).

Of course dynamics happens in strategy and the mobile forces of today isn't necessarily the method of mobility chosen for more line combat involving fronts.

But anyway...let the debate begin?