Yes, I didn't mean they were taking chips from washing machines. I agree, that's was mostly fiction. What I mean is Russia doesn't have advanced manufacturing. Before the war I watched a fair amount of YT videos of factories around the world. Compared to Germany, for example, Russia is literally manufacturing stuff with stone-age tools.

All their technology is Soviet Era. Don't get me wrong. Hard, working stuff. The Soyuz is one of the most reliable rockets ever. Still, it's old and not getting any younger ;) (like me)

What you say could be right. Who knows what happens behind closed doors in Russia? I have no idea. And I try not to speculate. But I feel I understand human nature. Money always comes first. When a war is going badly and one side doesn't have an emotional reason to fight, when the money starts drying up it's just a matter of time before that side disintegrates.

The Kinzhal missile is a joke IMO. A ballistic missile dropped from a plane. I'm a big hard-physics, big-iron-compute guy. Lasers, hypersonics, AI, all BS.

My guess is Russia is slowly getting slaughtered by precision weapons from the West. The problem for Ukraine is supply of those weapons. How much can the West ramp up production? That's the big question for me.

We shall see!