Russian and Chinese military doctrines rely on willingness to sacrifice millions of their own citizens, for the sake of victory. Their generals obviously have to consider the possibility of war with the Western nations. Russia and China have to work with the understanding of their specific conditions, and their conditions dictate that a victory means using nuclear weapons, since using only conventional weapons is unlikely to result in a quick and decisive victory. The overall propensity of Eastern weapons’ systems to use fewer electronics; the high probability of using nuclear weapons on the tactical level; and the fielding of direct-energy weapons; give Eastern militaries an advantage over the Western nations. Russian military doctrine is very explicit about using nuclear weapons. Russian weapons’ systems (which are typically copied by China) are designed for nuclear war, which means relying as little as possible on electronics, because of the EMP-effect of nuclear weapons. Western weapons’ and logistics’ systems have become increasingly dependent on electronics, since the end of the Cold War, making them more vulnerable to nuclear and direct-energy weapons. Russia is also actively fielding weapons designed to specifically target electronics, like those used to disable the USS Donald Cook. The military advantage afforded to Russia and China by using nuclear weapons; combined with the fact that these nations have already decided the human costs of such a war to be acceptable; mean that the risk of nuclear confrontation, in response to Western aggression, is increasing.
This message was given in the November 2014 edition of Gibraltar Messenger.