I am the Rice Bureau, paying attention to hot information at home and abroad, the humanities, national conditions and history of various countries
The spring of 2022 began, but no one expected that the hottest thing would be the war between Ukraine and Russia. It's as magical as the 2003 Iraq War. In 2003, the United States launched the Iraq War and occupied Baghdad for a month. According to the information released by the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian army eliminated the combat capabilities of the Ukrainian Navy and Air Force within an hour. It's unbelievable.
Ukraine's national strength is really weak. Ukraine was once a powerful country, but what has Ukraine experienced in the past 30 years, from a nuclear bomb power to an Eastern European laughingstock?
01 The Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine became the world's third nuclear power
Ukraine is actually a nascent country. Because Ukraine has never established an independent state in history. In 1240 Genghis Khan's grandson, Boerjin Batu, led an expeditionary force to occupy Kiev in Eastern Europe. Later, the Mongol Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland successively ruled Ukraine. In 1654 Ukraine was incorporated into Tsarist Russia.
In 1991, the Soviet Union entered a phase of disintegration. On August 24, 1991, Ukraine declared its independence. Since then, Ukraine has become an independent sovereign state. That is to say, Ukraine as a country has only 31 years of history, which is shorter than the history of the founding of the United States.
But from the data point of view, the new Ukraine is not weak, but very strong.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the eldest Russia and the second Old Ukraine received the largest share of the family property.
According to incomplete statistics, Ukraine has more than 6,000 tanks fighting on the ground alone, and also has more than 7,000 armored vehicles of various types of armored vehicles, more than 7,000 guns of various types, and the most famous aircraft Tu 160 has 19 owned by Ukraine, at that time Russia had less than ten Tu 160, in addition to large bombers, there are nearly 30 Tu 95 and Tu 22 bombers. In addition, the world's most powerful liquid intercontinental ballistic missile "Satan" at that time was also developed and manufactured by Ukrainian companies.
The newly independent Ukraine immediately became the world's third-largest nuclear power by standards, when It was said to have more than 3,000 nuclear warheads, more than the sum of China, Britain and France.
In addition to a staggering number of weapons and equipment, Ukraine also received a variety of advanced weapons design military units, of which the famous Antonov Design Bureau was inherited by Ukraine, as well as a large number of nuclear weapons studied during the Soviet period.
Such military strength is already the world's top ten level, if it is well utilized, Ukraine is likely to become a world power.
02 Abolish nuclear weapons and go back in an all-round economic and military way
Unfortunately, Ukraine decided not to do all this, and in 1994 signed a treaty with the United States and Russia and other countries to destroy these strategic weapons in exchange for the United States and Russia and other countries to guarantee Ukraine's national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The result, needless to say, in 2014, a few days before the 20th anniversary of the signing of the treaty between Ukraine and the United States and Russia, Russia took the Crimean Peninsula.
Ukraine's abandonment of nuclear weapons is indeed a self-defeating martial art, and it has given up its strong military superiority in vain. But in reality, Ukraine gave up because the economy was too poor.
Ukraine's nuclear weapons were not developed by itself but deployed by the Soviet Union, so Ukraine does not fully grasp the technology to develop and maintain nuclear weapons. In the absence of the technology to develop and maintain nuclear weapons, Ukraine's nuclear weapons are "time bombs" that may threaten the security of Ukraine's citizens at any time.
Maintaining a nuclear arsenal requires not only technology to be developed and maintained, but also significant economic input. An important reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union was that too much money was invested in the nuclear arsenal, which became an economic burden. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian economy also suffered huge losses, and there was no money to maintain the nuclear weapons arsenal. So giving up nuclear weapons in exchange for Western aid is also a way. But why don't you keep two as a souvenir?
It can be seen that Ukraine's leaders are blind and have no vision, and they have no idea about the importance of nuclear weapons for national security. The United States, Russia and other nuclear-armed countries have made nuclear security assurances to Ukraine, making Ukrainian politicians feel that they do not need to rely on nuclear weapons to protect the country.
In the past three decades, Ukraine has not made much progress in terms of economy, national centripetal force, and military. In 2020, Ukraine's per capita GDP is only $3653, which is not only inferior to Russia, but also has a greater gap with China. Ukraine's economy has been at the bottom of the european level. A country's economy has been weak for a long time, and people naturally have no sense of happiness. This is that the material basis is too poor.
In addition, in the past 30 years, Ukraine's industry has also been in a comprehensive regression. Ukrainian industry, like Russia's, is a large-scale military industry. Russia sold its military industry to China and India, making a lot of extra money. But Ukraine has lost all its military industry for so many years and has no advantage in the world. Light industry and information technology have lagged behind the world level. The people who have caused all this are Ukraine's oligarchy and comprador politics.
When it comes to national centripetal force, it is the most deadly. 20% of Ukraine's population is Russian, and these people have a heart for Russia rather than Ukraine. Even more depressing is the desire of western Ukrainians to embrace the West, while eastern Ukrainians embrace Russia, which creates divisions.
And when foreign enemies invaded, the soldiers fought for some reason and had no fighting spirit. Such a soldier could not defend Ukraine. The moment reminded me of the Chinese warriors on the Border between Shangganling and China and India, who were the warriors.
Comedian-turned-Zelenskiy
The economy is weak, the industry is backward, the people are scattered, the military is weak, this is today's Ukraine. The country has become a laughing stock.
summary:
If Ukraine had been smart enough to reject the temptation of the United States and Russia to retain nuclear weapons, it might not have become a "laughing stock" as it is today. But history has never had a if, and Ukraine can only pay for its own naivety.