The Russians are not ten feet tall

The Russians are not ten feet tall

       My military education, dominated by my Army training, was inspired and instigated by Paul Wolfowitz.  He believed at the time (I think), and had me taught, that the Russians were ten feet tall. I believed it back decades ago.

            And vast numbers do count, too. And so does terrible suffering as the status quo.

            Now I'll give them credit for a few good ideas, mostly in mathematics, chess, some aerodynamics things, having a large land and vast mineral wealth, and drinking vodka.

            Then I read a book by a Brit named Andrew Cockburn, and basically all he did was interview former Russian military conscripts (http://www.amazon.com/Threat-Inside-Soviet-Military-Machine/dp/0450058018/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381583228&sr=1-7&keywords=andrew+cockburn ).  That book provided me another point of view. It came out in 1985, as I now recall. The idea was just to know your enemy based on his interviews of former military conscripts who had later emigrated/escaped to the West.

            And most USA and NATO types know we're not ten feet tall, either.