The Post-Cold War Reagan Doctrine
It hasn't occurred to dinosaurs like Russian Admiral Vladimir Masorin, that the best way to sink the Russian state is to allow them to spend money on adventurous, expansionist programs like the construction of six new aircraft carriers. If the Cold War is any guide, let the Russians cripple their economy with worthless hardware.
In communist times, Russia built five aircraft carriers. They were all made at a shipyard in Nikolayev, Ukraine, that has been independent since 1991. The Nikolayev shipyard is today politically unavailable and, anyway, not ready to resume carrier production. The five carriers were inferior?not seaworthy to the state of being almost fully non-operational. Three of them have been already sold abroad as scrap. The only one retained by the Russian Navy, the Admiral Kuznetsov, has turned out to be an inoperable wreck. Since its launch in 1989, it has mostly been in dock for repairs, seldom venturing out to sea, with each short voyage ending in serious breakdowns of its main engine and other systems. The Kuznetsov air wing of Su-33 fighters has rarely flown from the deck.
And, by all means let Moscow export its technology, too. It's more target practice for American pilots.
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