Paul Roderick Gregory: Russia cooks its defense books
Russian military cadets checkout weapons at a military exhibition in Rostov-on-Don, in the Southern Fedral District of Russia, on Oct. 5.
Reports that Russia is limiting military spending to a 1 percent (nominal) increase in 2016 may be timed to deflate NATO's initiative to raise defense spending to the target 2 percent for each member country. Russia is playing a dual role. On the one hand, it exults in its military power on prominent display in Syria. On the other, it plays the role of impoverished cousin - too poor to keep up military spending. Russia cannot have it both ways.
