Here’s why Egypt almost sold military gear to Russia

Russia’s depleted military is in desperate need of more equipment in the Ukraine War. The Russians have lost thousands of tanks and artillery units in the conflict, which has forced the army to resort to using outdated weaponry. Moscow has turned to nations like Iran and North Korea to buy military supplies. It also reached out to Egypt.

Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan says Egypt almost sold military gear to the Russians, but didn’t, because it realized it wasn’t worth the risk of alienating the U.S.

Excerpted from Peter’s April 27 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:

Most countries put up their “no solicitors” signs when they see the Russians coming around to buy military supplies. However, a handful of countries will at least open the door to hear the pitch, and Egypt just so happens to be one of those countries. To sell military equipment to the Russians, you have to be able to check a couple of boxes. First, you can’t be worried about the political blowback from partnering with a genocidal, war-hungry country. Second, you either have a lot of extra supplies or are not worried about entering a war yourself.

Countries like China, India, Algeria, and Vietnam might entertain the conversation, but at the end of the day cannot check off both boxes. This leaves the Russians to deal with Egypt and North Korea. Once the Americans caught wind that the Egyptians were considering making a deal with Russia, a quick cost-benefit analysis shut that deal down. That only leaves North Korea on the table. And if you want to pull out a sliver of good news from all this – that likely means North Korea won’t be entering any wars anytime soon.

This limited market is somewhat illuminating to the Russian predicament. While this remains Russia’s war to lose, if they can’t spin-up their military-industrial complex any quicker, this could be the war that ends Russia as an expansionary power.