Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Looks appropriate to me

Well, with most long range artillery targeting civilian targets, and most Russian air attacks also attacking the same, and with the whole war predicated on the nonsense idea that a nation with a Jewish President somehow needed to be "de-Nazified", I've known since March that pretty much every commissioned officer in the Russian Army, Air Force, and Navy, along with their diplomatic service, belongs in jail.

So if all the higher-ups belong in jail, I guess it was only a matter of time before the privates, corporals, and sergeants were the same, and Russia has delivered by opening up enlistment in their army to convicted criminals.  My guess is that they'll be driving T-34s and will be issued Mosin-Nagants.  It's still to be determined whether they'll be given rations or ammunition.

Seriously, what it means it that public support for the war is paper thin, available soldiers are rapidly assuming wheat field temperature (over 42000 by Ukraine's estimate), and Moscow is pulling out all the stops to get willing soldiers cannon fodder to keep the war effort going.  At the same time, Ukraine is sending volunteers to be trained by NATO soldiers in Poland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom.  It does not bode well for Russia's war effort, especially given the generally horrendous performance of conscripts and criminals in battle.  Conscript batallions will form weak points that the Ukrainians will destroy, using the space they filled to pull a Hindenburg envelopment a la Tannenberg.

I know Russian jails are awful, but if I were a Russian criminal, I might just stay where I was.  Also: if I were a Russian citizen who knew that thousands of dangerous criminals might soon be on the streets because they'd survived half a year in Ukraine, I would consider emigration.  This is bad news on all fronts.

2 comments:

elspeth said...

I am, this morning, trying to unravel the political nature of federal law enforcement in America right now. Particularly as I await the fallout of the increased politicization of the apparently heavily armed IRS agent jobs being advertised on IRS.gov.

All the best to Ukraine and Putin is a scumbag. But we've got mega sized fish to fry right here at home.

Bike Bubba said...

Too true.