Jeff Danziger for April 14, 2022

“It’s just like back at the KGB … …”

Not untrue. Except I think the war dog’s not drawn quite evil enough.

Apparently this new one is supposed to be some sort of butcher. It will just add to more to mass murderer Putin’s genocide and war crimes.

Yay?

“No more Mr. Nice Guy!”

the aim is that the dogs of war will turn on Putin; he certainly would be a tiny meal the loathsome little squirt.

“Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,That this foul deed shall smell above the earthWith carrion men, groaning for burial.” Wm Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3, scene 1

Which one is Putin ?

The U.S. has just approved sending $800 million in heavier weapons to Ukraine: attack helicopters, artillery, and attack drones. As Russia is preparing to attack the more open areas in the east, these will be used to repel the attack. I wonder if the U.S. will now reconsider sending planes also.

Pundit Max Boot:All of the Russian military’s manifold deficiencies have been brutally exposed during its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. These include corruption, brutality, low morale, poor planning, faulty logistics, bad intelligence, lack of coordination between units, over-centralization and a paucity of initiative on the part of junior officers and sergeants. These are not new problems, and they will not be fixed any time soon. Indeed, an 1854 article in the Economist explaining Russia’s early defeats in the Crimean War — also fought primarily in Ukraine — reads eerily like an account of Russia’s current military travails. (A tip of my fedora to blogger Stephen Douglas for posting this article on Twitter.) Two of the Russian weaknesses identified by the Economist particularly leap out. First: “The Russian armies are often armies on paper only. … The colonels of regiments and officers of the commissariat have a direct interest in having as large a number on the books and as small a number in the field as possible — inasmuch as they pocket the pay and rations of the difference between these figures.” Second: “Common soldiers … have no love of their profession, and no interest in the object of the war.” That was because the typical Russian private was “torn from his family and his land, drilled by the knout, neglected by his officers, fed on black bread, where fed at all, always without comforts, often without shoes.” The Economist ascribed these pathologies to the “inadequacy of despotic power.” It noted that “cheating, bribery, peculation pervade the whole tribe of officials,” that “there seems to be no conscience, and not much concealment, about it,” and that “regard for truth or integrity has no part in the Russian character.”

And this last bit:

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. A modern reader would bridle at the assumption that there was an immutable Russian “national character,” but the rest of the Economist’s analysis remains relevant. That can be explained by the fact that Russia is still ruled, as it has been throughout nearly all of its history, by a brutal and corrupt dictatorship.

right like the bastards haven’t been cruel enough

“Dogs of war” has acquired a new relevance.

Re Mourdac’s comment about the US sending planes. No.

Because you don’t just send a modern jet and expect it to make repeated flights — especially combat flights. Those jets need maintenance on a regular basis even without combat damage. So you need people trained to maintain those planes and spare parts and probably some special tools. That would also apply to Abrams tanks, etc.

On the other hand, sending single use disposable systems like Stingers and Javelins and Switchblades involves a little training and very little maintenance. And artillery, while not single use, is relatively low maintenance.

Drones are a possibility as shown by the Ukraine’s use of the Turkish drones.

Until Russia feels the pain, this crap will continue. Ukraine should send terrorists to every major Russian city and destroy high value targets indiscriminately. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander. Perhaps then the Russians would choose peace over Putin.

It would seem a blessing if the Ukrainian military could find a route, very soon, whereupon this latest Russian theater commander could travel home as one of Russia’s Cargo 200 shipments.

here’s to the new boss, same as the old boss …