Posted on 05/13/2024 1:03:12 PM PDT by Red6
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia's defense minister reshuffle was a further indication of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "desperation to sustain" his invasion of Ukraine, U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Monday.
Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defense minister on Sunday in an attempt to gird Russia for economic war by trying to better utilize the defense budget and harness greater innovation to win in Ukraine.
Here are the facts: Shoigu is moving into another significant position (hardly being sacked). Shoigu served 10 years in his position! That's about 2 - 3 times as long as his US counterparts on average last.
This war in Ukraine is a war of attrition and between the war industrial base of the West vs. Russia. If you want to see this in effect: https://twitter.com/EmbassyofRussia/status/1789993360167510372/photo/1 It's not just the US throwing money and material at Ukraine, it's near all of the EU and even some other countries. Some countries have nearly depleted their inventory of heavy equipment in support of Ukraine: https://mzv.gov.cz/sofia/en/about_the_czech_republic/foreign_policy/czechia_sends_hundreds_of_heavy_military.html
Shoigu spends much of his time addressing material and logistical issues regarding this conflict, visiting factories, meeting with the heads of firms where things are manufactured, dealing with supply chain issues, etc.
For Ukraine the number one issue is warm bodies, they are running out. The West is bankrolling and materially supporting them.
For Russia the number one issue is making sure they do not run out of material at the front. They had a peace-time economy up until this war, spending even less GDP on their war machine than we (the US) did before the war. In fact, many of the key issues the Russians face are "war industrial" in nature, trying to ramp up production of key weapon systems, maintain production where you are running into shortages because of sanctions, etc.
For the Russians, this is also a very delicate long-term issue of "guns vs. butter." As they transform more into a war-time economy, they must somehow balance that since long term this could cause internal problems. If they are going to continue pushing, they need to keep their war-fighter supplied, but also can't neglect the rest of society. Putting an economist in charge is not a bad idea.
I'm not really sure if this is a improvement for us: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Belousov
So, Shoigu is being “kicked upstairs” to head Russia’s National Security Council - and yet we still have idiot zeepers, pooping on FR with their propaganda, putting out pictures of Shoigu with an “X” on him, next to Alexey Navalny
It would be more cost effective if the Russian troops just played Russian roulette about 20 times each.
Economists are not known for being good managers or businessmen. Nor are they good at making forecasts.
Military supplies are “materiel,” not “material.”
Apparently, Nikolai Patrushev was sacked.
Playing a war of attrition with Russia is almost always a losing position. They have more people and are willing to use them. Reference WW2.
Also any talk of Crimea going to Ukraine is a non-starter. Russia will NEVER give back Ukraine. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!
Sorry, we’re not French.
MSNBC types are trying so-hard to spin this as evidence Putin is flailing. I took a peak at a prominent prog blogsite and there is much rejoicing.
In fact, this is a promotion combined with other concurrent changes to RU government it gives Shoigu more responsibility for running the economics of the war.
There’s also a desperation to keep it going for a decade because of all the free money.
Once that revenue stream dries up, people are going to have live off of their ill-gotten gains.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!
“I’m writing again about words that look and sound similar but have distinctions that you should know so you don’t sound ill-informed.
• Materiel versus material
“Materiel” is the equipment or supplies used by military forces. “Material” is a more sweeping term meaning matter, elements, cloth or tools.
If you keep in mind that materiel — the one ending in “iel” — is associated with the military, you should be OK. Also, materiel never takes an “s” at the end, but material may.
The copters, long overdue, dropped off materiel for the troops.
I love stationery stores for their selection of writing materials.”
Andrey Removich Belousov has exactly no military experience.
In Russia that’s probably for the best as this means he hasn’t been hazed, beaten, homosexually raped, (collectively known as ‘dedovshchina’) and he hasn’t been indoctrinated in Soviet-era tactics.
That doesn’t mean Russia is going to win anything. But perhaps he might give Putin a more realistic and less glowing assessment of Russia’s actual military capabilities.
Yevgeny Prigozhin was a criminal. He did not go into the Russian military. He was an effective commander of Wagner Group.
I thought Hillary and Kerry were the most amateur of SecStated, but Blinkin is living off and destroying any reputation of his father.
That Washington believes it has a firewall smoothering the truth but the lies are comical.
The only place that’s total homo is us.
You can’t even get a kids movie anymore without some LGBTQIA message in it.
Ukraine is already screwed. But from here on out it will only be a slow creep of land loss and steady flow of casualties and invalids which will burden this nation for a generation. The longer the war rages on, the deeper a hole Ukraine finds itself in.
It would have made sense to negotiate in earnest and end this after the failed counter offensive. That was my prediction and maybe wishful thinking.
But since Ukraine isn’t really driving this boat, and the US won’t want to end this until after the elections, many more folks will die, needlessly.
This entire war is needless!!! Stupid, lunacy, and all because of a political gamble to make some rich folks happy.
So tell me, I know I asked this before, how has this war made me as an average American wealthier, safer, or more free?
Tell us, how has this war made Ukraine and the Ukrainian’s wealthier, safer, more free?
Maybe, the next time, before you jump up and down asking for a war, you should ask yourself if that cause is really worth it, i.e. think in terms of “risk” and “ROI?”
Lesson learned? Sadly, probably not.
I was addressing the topic and my assessment of Andrey Belousov.
Feel free to change the subject by creating a post on degenerate culture in the US.
But in this topic we are discussing the stated topic.
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