Ukraine. Anyone have any ideas why there have been so many military changes lately?

[C Moon]

I'm concerned that military leaders are either getting frustrated or that there are possible nefarious people being removed.

I so want this to be over for Ukraine—and putin to be left to rot in a small, frozen pond.

[lapfog_1]

1. Ukraine has a long history of corruption in defense spending

Now that the West and especially the USA is pushing major amounts of military hardware into the country, it is essential that the top leadership comply with the tracking of the arms shipments and to make sure none of it finds the black market.

Zelenskyy is cleaning house now that the initial Russian invasion has been stopped and the long drawn out eviction of the Russians has started.

At first I was disturbed by the announcements of the change in leadership, but after reading a bit more, it makes a lot of sense.

[C Moon]

5. Thanks!!

[Xolodno]

2. Well, when the military leaders in the Soviet Union were sub par...

...Stalin (a Georgian) had them shot. His way of ridding of corruption. Even if they were not corrupt, Zelensky is under a lot of pressure to have victories. Their gains in the last counter offensive was due to the Russian lines being way too thin, that isn't the case now.

But axing your military leadership is not always a good thing. Stalin got lucky in that there was plenty of up an coming officers from the Red Army. Worse, my Yahoo news feed was blowing up on how Ukraine was doing so well ever since the start of this, with this latest info, many are saying its over.

With Ukraine, obviously the jury is still out on hegemony. Of course, more than half of the Politburo was Ukranian when it authorized the invasion of Afghanistan, hence why the Taliban is respecting Russian conditions and concerns. So you can see the extra animosity there.

If you are looking for a total victory for Ukraine, going to tell you its not happening. The Russian defense lines signal they do not have any intention of advancing further in those areas, and have plenty of troops, equipment, etc. to maintain it for the most part (villages regained by Ukraine, for all intents and purposes, don't even exist anymore...and Russia has a tradition of "disengaging", for example, Napoleon "won" Moscow, but Russian Generals didn't accept defeat, they just walked away with their army intact and waited things out, they knew he couldn't hold Moscow and well, we all know the history). There are 100k troops near the border of Kharkiv, but nothing has been done, so who knows. But I wouldn't be surprised of an offensive in that direction in the winter.

Russia's goal is simple, bleed Ukraine. Even if they gain some advances, they may not be able to maintain them. And should a cease fire be put in place, well, I won't go into the economics because its fairly depressing.

Feel free to flame me, used to it now.

[Bucky]

3. About Stalin having his general shot...

The historical conclusion is generally that it didn't leave his country well prepared for the German invasion.

[Xolodno]

6. True, some of the Generals he shot were actually very competent.

And would have been better prepared for a Nazi invasion, so we assume. But since were talking history....

If Imperial Russia modernized its army it could have steam rolled over Germany during WW1. But that stupid Tsar Nicholas (and I have no idea why he gets romanticized, he was a tyrant) gave the job to asses the military to a Noble who had a vested economic interest in keeping the status quo, so naturally he stated they didn't need to modernize.

And the spark that lit the revolution was due to a bread shortage. Turns out there was plenty, but two Nobles were arguing what portion of the profits they got and so held it all back.

Corruption is often part of government currency. For example, my wife and I were coming back from Tijuana and the line was four hours long. I was approached and told for $50 I would be moved very close to the front. My wife freaked out, but me knowing how it works, gave him the money. He summoned someone else and was told to follow him, which we did. At some point he whistles to the Mexican police, holds his hand up with two, the officer looks and nods. And boom we were back in the USA in 20 minutes.

And don't say that would never happen here, it does. I once got a speeding ticket and one of my uncles told me he could make it go away, but it might cost me a set of tires. I turned it down, hindsight, I should have took it. I could go on, but it might upset too many.

But corruption is a currency in government, the check is if they get out of control then they get busted. But that doesn't always happen and can bring the entire house of cards down. Stalin probably knew this and was in the fight for their lives. Not saying he was right or wrong and he sure was a mass murderer. But, just saying.

[Emrys]

4. When Zelensky took power, many of the remains of previous regimes were still in post,

and efforts to root out corruption were then short-circuited by the Russian invasion.

When he assembled his cabinet on taking power, he was also hampered by lack of time and the need to install certain officials who were at least likely to be loyal to him, but were not necessarily the best people for the jobs. There have been dismissals and moves of personnel in various government posts throughout the last year or so.

The latest round of dismissals seem to focus on irregularities around conscription. Ukraine's armed forces and general polity should emerge stronger.