Rivalry.

This is coolbert:

Continuing, extacted tweets from a thread, analysis by Mr. Galeev the poor performance of the Russian army, Ukraine Conflict.

Think TRIANGLE! 1.The Russian ruling elite. 2. State Security apparatus. 3.Army.

ONLY possible threat to the ruling elite is the Russian army. Threat nullified and minimized by the actions of the State Security apparatus.

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"State security are *not* the military. That's another institution which has very uneasy relations with  soldiers. That's understandable. State security will easily suppress any civilian revolt and any guerrilla. Thus the only inner force that could overthrow them would be the army"

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"You can read a more detailed account of relations between the Russian state and its army here. But for now I wanna stress, they're very concerned about the potential rivalry from the army and took every effort to prevent it. Thus they castrated the army"

Think The Great Purge of 1937. Many senior commanders executed or cashiered from the army, sent to the Gulag or internal exile. 

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"One precaution is to do a cleansing after each military conflict. In peacetime, power of military generals is low. They're bounded by instructions, protocols, guidelines, are overwatched by state security and military prosecutors. But during the war this control nearly disappears"

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"The longer the war lasts, the less procedural and more personal military power becomes. Soon nobody cares about procedures. Everything is done by personal oral orders. Troops get used to unquestioning obedience to a general's word. So you have to do a cleaning up after each war"

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"State security fears potential rivalry from the army. So they introduced several mechanisms of control. One is to do a cleaning up after each war killing generals who got too influential among the troops. And leaving the less infuential ones. That's a negative selection mechanism"

That fear of the Party [communist] in the aftermath of World War Two was Bonapartism. General officers popular among veterans of the war and "thinking above themselves" might very well constitute a threat to the established order and seize power by a coup d'etat. Zhukov from the perspective of Stalin was susceptible in such a fashion.

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"Kremlin actively promotes state security to the army positions. A typical monologue of a Russian professional military:

1. [Long patriotic speech]

2. Complaints on how he'll never get promoted, cuz all the positions are given to young state security with no military experience"

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"Third layer is extreme, unbelievable anti-intellectualism among the military officers promoted by the state. If Prussian army was the most intellectual army in Europe, modern Russian is the least. Again, it's not an accident. It's a deliberate policy to minimise this internal threat"

That archetype of the intellectual officer Von Moltke the Elder.

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"Let's sum up. Kremlin is not maxing efficiency, it's minimising the threat. Recruit as low IQ officers as possible, give them very narrow training. If some officers are capable and rising quickly, kill them. Appoint as many state security to the army to make it more controllable"

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"To minimise the threat from the army, the ruling state security attacks the army mythos. Why would mafia even dare to racketeer military officers? Because they know in case of conflict the state will back the mafia. These guys stand much higher in Russian hierarchy than soldiers"

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"This explains all these strange phenomena such as thieves harassing the military bases, soldiers being forced into gay prostitution, etc. I don't think Putin personally ordered that (though he might). But he purposefully destroys the army mythos, to eliminate a rival for power"

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"Words cannot describe how low in dominance hierarchy the Russian army is. To get some idea, watch this video from a Russian official TV channel. An officer asks for a minute of silence for 'our special operation boys dying there' and see what happens. Army has no respect at all"

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*Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

Mar 12

"Conclusions about the Russian artillery-centric army are not wrong. But they must be considered in political context. You must be artillery centric, if you have low morale troops. Nobody respects them, they have no self respect either. They can't stand the close range fight"

THIS IS WHY THE SOVIET AND NOW RUSSIAN ARMY LIKES 240 MM MORTARS, MASSIVE NUMBERS OF MULTIPLE-ROCKET LAUNCHERS AND TOS-1 THERMOBARIC WEAPONRY.

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"If regime trained capable high morale infantry with intelligent officers, it'd constitute a mortal political threat. So it will maintain low morale incapable infantry with the dumbest officers possible and kill brighter ones. Artillery is way to fight *somehow* with these troops"

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* Kamil Galeev

@kamilkazani

·Mar 12

"Russian regime pretends to be military. But it's not . Its thinking, language, methods are very state security. On Feb 24 Putin started a Special Operation in Ukraine and on Feb 27 congratulated Russian forces there with the annniversary of the 'Day of Special Operation Forces"

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Inference: Officer corps the Russian army kept in line and check by "emasculation"? Russian ruling elite fears a too strong army with charismatic leadership.  Individual officers of a low-caliber their threat hardly a worry.

To be continued!

coolbert.