General "Armageddon" Surovikin Has Joined the Chat
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Remember when I predicted a shake-up and people losing their jobs after the failures on the front?
Well, here you go.
Russia's Defence Ministry on Saturday named Air Force General Sergei Surovikin as the overall commander of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, Moscow's third senior military appointment in the space of a week.
The change follows the reported sacking earlier this week of the commanders of two of Russia's five military regions, as its forces have suffered a series of dramatic reverses in northeastern and southern Ukraine in recent weeks.
To be fair, it’s difficult to decide who is really to blame here. Was it the generals who got their positions by toadying up to Russia’s oligarchs and chinovniks and politicians to blame or the aforementioned politicians who appointed these people in the first place and then put unrealistic expectations on them i.e., taking a country of ± 30 million with barely 200k troops? A question for the internet sages to ponder and debate, no doubt.
Still, it says something about the internal power balance in Russia now.
Kadyrov and Prigozhin’s star is ascendent. They called for firings and firings happened. Whatever faction they’re operating with is the one that’s winning. I’m not sure about Kadyrov, really, but I definitely like Prigozhin and his track record. I’ve been going back and reviewing the entirety of the Russian campaign and I’m struck by how many successful attacks were spearheaded by Wagner.
Now, maybe this is because they are sponging up all the resources. Maybe they’re given the better assignments and maybe they are allowed to hog all the glory. I don’t know. It’s all speculation. It could just be that they’re experienced and attract competent people into a competent organization capable of delivering results.
I’m going to try and swing an interview with a Wagnerite, and we’ll see what we can dig up about these guys. I’ll keep you posted.
Let me state my biases though. I like Wagner because they’re so unabashedly right-wing and actually do a lot of what I say that the Russian government ought to do but what it simply doesn’t. For example, they actively recruit pro-Russians all over the place, but especially in places like Serbia and Ukraine.
The Rusich Battalion (Wagner in Ukraine) - the slavic sun wheel.
They also made a name for themselves in Syria.
Not going to explain this video still. If you know, you know.
Everything about these guys is, frankly, really cool.
First and foremost, they have competence going for them. Any good writer knows that competent characters are loved by fans, even if they’re devious and dastardly and that bumbling fools are loved by no one, only pitied. Wagner’s track record of success sheathes them in a veneer of cool. The same cannot be said about most organizations operating in Russia today.
As for the new General of the Russian Army. It’s not Prigozhin … yet. Its General Surovikin - nicknamed General Armageddon, apparently.
Here’s what some Russian posters with, admittedly, a less-than-stellar track record of making predictions on Telegram say:
First and foremost: Surovikin is in charge not of the Air Force, but of the Aerospace Forces. That is, not aviation, but interspecific (this is important!) A fundamentally new, strategic type of troops.
Seems kind of far-fetched, no? A totally new way of fighting war that was incubated and released at this critical moment? Yeah, sure. And if the Russian equivalent is anything like America’s Space Force, it’s just a money-laundering scheme.
Surovikin has a scientific degree - and his articles, which in a small number have been made available to the public - are about INTER-FORCES interaction. That is, how to link different types of troops into a single whole and achieve a synergistic effect.
He was sent to Syria, when the Basmachi took cities several times, liberated them with finesse. And it was under him that 95% of the territory of Syria was recaptured from the Basmachi: he built a superior firing system in such a way that he beat them. Others didn't succeed like he did.
He graduated from the land military school - in Omsk. And he is one of the best military commanders in Russia. Or maybe even the best.
But what he can do in the SMO, in conditions when so many people and equipment have been lost before him, is a big question.
The only thing that can be said for sure is that he always tries to protect his soldiers - preferring to exterminate the enemy troops. The soldiers love him precisely for this: his orders are reasonable, he does not throw senseless into a meat grinder. The same aviation still exists only thanks to him: he did not allow it to be burned over the Ukrainian air defense, and it continues to launch cruise missiles, because it still exists.
P.S. And, well, it was precisely Surovikin who managed to pass troops through the desert in Syria under American satellites unnoticed and go to the rear of the Americans.
Well, we won’t know until we know. The “Butcher of Syria” wasn’t all that he was hyped up to be so I’m skeptical.
This is probably a good moral booster for the beleaguered, outnumbered, and frankly, betrayed Russian troops on the front. They need some good news. Also, shuffles were expected. At least, I expected them. If you were reading the 5D dunces, you’d assume that all was well and that UkroFascoNegro propaganda was to blame for flagging internet morale, and not the observable reality on the ground.
The entire Russian campaign appears to be teetering on the knife-edge of disaster, folks.
But, you have to give the Russians credit for being able to make hard decisions, sack people, move things around, try new approaches and so on. The Russians are being forced to adapt quite a bit. Experts agree that Russians are good at adapting partially because we’re not good at following rules in the first place. Frankly, it would be more alarming to see the same faces in the same positions following the repeated failures on the front. Instead, we see the military getting more competent and dangerous people assigned to various positions and getting more money and men, belatedly. Only when the situation is absolutely critical do the politicians, as Strelkov says, jump into frenzied, panicked action like the gargoyles in Diablo (II?).
What’s alarming is that while the military is getting a spring cleaning, the same cannot be said about the civilian government as of yet.
If General Armageddon lives up to his name, I’d love to see him eventually march his victorious army through the nuclear wasteland to declare himself Tse-zar of the Great White North.
Depicted: General Armageddon and the Wagner guy encamped outside Berlin circa 2027, colorized.
Time will tell.
Your posts are always thought-provoking and sincere, Rolo.
As an American, I obviously have no knowledge of the make-up or strength of the Russian military. I cannot help but suspect that, at the very top, their generals, like ours, are primarily politicians and less than capable leaders of fighting men. The Peter Principle holds true in all businesses.
Most of Napoleon's successes were the result of fighting against generals who were in their seventies or eighties. In the American Civil War, Lincoln made the mistake of having an old man, Winfield Scott, as the Commanding General (until he was replaced by McClellen).
I suspect that the Wagner Group is spear-heading every successful effort by the Russian Army and that they are no different than Navy Seals and the Special Forces in every branch of the US military.
The choice of General Sergei Surovikin as the overall commander of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine seems wise. He was successful in fighting rebels in Syria and is a determined and resourceful war fighter.
I question your derision of America's Space Force, however. Many in the military applauded President Trump when he started this new branch of the service. Certainly, warfare in space will be the next Big Thing. Whether it is destroying enemy satellites or attacking Earth with weapons in space, the Space Force is to the 21st Century what the Air Force became in the 20th.
It would not surprise nor disappoint me to see hypersonic missiles destroy the Ukrainian Government Building in Kiev. It would send a double message to the fascists if such an attack came from a satellite.
Frankly, I do not know why Russia did not take advantage of their strengths; that is, use their superior missile power to raze the Ukrainian military HQ and kill the commanders.. I get that Zelensky uses citizens as human shields but that is their choice, not the Russians. Regardless of collateral damage, the Ukranian command should have been decimated. UK. French, and US ships should have been sunk. Their aircraft shot out of the sky, wherever they are. Observing the rules of war is fine, but the west is not, so why is Russia.
Second, we know that Russia has the best intelligence service in the world, so why is it not being used. One third of the West would cheerfully wipe out their own murderous politicians, so why not assist them?
And, finally, where the hell is China in all of this. Does Xi not comprehend he is next. Somebody, please, send Xi a copy of the 2015 Rand Report and tell him to use it as a crystal ball; which is historically valid.
Far be it for me to be indiscreet, but effing hell, we need Xi and Vlad to wipe out the US and end the military occupation of Australia. We want our country back. Stop stuffing around.