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IF Only They Had Listened to Ivashov [1]

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Date: 2023-04-23  

Ivashov and Putin

I know I have been guilty, as many of us here on Daily Kos have … of caricaturing the Russian military based on their seemingly feckless performance in the current Russo_Ukrainian war. But I also can’t help but think that more so than it being the fault of the dedicated trained Russian military, the totally disastrous performance of Russian arms in Ukraine ought to be laid more on the political leadership and the cronyism and corruption they have fostered. What exactly did Mr. Putin expect when he elevated a cosplaying civilian general-wannabe like Sergei Shoigu, who has never spent a day under fire in the field, to be war chief? What could possibly go wrong?

I remember reading over a year ago, as Putin was sabre rattling, sending troops to the border and dismissing the Minsk Accords as well as deriding Zelensky as a “comedian” not worthy of his time or as a negotiating partner, a published open letter from the association of retired Russian officers headed by one Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov.

That open letter did not mince words in predicting in clear terms how destructive the war would be to not not only Ukraine but also Russia and its place in the community of nations. They predicted that the world will unite and rise up against Russia. These were older men who had spent their entire adult life in the military starting from the geriatric Soviet era to the insidious self-dealing and corruption of the Putin siloviki. They had seen it all. They had left active service. And they had no more Fs to give. They laid it all out in black and white.

Putin and Shoigu ignored them.

So a year later I wondered what Ivashov had to say about what has now transpired. In this recent retrospective interview(linked below), true to his first name, Leonid Ivashov is as fearless and as feisty as ever. Simply put, he said Putin’s debacle in Ukraine has turned out to be even worse than he and the other retired officers feared.

www.memri.org/…

May he live long to help his people pick up the pieces after Putin exists the scene.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/23/2165499/-IF-Only-They-Had-Listened-to-Ivashov

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