Z for zero

Forget the tanks and the armored personnel carriers.  The Russian war against Ukraine, which was supposed to last a week, has foundered because of two factors:  the heroism of the Ukrainians, military and otherwise; and the collapse of Russian trucks.  The truck has been a fundamental part of war at least since Verdun in 1916, but Russia has yet to figure this out.  You can't move troops or ammunition without transport and they forgot to bring horses this time.  If I may be allowed a dumb pun, it's not Mariupol that's got them bogged down, it's the motor pool.  Barely trained conscripts are being asked to service trucks that have not been shelled but have simply broken down -- often civilian trucks which were not designed to carry missiles and shells -- and officers have probably banked money that was supposed to buy tires or replacement parts.  

Here's another miscalculation:  draftees.  They don't want to be there and they certainly don't want to die there.  They were rushed to the front when it became clear that this would be a long war (another echo of 1914-18).  They want to survive their one year and go home, which sounds like Americans in Vietnam.  

These guys are loading by hand the shells and missiles that real armies load with forklifts.  This takes longer, wastes fuel, and gives the Ukrainians more time to target them.  What's the Russian for "clusterfuck"?

Caught in a nightmare like this, I can see why the conscripts take out their frustration by blasting away at high-rise apartment buildings, hospitals and kindergartens.  Like the murders at My Lai, the war crimes are inexcusable but understandable.  Such is the nature of war.  You're the good guys coming to liberate them, they're told.  

It's impossible to ascertain much, with all the real journalists banished or jailed, but rumors swirl that this guy --

-- no, not Alexei Sayle, Admiral Igor Osipov, commander of the Black Sea Fleet, is in the brig.  Might have something to do with the sinking of the Moskva.  It's like late July and you're twenty-five games out of first, you fire the manager because you can't fire the whole team.  Also defense minister Sergei Shoigu, the general manager if you will, either had an ordinary meeting today or has suffered a massive heart attack, or possibly both.  Shoigu was last spotted on TV around March 24.  Sergei Naryshkin, head of foreign intelligence (the chief scout, let's say) got an earful from the owner Putin last month and hasn't been seen since.  It's like the good old Stalin days.

A smart owner would declare himself world series champion and go home.