Russia's Army and Society, Part I
I have attempted to explore and explain the state of the Russian army in two writings/translations on the previous page and the image above.
From these, one can gather that civilians originally joined the military either out of necessity or deep-seated belief. There is a certain sense of patriotism among some soldiers, but the officers view everything as an opportunity to use their power to enrich themselves. And there is a mix of all these factors.
It is difficult for a Westerner to comprehend the following, that is, the Russian way of thinking, which has been ingrained in Russians for at least a thousand years:
- God has given power to the Tsar (this also applies to Stalin, Putin, and others who have received power "from above" - Central Committee or whatever).
- The Tsar is God's envoy and the representative of supreme authority, whose decisions cannot be questioned, because doing so would mean questioning divine decisions.
![1724913020001.png 1724913020001.png](https://iidb.org/data/attachments/45/45761-be0efb934c3ff0a11fefbc375aceb5cb.jpg?hash=r0YTjgCACh)
The image of the Tsar is shown to kneeling soldiers during World War I.
This type of thinking exists in the West as well. At least in Finland, the president's portrait can be found on the walls of official buildings, schools - even if the president happens to be an idiot. Or an egoistic fool
Back to Russia; this divine power extends down the power pyramid to the lowest levels. All the way to the collective farm leader or the factory supervisor. In Russia, if a superior makes a mistake, they shift the blame onto the workers, scolding them, and the workers listen to the reprimand humbly and silently. If anyone dares to question something, they quickly find themselves cleaning the basement—for at least a few weeks.
I know this sounds utterly unbelievable to Western ears.
In the army, this manifests as a complete lack of initiative, with everyone always waiting for orders from above.
This became evident when Ukrainians were being trained in the West—they, too, had been trained and brainwashed in the same way as the Russians. Therefore, the greatest task of Western training was and still is to teach initiative.
The positive trend is clearly visible when Ukrainian soldiers are interviewed, as they have had over 30 years to learn independence.
But in every country, military practices are the last to change within society. Which is not always a bad thing.
To be continued - in some form
![Wink ;) ;)](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png)