In soviet times (and possibly any other tyrant dictator era) the dictator was told what he wanted to hear or be (literally or figuratively) dead. So perfectly

In soviet times (and possibly any other tyrant dictator era) the dictator was told what he wanted to hear or be (literally or figuratively) dead. So perfectly valid assumption is that command chain inflated the capabilities and morale of the army wildly. Also, I think it would be naive to think that the army is the one place were kleptocracy is not stealing from. So who knows, maybe the tyrant is playing 5D chess and shit is going to go really bad or he could be playing 1D chess because ...