I think many westerners do not realize the sheer scale of incompetence and lack of standards or protocols in Soviet/post-Soviet organization. Bundled with corru

I think many westerners do not realize the sheer scale of incompetence and lack of standards or protocols in Soviet/post-Soviet organization. Bundled with corruption and misaligned incentive structures, it's ridiculously dumb and ineffective. The whole system is trained to make it look ok from the outside, though (especially when higher ups are coming for inspection). I'm Ukrainian, and unfortunately familiar with reality of Soviet/post-Soviet organization systems. Before 2014, the word "army" was a joke. Army was a place for those who couldn't make it into universities. Most of the time soldiers were working in fields or building mansions for generals. It all changed after 2014, of course. But in russia it's been much worse. Historically russia tried to keep army low-status, so it can't pose risks to the ruling class (communist party in USSR, and FSB in post-Soviet russia). Thieves-in-law are higher in the russian power hierarchy, for example. Consider these news (google-translated links): - Russian conscripts are forced into gay prositution [1] - Thieves imposed a tribute on russian military base in Kemerovo [2] [1] https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/742132?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/742132?_x_tr_sl... [2] https://lenta-ru.translate.goog/news/2021/12/26/konraktniki/?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp https://lenta-ru.translate.goog/news/2021/12/26/konraktniki/...