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> but this is comically inept if true Comically inept does sometimes seem to be the country's MO, due to corruption and miscommunication (the latter often deli
by dspillett 2y ago
> but this is comically inept if true
Comically inept does sometimes seem to be the country's MO, due to corruption and miscommunication (the latter often deliberate to hide the former) between the various levels of control. People get away with it for quite some time, until a mistake/accident too big to successfully cover up occurs or there is other reason for an audit from above, at which point some are removed from their positions (often to particularly unpleasant penal arrangements, or perhaps being moved on via a defenestration "accident", as an example to others) and things improve for a while. This is often the case in other autocratic or anocratic countries too, but it seems particularly endemic in Russia (perhaps due to its wide geographic spread?).
> Why commit such brazen sabotage with a spy ship?
As others have said, other reasons of the article are that the ship has recently been used as a ship for spying, but equipment relating to that was not present at the time of the sabotage mission it was intercepted during.
- panarky 2y agoWhen dissidents and journalists "fall out of windows", and when enemies of the state drink polonium tea, the obviousness isn't due to comic ineptness. It's obvious for a reason. They want the world to know. The obviousness isn't ineptness, it's a brazen display of power.
- dspillett 2y agoI'm not suggesting the ineptness is present at the top or in key organs of the system, particularly parts responsible for enforcement and espionage. It naturally forms in the wider system through layers of control with people at each point doing the minimum required (well, the minimum they think that they can get away with) and creaming off any remaining resources. The obviousness of reactions from the near top when enacted, against those that are too close to failures or deliberately act against the system, while often difficult to directly link to the top, yes, is very deliberate, and generally not ineptly executed. In fact the individuals further down are often not really inept: they are can very good at doing what must be done with what little resource filters down while benefiting from what they can cream off, passing actual responsibility downwards, and keeping apparent responsibility for themselves (and their circles) when things go well. The comical ineptness is an emergent behaviour of the overall system that results from these behaviours. This is in stark contrast to some other regimes, for instance the UK under BoJo the Clown and his next couple of replacements where the ineptitude was at times frighteningly and obviously present at and near the top, or over the longer term things like the post office scandal & cover-up which has dragged on for so long through an apparent endemic immorality rather than localised manipulation at each level.
- benterix 2y ago> it's a brazen display of power. It's a brazen display of what they themselves consider power and the rest of the world consider stupidity.