JRL NEWSWATCH: “Mobilization Can’t Save Russia’s War; Russian troops are being trained to be cannon fodder” – Foreign Policy
“… Putin … has doubled back on his word, sparking outrage across Russia. Declaring that 300,000 ‘reservists’ — nominally those with previous military service — would be mobilized, the deadly combination of unrest at home and an ever more limited military apparatus facing down an increasingly better-armed Ukrainian army means that even if Moscow can meet its recruitment goals, Putin’s mobilization is doomed to fail. … Putin’s mobilization of just about anybody caught in the military’s dragnet, combined with viral reports of minimal training, has created a panic among Russians. … [M]ore than 260,000 Russian men … have fled the country …. Online posts show a variety of rusty Kalashnikov rifles being distributed as well as bolt-action Mosin-Nagant rifles … already defunct a century ago. Officers declare to bewildered new troops that they need to source their own supplies, such as sleeping bags, and that they should ask their girlfriends to send tampons because there aren’t enough medical supplies …. In the United States, new Army recruits need 10 weeks of basic training, at a bare minimum, to be ready for combat. Russia’s haphazard mobilization is sending men to fight with a week or two if they’re lucky — some have been sent with no preparation at all. …”