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| Who is 'General Armageddon,' Russia's new Ukraine war commander? |
| 2022-10-14 |
| [Jpost] When examining the track record of the new commander, nicknamed “The Butcher of Syria” for his part in Russian operations in Syria, the missile onslaught on Ukraine may not come as a surprise. Only two days after the appointment of a new commander of the Joint Group of Forces in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin, a wave of missile strikes swept across Ukraine, hitting countless civilian targets. “I am not surprised to see what happened this morning in Kyiv. Surovikin is absolutely ruthless, with little regard for human life,” a former defense ministry official, who has worked with Surovikin, told the Guardian. “I am afraid his hands will be completely covered in Ukrainian blood.” According to Ukrainian sources, Surovikin is trying to achieve "quick results" in order to appease Russian President Vladimir Putin, and according to Ukrainian intelligence, this is exactly his style. “This is his style, the style of the new butcher of the Russian army in Ukraine – to launch rockets at infrastructure, in particular civilian infrastructure facilities, he is trying to show that Putin's new personnel appointments in Russia have some meaning, to show some quick results," Ukrainian intelligence said. When examining the track record of the new commander, who earned the nickname “General Armageddon” in Syria for his tough and uncompromising approach, this missile onslaught may not come as such a surprise. "THE BUTCHER OF SYRIA" Surovikin led Russia's military campaign in Syria in March of 2017, initially, he was supposed to serve a mere three months in the region to gain some firsthand combat experience, but ended up commanding Russian forces in Syria until the end of the year. Surovikin’s “defending” of Moscow’s interests in Syria involved dozens of air and ground attacks on civilian objects and infrastructure, particularly in Aleppo, where the city was practically leveled. Russian forces under his command struck Syrian “homes, schools, healthcare facilities, and markets – the places where people live, work, and study,” according to a 2020 Human Rights Watch report. The report further stated that air and ground attacks on civilian sites, including homes, schools and hospitals, were a hallmark of Russia’s campaign in Idlib, which Surovikin participated in during his second tour in 2019. “He is being called the ‘Butcher of Syria,’ but every general that took that post was a butcher of Syria,” Kirill Mikhailov, a researcher with the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), which has been monitoring Russian military activities since 2014 told the Washington Post. “It’s a job you take because killing people and making their life miserable is what the Russian air force can do best.” The Russian Defense Ministry repeatedly credited Surovikin with achieving critical gains in Syria, saying that Russian and pro-Assad Syrian forces “liberated over 98 percent” of the country under him. From his time in Syria, Surovikin had developed a good working relationship with the Wagner private military company, Gleb Irisov, a former air force lieutenant who worked with Surovikin up to 2020 told the Guardian. THE EARLY BEGINNINGS OF "GENERAL ARMAGGEDON" The career of 55-year-old Surovikin developed rapidly and was filled with scandals at almost every stage. Surovikin first gained notoriety during the failed 1991 coup d’état attempt against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, when he led a motorized rifle division through barricades erected by pro-democracy protesters. Three men were killed in the clash, including one who was crushed. “It is very symbolic that Sergei Surovikin, the only officer who ordered the shooting of protesters in August 1991 and killed three people, is now leading a desperate effort to restore the USSR ,” wrote Grigory Yudin, a Russian political scientist and sociologist. “These people knew what they were doing, and now they know too.” After the failed coup, Surovikin was jailed for several months but then was freed and never convicted of any crime as prosecutors in Moscow ruled that he was simply obeying an order, the Russian state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported in 2011. In 1995, as a student of the Frunze Military Academy, the military court of the Moscow garrison found Surovikin guilty under three articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR then in force, accusing him of stealing, illegally holding and attempting to sell firearms. But the sentence turned out to be soft and completely humane: one year of imprisonment on probation. His ruthless reputation grew in 2004 when a report in the business daily Kommersant reported that a colonel serving under him had killed himself after he received a heated dressing-down from Surovikin. The report further stated that a lieutenant colonel from Surovikin’s division filed a complaint against Surovkin and other officers for beating him because of political differences. KREMLIN TRIES TO APPEASE HARDLINE CRITICS By appointing Surovikin, the Kremlin may be trying to satisfy its nationalists and top critics, who blame the Russian army leadership for the repeated failures in Ukraine and for not using tough enough measures to force Kyiv into submission. His appointment has indeed softened some of the public outrage among Russian hardline nationalists, who were growing increasingly impatient with the country’s military failures. Ramzan Kadyrov, the notorious head of the Chechen republic, and the Wagner head, Yevgeny Prigozhin welcomed Surovikin's new appointment as they both pushed for a much tougher stance on Ukraine. In the past month and a half, both the head of Chechnya and the creator of the Wagner PMC, against the background of heavy defeats of Russian troops at the front, openly, although without naming the names of Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, criticize the leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry for insufficiently decisive actions and retreats. Kadyrov even went as far as to criticize Moscow for not using enough force in Ukraine, suggesting the use of low-yield nuclear weapons. “Now, I am 100% satisfied with the operation,” Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel on Monday morning, referring to the shelling of Kyiv, where at least 11 civilians were killed. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #43 DV, please, be careful what you ask for. I guarantee you won't like the people who are waiting to take the place of Russians It will happen anyway. Ethnic Russians currently make up 87% of the population. Before the war the demographics were collapsing so badly by the end of the century they would only be 55-59% of the population. Hard to suppress and dominate minorities when your population is well on its way to becoming one. We need to think of what will happen to their nukes (if they even work anymore) when the Federation finally comes apart. Any grants to Russia will only embolden them to try this shit again. Also thank you to the people that self identified that would have supported giving the Sudetenland away in this thread. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2022-10-14 21:08 |
| #42 ^ word. Exceptionally well said, Abu. Thank you. |
| Posted by: Billy B 2022-10-14 19:29 |
| #41 I understand that you were raised to regard Russians as the enemy. That was because the Soviet Union's communist ideology ordained the spread of communism all over the world. That was the Cold War and thanks to Ronald Reagan, we won. Now the Soviet Union is kaput. Further, whatever you might hear from Joe Biden and other globalists, whatever ambitions Putin might actually harbor, Russia today is far too weak to restore the Soviet Union much less threaten NATO members like Poland or any of the Baltic countries either. Instead, it is NATO that is threatening to expand into the former Soviet republics and thereby pose an existential threat to Russia itself. For this Joe Biden is risking a much wider war with a far greater likelihood of escalation to nuclear holocaust. We need to be more pragmatic about our self-appointed role as the world's police force because there are far too many people in the world who do not accept us in that role. Remember Vietnam? It didn't work out so well. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya...all disasters. In other words, NATO has gone far enough and Ukraine is none of our damn business. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-10-14 18:56 |
| #40 DV, please, be careful what you ask for. I guarantee you won't like the people who are waiting to take the place of Russians. We all might like it a whole lot less when those people get their hands on Russia's nuclear weapons. Likewise, if and when Ukraine joins the European Union, they are likely to experience some consternation when they receive their first batch of |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-10-14 18:38 |
| #39 That Finnish PM gave a rather quick answer. I think she was late for your drug test after another one of her parties with her girl friends. |
| Posted by: DooDahMan 2022-10-14 17:48 |
| #38 Von der Leyen is an even smarter lady. Go for the gelt! EU stonewalls over von der Leyen’s role in multibillion-euro Pfizer vaccine deal European Court of Auditors accuses Commission of refusing to release details of how the bloc’s biggest vaccine contract was negotiated. Buy them off |
| Posted by: Gomez Flaiper4872 2022-10-14 16:56 |
| #37 Ukraine’s reconstruction => Russia pays for it ($500 billion) and US hedge funds, Pelosi, Biden et al get sweetheart deals like the ones that the Biden Crime Family scored from Iraqi “Reconstruction” and from Hunter’s trips in Air Force Two Excellent idea. And there’s a worthy precedent. That’s basically how the Russians put an end to Chechen terror. Pound the shit out of them and then line their pockets with tons of gold. Buy them off. Biden will jump at it, so will Zelensky and his master Kolomoisky |
| Posted by: Chaim 2022-10-14 16:29 |
| #36 I'll go with this smart lady |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-10-14 16:28 |
| #35 Yes, US & NATO out of Ukr. now |
| Posted by: Gomez Flaiper4872 2022-10-14 16:25 |
| #34 And if you don't take it, the Russian people will end up in the dustbin of history by the end of the century. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2022-10-14 16:24 |
| #33 Negotiate now. Leave Ukraine or you end up in the stone age. Take it or leave it. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2022-10-14 16:23 |
| #32 What’s to negotiate You’re joking, right? You do realize, don’t you, that the Ukrainians rejected Minsk II, which in retrospect was a far better deal than anything the Ukrainians can hope to achieve now. Still, reconstruction of Ukr offers the mother of all Grifts to thieves and corruptocrats like Zelensky, the Bidens and the Wall Street crowd, so provision #1 below is enough to get the deal done. It’s all that matters to these characters. Buy them off, basically: 1 Ukraine’s reconstruction => Russia pays for it ($500 billion) and US hedge funds, Pelosi, Biden et al get sweetheart deals like the ones that the Biden Crime Family scored from Iraqi “Reconstruction” and from Hunter’s trips in Air Force Two. Other terms— basically borrowing from and adding to the Minsk Accords: 2 Ukraine’s security => Russia guarantees (DMZ established) 3 Russia’s security => US guarantees (no more NATO expansion, no more threats to Crimea, withdrawal of all YS and NATO forces from Ukraine) 4 Plebiscites in the four eastern regions supervised by Israeli and Indian election experts 5 Neutrality for Ukr. => post-plebiscite remainder of Ukraine becomes permanently neutral like Austria, can never join NATO or |
| Posted by: Gomez Flaiper4872 2022-10-14 16:16 |
| #31 Looking for fresh meat... https://twitter.com/i/status/1580947532712013826 |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-10-14 16:06 |
| #30 I ask you again: What's there to be negotiated? |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-10-14 15:58 |
| #29 ^ Zelensky knows. Ask him. So do his puppet masters. Zelensky was close to a deal with the Russians in early April of this year, and then the Biden fools intervened, suited up their moronic messenger boy Boris Johnson and sent him to Kiev and put the kibosh on the peace talks. |
| Posted by: Chaim 2022-10-14 15:57 |
| #28 What's there to be negotiated? |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-10-14 15:49 |
| #27 Come to think of it, Cheating, Fuckbeard and Shartface could be the name of Hillary Clinton’s law firm (with Marc Elias as the 4th partner) |
| Posted by: Chaim 2022-10-14 15:43 |
| #26 Cheating, Fuckbeard and Shartface are the same bot |
| Posted by: Chaim 2022-10-14 15:40 |
| #25 Dude, deindustrialization means there won’t be a “long-term.” It’s not a recession. It’s a permanent and significant decline in living standards, wealth, power and influence. The Germans won’t stand for such foolishness from their leaders. Their government will fall just as Boris Johnson’s did, and the Germans will join the majorities in the US, France, Italy, Hungary, Czechia and elsewhere who want the US to negotiate in earnest and end this foolish war. Negotiate now. |
| Posted by: Chaim 2022-10-14 15:38 |
| #24 Dale Chaim and Palermo, are they the same propaganda bot? |
| Posted by: Chealing Chomotle4158 2022-10-14 15:35 |
| #23 Lord Vader always has the force with him...and a cool theme tune Putin only has a squeaky red coloured toy on his desk... and many memes riding bears |
| Posted by: Rupert The Bear 2022-10-14 15:28 |
| #22 A slight correction it seems 300 thousand troops was Russian military plus the 70 thousand volunteers. The next few days will be very active times.This information I heard presented by Scott Ritter as I recall. |
| Posted by: Dale 2022-10-14 15:19 |
| #21 "Wo aber Gefahr ist, wächst das Rettende auch." (Hölderlin) |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-10-14 14:40 |
| #20 Germany faces a looming threat of deindustrialisation This is one of the few times I will agree. Germany's auto industry most likely will move overseas and their petrochemical industry will be lost, most likely forever. Other heavy industry will be shuttered for 6+ months and will then be spun up again at a far lesser rate than before. Germany and its allies will find a way through, but Germany is in for a good chunk of years of pain. But remember, they chose this instead of being subservient to Russia. For the short term they will have suck. Long term I think it will be beneficial getting off the Russian energy tit. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2022-10-14 13:33 |
| #19 #11 ^2/3 of the world population you call toads Actually, Dale, it’s 80% of the world’s population that agrees with Macron, and Musk, and Trump that the US should resume negotiations. As has been pointed out here, Trump and Musk are just following US public opinion. Two-thirds of Americans agree with this approach — including over two-thirds of Biden’s own party and nearly two-thirds of Republicans. |
| Posted by: Chaim 2022-10-14 13:30 |
| #18 give me 500 Deutsche marks Heh. You’ll take 1/2 a hectare of Deutsche Wald and like it. It’s a scarce resource, after all How to Rescue the German Forest It’s in the blut, so to speak: “Der Deutsche Wald" (The German Forest) has special significance for the country's sociocultural identity. It is the backdrop to historical and to national myths and a metaphor for Germanic culture. It became the landscape of longing in Romantic poems, fairy tales, and legends since the beginning of the 19th century. And in Nazi ideology, the motif of the "German forest" had its place in propaganda comparable to "blood and soil.” |
| Posted by: Chaim 2022-10-14 13:23 |
| #17 "fresh Russian troops" lol , I've seen quite a few who looked to be at least in there 60's . |
| Posted by: Chris 2022-10-14 13:13 |
| #16 #8 Or as Laura Bush said: Got wood? Or as W said, Got wood if you got bush! Please pay me 500 Deutsche marks for that joke. |
| Posted by: Thinegum Tholutle9363 2022-10-14 13:13 |
| #15 Germany chose to …go into a recession Try again, mein freund. The word is DEINDUSTRIALIZATION, and it’s obvious to any competent economist or businessman. Germany ads an industrial power is screwed if this war lasts much longer. Germany faces a looming threat of deindustrialisation THE ECONOMIST Sep 11, 2022 Energy Prices Trigger Deindustrialization In Germany OilPrice.com Aug 19, 2022 9:30 AM CDT German factories are struggling to cope with soaring energy costs, which may prompt many to leave the country for a cheaper location, Bloomberg has reported, citing industry sources. "Energy inflation is way more dramatic here than elsewhere," Ralf Stoffels, chief executive of BIW Isolierstoffe, a silicon parts supplier to a range of industries. "I fear a gradual deindustrialization of the German economy." Idled plants fuel German angst about de-industrialisation Florian CAZERES Agence France Presse Tue, October 11, 2022 The familiar plume of smoke no longer billows from one of the two chimneys at ArcelorMittal's massive steelworks in Hamburg's harbour. Soaring energy prices have forced operators to partially idle the plant, adding to fears that Germany's industrial companies, the backbone of Europe's biggest economy, are facing an existential threat. Germany is already bracing for a recession as the energy crisis triggered by Russia's war in Ukraine takes its toll, and the latest government forecasts on Wednesday will likely make grim reading. |
| Posted by: Chaim 2022-10-14 13:07 |
| #14 #12 Dale, wipe your chin. Still got some Putie spunk on it. Gotta love that civil, well-reasoned dialogue! |
| Posted by: Thinegum Tholutle9363 2022-10-14 12:53 |
| #13 China has a choice: North American and European markets or Russia |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-10-14 12:02 |
| #12 Dale, wipe your chin. Still got some Putie spunk on it. 2/3 of the world friends... please. India is only out for India and how has plenty of cheap oil and is cutting back on purchases. China made Putin kowtow to it and he got Jack/shit in return. China pulled back support and still got frozen out of the world chip market so expect them to publicly chew out Russia in the future. They will continue to pull in food and what oil they can as they are dependent on imports to survive as they can't produce enough on their own. Not exactly friends. More like extortionists taking advantage of a country in distress. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2022-10-14 11:36 |
| #11 ^2/3 of the world population you call toads. You drink too freely from the western cup of propaganda. Reality can be a bitter brew but I chose reality and commonsense. Continue to be coned and believe what you believe. Follow group think. Western manipulation of other nations is no longer accepted. In history this has occurred many times and always at some point ends. When we chose paper money we could print whatever was needed. Overextended with military conflict in many parts of the world (for many years now) eventually exhausts any nation. |
| Posted by: Dale 2022-10-14 11:20 |
| #10 Russia gave Germany the choice to continue their economic model and be neutral, or support Ukraine and go into a recession. Germany chose to support Ukraine. That says a lot about the German character right there. They have lots of allies and while they have a hard decade or less retooling, they have friends. Russia only has toadies... and weak ones at that. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2022-10-14 10:29 |
| #9 And yes FrankG, you're right. Must be a Sliders episode I missed. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-10-14 10:20 |
| #8 Or as Bush said: Got wood? |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-10-14 10:19 |
| #7 We own a small forest. Bring it on. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-10-14 10:17 |
| #6 reality: Germany: Stockpiling wood in fear of gas shortage By Mathis Richtmann Deutsche Welle dw.com Reality is really really cold: Germany goes back to coal as energy crisis deepens | Amid an energy crisis, Germany turns to world’s dirtiest fossil fuel NPR Sept 27, 2022 |
| Posted by: Chaim 2022-10-14 09:58 |
| #5 Dale and Palermo are living in an alternate reality, EC |
| Posted by: Frank G 2022-10-14 09:46 |
| #4 Those "fresh Russian troops" don't look that fresh to me. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-10-14 08:51 |
| #3 A face not even his mother would love... if she knew him. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-10-14 08:49 |
| #2 ^ Yes, he is well received by the troops of Russia. Shock and awe for sure. Wagner and others have done well but now the fresh Russian troops of some 300 thousand are ready to act. Being a lawyer Putin had to follow Russian rule of law that restricted him from going all out in the beginning with only 20,000 Russian forces. He had to balance his efforts also to hold onto support from India and China especially. Low numbers of Russian lives lost was a priority. Contrast with Ukraine losses that have been staggering. That is why we have troops on the ground now as well as several other NATO countries. Yet, we have the time to go into Haiti. We will only hear western media spew its psyops propaganda meanwhile. Western management of this event is as well run as their inflation and energy efforts. Time to clean house in November. Absolutely no holdovers. |
| Posted by: Dale 2022-10-14 08:38 |
| #1 Gloves off. Now the real war begins. Shock & Awe. |
| Posted by: Palermo 2022-10-14 01:24 |