Two Odd Things The Russians Did

 I noticed late yesterday a comment from the Defense Minister of Russia ( Sergei Shoigu).

He says....there will be twelve new military bases established in the western region of Russia.....near Sweden/Finland, and that units would be deployed into this region....by the end of 2022.  This to be a countermeasure against NATO's threat to Russia.

This region between St Petersburg and Helsinki....along the Baltic Sea?  Well....this is civilized and somewhat urbanized (heavily wooded, lets admit).

Lets also go ahead and admit....it's a bit swampy and would remind folks of Minnesota's lakes region.  Yeah.....a lot of mosquitos.

Once you get twenty miles north of St Petersburg?  Well....yeah, that's extremely rural, without that many roads, and you start getting the 'boonies' feeling.....being in the middle of nowhere.

The further north you get....the boonie-index doubles up.  You will find towns there with a thousand to three-thousand people....but it's mostly small-town life, lumber employment, and a fairly isolated lifestyle.

Putting a dozen military posts out there?  My guess is that they've got a list of places along the Fin border which were old USSR bases in the 1970s/1980s, and they intend to drive a couple of trucks up (500 to 1,000 troops each, with a couple of tanks), and put the Russia flag up.....to say base 'X' exists.

They'd show up with paint....some beds....making it a miserable deployment experience.

For Putin's mind, Shoigu has accomplished the job.  The reality of this?  The conscripts will be happy because they aren't deployed to Ukraine, and whoever gets the officer assignments will be bitter over the isolation, but happy they aren't in the Ukraine.

As winter arrives?  This will be a fairly harsh reality to survive.

So onto topic two.....mobilization of Russian men up to age 50.

There's a draft legislation piece in the Duma....which would allow Russian men over the age of forty but under age fifty....to sign up and be  a military service 'worker' (it's labeled like an NCO).  

The odd thing?  No one much talks real basic training or combat training.....you'd mostly be doing common everyday chores.

Passage?  No one says much.  They are arguing about manpower shortages but all of this is really contingent upon the military operation.  If you still have this running by the fall period.....you start to wonder about the national structure and how things will work in 2023.  

If you bring in half-a-million 'old' guys.....who will be doing the normal non-military work....to bring in the normal tax revenue....that the government functions upon?

I hate to suggest it....but this sounds like one of the thesis/white papers that I noted Air Force Captains writing for their masters degree program....suggesting something pretty radical without acknowledging consequences or zero-payback.

For reality TV entertainment value....I will give it a '10'.