The Month Companies United Against Russia’s War March 19, 2022 By Taegan Goddard
Wall Street Journal: “Two years after the Covid-19 pandemic tore into the global economy, business leaders have had to confront another crisis that left them racing to protect staff, untangle supply-chain snarls and revamp operations around the world. It has also required each company to rethink its future in Russia, a country of 150 million people and vast natural resources, whose army is now waging a bloody war.”
“This time, companies were more prepared. The pandemic had given leaders a crisis playbook. Years of corporate activism on issues such as climate change and racial discrimination had trained them to respond to a range of issues. The invasion took many by surprise, but they reacted quickly to what was a potentially fatal threat to their employees and also a reputational threat to their businesses.”
China also has a demographic problem; I remember that a couple of years ago they reduced the size of their armed forces due to a decrease in the working/military age population.
Well, nothing was ever going to be the same again, period. . . but Covid, once it is over, will certainly be an unusually large factor. It isn't so far at the scale of the "1918" flu, but is certainly the worst pandemic in living memory.
TPM: Thinking About the News Coverage [Click] The part above the paywall is enough; main point is that the NYT is doing a poor job of covering the actual news, which is itself not news in my opinion.
Via Talking Points Memo (I can't figure out how to link to it):
The former US military commander and CIA chief, David Petraeus, has been talking to CNN about how Ukrainians are taking out Russian generals. Since this report was broadcast, Ukraine claims to have killed six Russian general to date.
Petraeus said:
It’s very, very, very, very uncommon [for generals to be killed]. This is in the first three weeks. And these are quite senior generals. The bottom line is that their command-and-control has broken down. Their communications have been jammed by the Ukrainians. Their secure comms didn’t work. They had to go to single channel. That’s jammable. And that’s exactly what the Ukrainians have been doing to that. They use cellphones. The Ukrainians blocked the prefix for Russia so that didn’t work. Then they took down 3G. They’re literally stealing cell phones from Ukrainian civilians to communicate among each other.
So, what happens? The column gets stopped. An impatient general is sitting back there in his armoured or whatever vehicle. He goes forward to find out what’s going on because there’s no initiative. Again, there’s no noncommissioned officer corps. There’s no sense of initiative at junior levels. They wait to be told what to do. Gets up there. And the Ukrainians have very, very good snipers, and they have just been picking them off left and right. And at least four of these five are absolutely confirmed. And I think the fifth, we will hear today.
The Month Companies United Against Russia’s War
ReplyDeleteMarch 19, 2022 By Taegan Goddard
Wall Street Journal: “Two years after the Covid-19 pandemic tore into the global economy, business leaders have had to confront another crisis that left them racing to protect staff, untangle supply-chain snarls and revamp operations around the world. It has also required each company to rethink its future in Russia, a country of 150 million people and vast natural resources, whose army is now waging a bloody war.”
“This time, companies were more prepared. The pandemic had given leaders a crisis playbook. Years of corporate activism on issues such as climate change and racial discrimination had trained them to respond to a range of issues. The invasion took many by surprise, but they reacted quickly to what was a potentially fatal threat to their employees and also a reputational threat to their businesses.”
This is really an amazingly wonderful outcome of the dread Covid...!
DeleteRussia Last Stand in Ukraine; Demographics and Education [Click]
ReplyDeleteChina also has a demographic problem; I remember that a couple of years ago they reduced the size of their armed forces due to a decrease in the working/military age population.
DeleteSame analyst: The End of Russian Oil | Peter Zeihan on Halliburton Exit [Click]
DeleteNohing will ever be the same again after COVID-19.
ReplyDeleteWell, nothing was ever going to be the same again, period. . . but Covid, once it is over, will certainly be an unusually large factor. It isn't so far at the scale of the "1918" flu, but is certainly the worst pandemic in living memory.
DeleteI'd settle for there actually being an AFTER-Covid. Omicron B2 puts that in doubt again.
DeleteTPM:
ReplyDeleteThinking About the News Coverage [Click] The part above the paywall is enough; main point is that the NYT is doing a poor job of covering the actual news, which is itself not news in my opinion.
Via Talking Points Memo (I can't figure out how to link to it):
ReplyDeleteThe former US military commander and CIA chief, David Petraeus, has been talking to CNN about how Ukrainians are taking out Russian generals. Since this report was broadcast, Ukraine claims to have killed six Russian general to date.
Petraeus said:
It’s very, very, very, very uncommon [for generals to be killed]. This is in the first three weeks. And these are quite senior generals. The bottom line is that their command-and-control has broken down. Their communications have been jammed by the Ukrainians. Their secure comms didn’t work. They had to go to single channel. That’s jammable. And that’s exactly what the Ukrainians have been doing to that. They use cellphones. The Ukrainians blocked the prefix for Russia so that didn’t work. Then they took down 3G. They’re literally stealing cell phones from Ukrainian civilians to communicate among each other.
So, what happens? The column gets stopped. An impatient general is sitting back there in his armoured or whatever vehicle. He goes forward to find out what’s going on because there’s no initiative. Again, there’s no noncommissioned officer corps. There’s no sense of initiative at junior levels. They wait to be told what to do. Gets up there. And the Ukrainians have very, very good snipers, and they have just been picking them off left and right. And at least four of these five are absolutely confirmed. And I think the fifth, we will hear today.
Oops--that was from The Guardian, not TPM.
DeleteNo time now to check, but this seems to be the CNN interview referred to. [Click]
DeleteI had been wondering how generals could be close enough to the front lines to be picked off.
DeleteIt is my understanding that Putin ordered them to get up front and do something. . .
Delete"It is my understanding that Putin ordered them to get up front and do something. . ."
DeleteWell...they did.
The cost of blind loyalty.
Russia denies cosmonauts board space station in Ukrainian colours [Click] "Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.” ——Anonymous
ReplyDelete👍
DeleteWar has highlighted the geopolitical folly of Britain’s departure from the EU [Click]
ReplyDelete