Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles; site uokvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uokvax!lmaher From: lmaher@uokvax.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Female VEEP - (nf) Message-ID: <5000102@uokvax.UUCP> Date: Thu, 2-Aug-84 19:50:00 EDT Article-I.D.: uokvax.5000102 Posted: Thu Aug 2 19:50:00 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 4-Aug-84 23:46:06 EDT References: <193@qusavx.UUCP> Lines: 29 Nf-ID: #R:qusavx:-19300:uokvax:5000102:000:1305 Nf-From: uokvax!lmaher Aug 2 18:50:00 1984 #R:qusavx:-19300:uokvax:5000102:000:1305 uokvax!lmaher Aug 2 18:50:00 1984 /***** uokvax:net.politics / ames!al / 1:06 pm Jul 31, 1984 */ In any case, the party might gut the military. The military is a serious threat to the party's rule. Stalin, you might remember, killed off more than half of the officers in the Red Army in the thirties, one of the reasons Hitler did so well in '41 and '42. /* ---------- */ I just thought I'd dispute this. The military is no threat to the party, because it is entirely dominated by the KGB. On the other hand, every Soviet leader has gained power with the approval of the military, but eventually cuts them back. If they're cut back too far, the backlash *can* hurt the premier, e.g. Khruschev. The enforced lack of initiative hampered the Red Army far more than the purges did. Soviet military doctrine does not allow room for imagination or initiative by junior officers. The Soviet military is certainly aware of the problem (it's *killing* them in Afghanistan), but it's simply too dangerous to train junior officers to think for themselves. During WW 2, Germans reported that Russian soldiers sometimes wouldn't even take advantage of cover unless they recieved orders to do so, and the most common message back to HQ was "What do we do now?" Carl ..!ctvax!uokvax!lmaher