# Question arising from the latest dead Russian general **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2023, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912 "2023-07-11T20:07:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/21 "2023-07-12T13:27:23Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > I do wonder with all the precision attacks in Ukraine, whether there is some AWACs circling in safe airpace feeding the Ukrainians with interesting info, plus assorted satellite data and radio tech given to the Ukraines. No need to wonder. > **[Flying just outside Ukraine, NATO's sentinel planes warn of Russia's...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/flying-with-nato-awacs-1.6619471)** > > Come aboard one of NATO’s planes where surveillance operators use the sophisticated Airborne Warning and Control System to peer deep inside wartime Ukraine and quietly provide a near real-time picture of Russian forces. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/22 "2023-07-12T15:08:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > It’s pretty neat to finish a bike ride and see stuff like: > > A) Somebody tagged a particular section of your ride “winding uphill slog” > B) your time for “winding uphill slog” > C) Your ranking against everyone else who has made that ride recently, including your personal bests I’ve been using Strava for many years now and I can actually track my performance over the years for rides I do often. I call tell the year I broke my leg and how long that recovery way, the year I was overwhelmed with work and life and didn’t ride nearly enough, the time I was training for a monster ride, etc. And sometimes I look back and say “how the heck was I so fast that day?” and then I assume I had a great tailwind. And I do love the rankings and I can see how I’ve done against all my friends. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/23 "2023-07-12T18:33:25Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > No need to wonder. Yes, I vaguely recalled something about AWACS. Plus, there was a drone over the Black Sea that documented Russian plane snagging it. The article doesn’t mention anything except radar signatures, but my understanding is that AWACS is a full-fledged listening post able to identify, listen, locate and categorize many different electronic signatures. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/24 "2023-07-12T19:37:53Z")
The US has a lot of interesting sensor platforms other than AWACs. Tracking air vehicles in flight is AWACS’ big mission, but it does (or did in my era) have some pretty good ESM capabilities. I’d not be surprised to learn there’s a bunch of other platforms deployed over there more or less hiding in the shadows surrounding the glaring PR about AWACS. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/25 "2023-07-12T19:53:10Z")
In addition, all of this information is being analyzed by the Pentagon and fed back to the Ukrainians in the form of coordinated, useful information with instructions on how to best utilize it. We are supplying the brainpower and Ukraine is supplying the muscle, blood and guts of the operation. They are certainty also getting satellite information and sharing information from contacts on the ground and in Russia. Location of command centers and the Russian commanders is definitly something we would share. This is war. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/26 "2023-07-12T20:01:12Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > We are supplying the brainpower and Ukraine is supplying the muscle, blood and guts of the operation. To be fair, Ukraine is providing a lot of brainpower, too. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/27 "2023-07-12T20:04:02Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > > Rzhitsky apparently had a profile under his full name on Strava, an app for runners and cyclists to share their routes, distances, and paces. > > Why, says the reclusive techno-peasant, is there an app for putting that info up? Why would I want to share all that info with the world? I had a bit of a laugh when I read that, because this is actually a plot point in one of the GTA V Online heist missions. A secret agent who is generally portrayed as a loud-mouthed idiot gets himself kidnapped because he does the same thing. “What’s the point in running if no one knows you’re doing it?”, he asks at one point. Life really shouldn’t imitate _stupid_ art. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/28 "2023-07-12T20:13:14Z")
> I’m only as good as the adulation of my fans tells me I am. A common enough failing of actual celebrities, but a pretty vapid philosophy to have most of society adopt. Vapid _and_ dangerous, as failure before your fans, or failure to even attract fans, often leads to depression and other self-destructive behaviors. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/29 "2023-07-13T01:29:13Z")
The have arrested a suspect. A 64 year old man. > **[Suspect arrested in killing of a former Russian submarine captain who...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/suspect-arrested-killing-former-russian-154307698.html)** > > A 64-year-old man has been arrested in southern Russia for the shooting death of a former submarine commander who is alleged by some in Ukraine to have killed more than 20 civilians in a long-range missile strike last year. Sergei Denisenko was... ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/30 "2023-07-13T03:25:43Z")
Another day, Russia is down _another_ general. At least this one isn’t dead, Major General Ivan Popov, commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army was dismissed from his command. Surely for incompetence in his duties, right? Nope. Telling the truth. > **[Analysis: Ukraine rolls back 6 months of Russian gains in 5 weeks](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/12/analysis-ukraine-rolls-back-6-months-of-russian-gains-in-5-weeks)** > > Assessment of Ukraine’s counteroffensive suggests it has retaken 253sq km (98sq miles) of its territory since June. > Russian morale has been an issue elsewhere on the front as well. > > Two Russian sources said Russian [Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/12/who-is-russias-new-ukraine-war-commander-valery-gerasimov) dismissed Major General Ivan Popov, commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army (CAA), after the latter complained a rotation of his men facing a Ukrainian counteroffensive south of Orikhiv in the western Zaporizia region was long overdue. The 58th CAA has reportedly been on the front lines since October. > > The reports appeared to confirm a suspected lack of strategic Russian war reserves. [Senior Russian general in Ukraine says he was dismissed after criticizing lack of support for troops (cnn.com)](https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-07-12-23/index.html) > In a voice note, Popov said that he raised questions about “the lack of counter-battery combat, the absence of artillery reconnaissance stations and the mass deaths and injuries of our brothers from enemy artillery. I also raised a number of other problems and expressed it all at the highest level frankly and extremely harshly.” > > Popov said that the Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu then dismissed him. > > The public resignation or dismissal of such a senior officer amid an open dispute over the conduct of the Russian campaign is unprecedented, according to analysts. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/31 "2023-07-13T04:59:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > It’s pretty neat to finish a bike ride and see stuff like: > > A) Somebody tagged a particular section of your ride “winding uphill slog” > B) your time for “winding uphill slog” > C) Your ranking against everyone else who has made that ride recently, including your personal bests [The most interesting thing I found in the “Strava as opensource intel” rabbit hole I went down tied into this.](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-61879383) After the US learned “tell the dang marines to turn off the sharing features”, Israel also learned. But even locking down all sharing doesn’t disable the leaderboards on the “winding uphill slog” segment, unless you specifically opt out (I think each time you run it?). So someone uploaded competition tracking segments on various Israeli secure locations. Only Mossad members can go for a lunch time jog inside their compound, so anyone showing up on the leaderboard is of interest to people who don’t like them. Even if you’ve locked things down, your info still showed up until Strava was contacted by counterintelligence people. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/32 "2023-07-13T13:06:12Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > > The public resignation or dismissal of such a senior officer amid an open dispute over the conduct of the Russian campaign is unprecedented, according to analysts. The above is an excerpt from the CNN article posted by @Dissonance. Perhaps unprecedented in Russian / Soviet practice. IIRC Hitler and Hussein each dismissed commanders over being the bearers of real (= bad) news. Perhaps the openness is the bigger deal or bigger difference. The USN famously tried to cashier the Captain of the aircraft carrier _Theodore Roosevelt_ for calling publicly for the USN to stop the early COVID epidemic then raging on his ship. > **[COVID-19 pandemic on USS Theodore Roosevelt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_on_USS_Theodore_Roosevelt)** > > The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, was detected on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in March 2020 while she was at sea. Affected crew members were evacuated and the ship was ordered to Guam. The captain, Brett Crozier, wanted most of the crew to be removed from the ship to prevent the spread of the disease, but his superiors were reluctant. After several days Crozier e-mailed three of his superior officers and seven o... ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/33 "2023-07-13T18:09:36Z")
Strava is also great for coordinating meetups. I run with a group out of my local running store on Saturday mornings, and the leaders use Strava to demonstrate the route, which changes every week. Very useful for my slow, arthritic ass, as I’m usually running solo by the first half mile, and Strava helps me stay on course when the young, fit, fast people are out of sight. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912/34 "2023-07-13T18:46:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The USN famously tried to cashier the Captain of the aircraft carrier _Theodore Roosevelt_ for calling publicly for the USN to stop the early COVID epidemic then raging on his ship. Ah, yes, the _Crozier Affair_… The official story is, I believe, that he wasn’t fired for speaking truth to power, but rather for failing to do his utmost to do his duty to prevent the spread of the virus on his ship. So, more of an Admiral Byng situation (but I do still think it’s apt to call it something like a cashiering). > **[The Crozier Affair](https://songsofbabylon.com/2020/06/25/the-crozier-affair/)** > > Was he wrong? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-arising-from-the-latest-dead-russian-general/986912.md?page=1)