[GK3]

The Putin question remains in the hands of someone who isn't talking.  I am still walking around and I was in high school when Putin was born.  I understand that the drone attacks could help Putin drum up an out pouring of nationalism in favor of the war, but the same event could hit his Siloviki where it really hurts, their pocket book.

It is true that Ukraine taking the war into Russia proper could cost the Siloviki money. The war itself, Ukrainian drone offensives aside, has already cost many of them lots of money. However, the Siloviki are all Putin's creatures. They exist and prosper because of him. They don't trust each other (with good reason) and jockey for position (and profit) among themselves. They have virtually no political power.  If one of them gets out of his lane (or "somebody" says he might), he falls out of a window. These people are similar to the Russian nobility under the Tsars. The rest of the world was always expecting the nobility to "do something" about "bad" Tsars. It never happened. They knew, as the Siloviki know, if the Tsar goes, they go too, and probably faster. They aren't going to do anything to weaken Putin, let alone replace him, no matter what he does.

I also understand Russia never throws anything away and they have lots of old equipment that can be put to work, but do they have enough trained personnel to do that with any kind of speed? Has the so-called "brain drain" really hurt Russia's ability to rapidly rehab older equipment?  It is one thing to have all that stuff, but if the best you can is two or three hundred a year, it may not be enough.;

There are many things in Russia that are affected by emigration/lack of trained personnel. In general, rehabbing old equipment isn't one of them. There are lots of ex-servicemen that worked on ZSU-23-4s for years. Literally tens of thousands. Many of them have died, but there are many still extant. Some are actually young, as the ZSU-23-4 is still used actively by the Russian military.  Getting the people isn't the problem. Russian also has lots of experience with organizing masses of people to do things. It isn't efficient, but if it can be done by "brute force", Russia can do it. If you are talking about upgrades to older equipment, that is a different story.

We in the west are always surprised how Russia keeps doing things we thought they couldn't. If they did it the way we would attack the same task, they probably couldn't do it. However, their approach is different and "works" for them. For example, Russia has greatly expanded (at least doubled) it's production of artillery shells by creating factories in old shopping malls (among other similar expedients). Of course, that is unsafe for the surrounding populace, but they don't care. They are now producing twice as many shells, today, as NATO estimated they could. We of course have contracts in place that will double our production in 2025 :-(. Russia is just "different".

Good point that Putin et al are just the Tsar in different clothing.
I guess going from the Czar, to Stalin and his subsequent successors now gives us Putin pretending he is leading a free society.  The people simply having known much else.

[GK3]

The Putin question remains in the hands of someone who isn't talking.  I am still walking around and I was in high school when Putin was born.  I understand that the drone attacks could help Putin drum up an out pouring of nationalism in favor of the war, but the same event could hit his Siloviki where it really hurts, their pocket book.

It is true that Ukraine taking the war into Russia proper could cost the Siloviki money. The war itself, Ukrainian drone offensives aside, has already cost many of them lots of money. However, the Siloviki are all Putin's creatures. They exist and prosper because of him. They don't trust each other (with good reason) and jockey for position (and profit) among themselves. They have virtually no political power.  If one of them gets out of his lane (or "somebody" says he might), he falls out of a window. These people are similar to the Russian nobility under the Tsars. The rest of the world was always expecting the nobility to "do something" about "bad" Tsars. It never happened. They knew, as the Siloviki know, if the Tsar goes, they go too, and probably faster. They aren't going to do anything to weaken Putin, let alone replace him, no matter what he does.

I also understand Russia never throws anything away and they have lots of old equipment that can be put to work, but do they have enough trained personnel to do that with any kind of speed? Has the so-called "brain drain" really hurt Russia's ability to rapidly rehab older equipment?  It is one thing to have all that stuff, but if the best you can is two or three hundred a year, it may not be enough.;

There are many things in Russia that are affected by emigration/lack of trained personnel. In general, rehabbing old equipment isn't one of them. There are lots of ex-servicemen that worked on ZSU-23-4s for years. Literally tens of thousands. Many of them have died, but there are many still extant. Some are actually young, as the ZSU-23-4 is still used actively by the Russian military.  Getting the people isn't the problem. Russian also has lots of experience with organizing masses of people to do things. It isn't efficient, but if it can be done by "brute force", Russia can do it. If you are talking about upgrades to older equipment, that is a different story.

We in the west are always surprised how Russia keeps doing things we thought they couldn't. If they did it the way we would attack the same task, they probably couldn't do it. However, their approach is different and "works" for them. For example, Russia has greatly expanded (at least doubled) it's production of artillery shells by creating factories in old shopping malls (among other similar expedients). Of course, that is unsafe for the surrounding populace, but they don't care. They are now producing twice as many shells, today, as NATO estimated they could. We of course have contracts in place that will double our production in 2025 :-(. Russia is just "different".

Good point that Putin et al are just the Tsar in different clothing.
I guess going from the Czar, to Stalin and his subsequent successors now gives us Putin pretending he is leading a free society.  The people simply having known much else.