People keep calling Prigozhin "a caterer." Just to be clear, I am not a fan of the man. However, you have to give credit where it is due. The guy ran a company that handled a huge percentage of the Russian government’s food contracts—including supplying food to the Russian military itself: Indeed, his company literally feeds millions of people every day. He is much closer to the CEO of Aramark than a mere caterer: He is not catering weddings and bar mitzvahs the way some would have you believe. He supplies food to Rusisa’s military bases, to Moscow’s public schools, and to government offices. Moreover, his company has managed many military construction projects—even building military bases. He is likely better at logistics than the Russian MOD itself. And war is, to a large extent, logistics. “An army marches on its stomach.”
Peter Zeihan with his constant "he is just a caterer" remarks sounds like a complete idiot. Asshole, do you know how much of military science is about keeping your soldiers supplied and fed? He marched 20K soldiers from Ukriane to within 120 miles of Moscow within a day. That is better than Putin managed going the other way towards Kiev. I actually think Prigozhin is more competent than most of the brass of the Russian army.
Prigozhin has been involved in managing the Wagner PMC for nearly a decade now. He has interacted with professional soldiers and managed military operations. He has a great deal more military experience than most of Russia’s officer corps at this point, only a fraction of which had meaningful experience in Chechnya.
For better or worse, Prigozhin also managed Putin’s “Internet Research Agency,” i.e. his troll farms. Again, this is makes him more than a mere caterer. Indeed, if the left’s account of the 2016 election is to be believed, this makes Prigozhin among the most effective propagandists to have ever lived.
The people who write Prigozhin off as a mere “caterer” are fools. I wish I could be less harsh in my assessment, but just a little bit of background research demonstrates how idiotic this epithet is.