No Polish MIGs for Ukraine?
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You'd think that the diplomats and government professionals would have had a discussion about this before any announcement was made.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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You'd think that the diplomats and government professionals would have had a discussion about this before any announcement was made.
@George-K said in No Polish MIGs for Ukraine?:
You'd think that the diplomats and government professionals would have had a discussion about this before any announcement was made.
I suspect Poland offering to do this via NATO was them trying to pressure/shame the US and remaining NATO members into getting more involved.
It sounds like a pretty dodgy idea to me - if NATO starts attacking Russia, things could get very ugly.
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The deal was F-16's for MIG's, with the MIG's being funneled to Ukraine on lend/lease.
Too many big mouths, too little op-security.
“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton
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Does Putin draw a line between intelligence and material support vs actual boots on the ground (or in the air?)
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Does Putin draw a line between intelligence and material support vs actual boots on the ground (or in the air?)
@LuFins-Dad said in No Polish MIGs for Ukraine?:
Does Putin draw a line between intelligence and material support vs actual boots on the ground (or in the air?)
NATO is supplying Ukraine with Stingers, Javelins, intelligence, ammo, etc, etc, etc.
But the line is drawn at aircraft.
It's the "we're arguing about price" argument.
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You'd think that the diplomats and government professionals would have had a discussion about this before any announcement was made.
@George-K said in No Polish MIGs for Ukraine?:
You'd think that the diplomats and government professionals would have had a discussion about this before any announcement was made.
I guess that Poland wanted to create some kind of pressure by making this public unilaterally.
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The deal was F-16's for MIG's, with the MIG's being funneled to Ukraine on lend/lease.
Too many big mouths, too little op-security.
@Jolly said in No Polish MIGs for Ukraine?:
The deal was F-16's for MIG's, with the MIG's being funneled to Ukraine on lend/lease.
Too many big mouths, too little op-security.
Exactly. I would add that some lawyers and bean counters - probably on the Polish side - also became unnecessarily involved.
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It turns out the U.S. decision to deny Polish MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine is even worse than we wrote Thursday. The White House is now confirming that the decision went all the way up to President Biden, who vetoed the jet delivery lest it provoke Vladimir Putin and risk escalating the war.
The logic seems to be that sending lethal anti-aircraft and antitank weapons won’t provoke the Russian, but 28 fixed-wing aircraft would. That distinction is hard to parse, especially when the Pentagon is also saying that the Ukrainians don’t need the jets because their other weapons are more effective. So sending less lethal aircraft will lead to World War III, but not arms that are really deadly?
The bigger problem is the message this fiasco sends to Mr. Putin about NATO. The essence of credible deterrence is making an adversary believe that taking certain actions will draw a response. By so ostentatiously not sending the fighters, and saying the reason is fear of escalation, Mr. Biden is telling the Russian what he doesn’t have to worry about. Instead of deterring Mr. Putin, Mr. Biden is letting the Russian deter the U.S.
This is becoming a pattern with the Commander in Chief. In Afghanistan he demanded a quick and dirty exit by a date certain lest he provoke the Taliban who had taken over the government. The result was an American humiliation that may have influenced Mr. Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
This month the Administration stopped the scheduled test of a U.S. nuclear missile after Mr. Putin issued a vague nuclear threat. The test had nothing to do with Ukraine, and Russia knew about it, but the Biden Pentagon stopped the test anyway. That’s another blow to the credibility of U.S. deterrence.
Meanwhile, Mr. Putin is escalating his Ukraine assault in any case. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov admitted Thursday that the Russians deliberately targeted the maternity hospital in Mariupol. Mr. Putin knows what NATO won’t do to stop him.
