Wednesday, January 25, 2023

A Leopard Is Not a Tiger

©Twitter
Today he stopped "scholzing" crossing a red line. During a parliamentary question time at the German Bundestag (parliament), Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany would deliver 14 Leopard 2 version A6 tanks to Ukraine. The number corresponds to one company.
 
Finally, the caged Leopards are freed, but German tanks on Ukrainian soil? They were last seen in the Battle of Kursk 80 years ago, in August 1943. A nightmare: German Tiger against Russian T 34, and now Leopard against T 90. 

Until today, the delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine was hanging, a cat-and-mouse game. Our chancellor, internationally derided as a cunctator, procrastinated for a long time. Still, he used his time to forge behind the scene an alliance of Western NATO countries for tank deliveries. Poland had jumped the gun with its announcement to supply a company of Leopard 2 to Ukraine. Now the willing members of the NATO tank coalition (Poland, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain) are to provide a total of two battalions, about 90 Leopard 2, to Ukraine. Germany will take over the training of the crews and the logistics of the supply.

At the same time as Olaf Scholz, the Americans announced they would deliver 31 Abrams tanks, while previously, they had hidden behind the argument that this war equipment was too complicated to be usefully deployed in Ukraine.
 
Unloading of Abrams at Gdynia harbor on December 3, 2022 (©tnv24).
Wait a minute. Poland is in the process of receiving 250 M1A2SEPv3 Abrams main battle tanks since the end of 2022. In addition to the battle tanks, the procurement package includes support vehicles, packages for training (including simulators), logistics, and large ammunition stocks. Poland shares a long border with Ukraine, which would facilitate the resupply and repair of Abrams tanks in Ukraine, so the US' initial rejection was probably just a sham.

©ZDF
Olaf Scholz's intention from the beginning was to forge a broad alliance and, above all, to get the Americans, Germany's nuclear protection shield, into the NATO boat.
 
And so it already sounded today from Putin's mouth that the Americans were fomenting the Ukrainian war to bring Russia to its knees. At the same time, he said, "Germans in their American-occupied country are only vicarious agents of the United States." Are we out of Russia's sight, or does Putin want to keep the German door open?

And as was to be expected: after the tank deal was concluded, new demands for heavy warfare equipment, such as F-16 fighter jets and Tornados, immediately came from Ukraine. Chancellor Scholz stated in the Bundestag, "No fighter jets will be delivered to Ukraine, and NATO ground troops are an absolute no-go."

How long will it take before these red lines are crossed as well?
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1 comment:

  1. Ukraine should be the winner, Russia the loser or?

    ReplyDelete