The Pentagon on Tuesday said Poland’s offer to transfer all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to a US base in Germany from where they could be sent to Ukraine is not “tenable.”
Poland made the offer after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Warsaw had the “green light” to send the MiG-29s to Ukraine. By offering to send the planes to Germany, Poland signaled that it does not want to use its territory to transfer the planes to Ukraine over concerns of provoking Russia.
In a statement on the Polish offer, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said sending warplanes from Germany into Ukraine could be too risky. “The prospect of fighter jets ‘at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America’ departing from a US/NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance,” he said.
“It is simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for it. We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one,” Kirby added.
Kirby’s statement makes it clear that the US understands sending warplanes into Ukraine could be viewed as the US directly entering the conflict, which raises questions about why Blinken suggested Poland could do it. As a NATO ally, if Polish warplanes or airbases are attacked by Russia, it could trigger the alliance’s Article 5 collective defense clause.
I’d have loved to see war planes flown by NATO pilots being shot down as they enter a war zone. Don’t the Russians have the right to shoot at the planes before the planes are used to fire at them?
NATO couldn’t start a war against Russia over that, so it would be a severe defeat. Not good for a president’s ratings.
And what would the planes be used for anyway? The bulk of the coup regime’s forces are trapped in eastern Ukraine, nothing can change that. The only thing stopping Russia from taking Kiev right now is that they want to avoid casualties. But they have pretty much won the war, as both sides agree Kiev is essential.
What this means is that the White House – meaning the neocons in the State Department and White House – are fighting the Pentagon which wants no part of being involved in a war with Russia over Ukraine. Once again, we see that Biden isn’t actually running the government – the neocons are and the Pentagon is opposed. The Pentagon has seen the thirty NATO war games that show NATO losing in any war with Russia. They know the only way NATO wins is the US starting WWIII. They want no part of that.
More planes, more weapons more foreign volunteers to fight in Ukraine will not end the devastation in that country, it will only prolong it and risking nuclear confrontation with Russia. Another endless war? This war can be ended overnight if the Ukrainian regime gives assurances that it will stay neutral, abide by the Minsk Agreement it signed and keep lethal weapons, misiles etc out of the country. These stupid proxy wars only benefits the US ss we have seen so clearly over the last twenty odd years.
US says, “Thank you very much, but no.”
The US, Poland, the UK, France, the whole crew, they have created or allowed Ukraine to create (which amounts to the same thing) a monster! “Somebody” has to do “something” about Russia’s invasion!!! They just HAVE to!!! Twitter agrees. Youtube agrees. Facebook agrees. The MSM agrees. Corporations in general, knowing where their bread is buttered (mostly in N America and W Europe, not Russia), agree.
So, nobody (in the USA or Poland or elsewehere) wants to be the bad guy or the “cowardly Chamberlain-like appeaser” by saying “no” to whatever cockamamie scheme Zelensky comes up with. Zelensky wants a no fly zone. He wants planes. He wants even more severe sanctions. He wants this, that, and the other. And, well, all of the above actors have decided that Zelensky is Churchill Junior. How can they save face while saying to him, “Actually, Mr. President, Ukraine is not a treaty ally of ours, which you knew, or should have known, all along. We have no obligation to do even the things we are doing, much less do things that might actually risk a shooting war between us and Russia. So, with all due respect, um, yeah, that ain’t happening.” They know it, Zelensky (again, if he has even half a brain) knows it, and the Russians know it; but do Mr and Ms Outraged Western Consumer of Social Media know it?
Hence the Kabuki theater back and forth passing of the buck.
I think I would like to see you in Court…. 🙂
Nicely summed up and I completely agree with you. The “Z-Man” is driving me nuts. He is entirely exhausting and takes up too much space on the page…
Why don’t the Poles fly the planes over Ukraine themselves, if they want to get their noses into it?
back to my old name
Ukraine is flying their aircraft out of the country to avoid being destroyed, this MIG-29 plan seems poorly thought out.