Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with his new German counterpart in Berlin on Thursday as there is mounting pressure on Germany to sign off on the delivery of tanks to Ukraine.
Poland and Finland are ready to send their German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, but the delivery requires Berlin’s approval, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is hesitant to grant it.
According to multiple reports, Scholz said Wednesday that he would only sign off on sending the Leopard if the US is willing to send M1 Abrams tanks, but the Pentagon said this week the US is “not there yet,” citing the difficulty in maintaining the Abrams. However, Germany’s new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said he wasn’t “aware of any such stipulation” when asked about Scholz’s comments.
The US justification for sending the Leopards instead is that there are multiple countries that have fleets of the German-made tanks, making spare parts more available to Kyiv. A Pentagon official told The Washington Post that Austin is hoping to change Berlin’s mind on sending the Leopards.
Austin met with Pistorius, who was sworn in as Germany’s defense minister earlier in the day. He replaced Christine Lambrecht, who resigned after a series of public relations issues that drew heavy domestic criticism.
A decision by Berlin is expected to be made by Friday when Austin is scheduled to chair a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Scholz has previously said he wouldn’t send tanks to Ukraine because he was trying to avoid a direct clash between Russia and NATO.
But the US appears to be much less concerned about escalation as it plans to announce a new massive aid package worth $2.5 billion. While the US hasn’t committed to sending its Abrams tanks to Ukraine, it has pledged to send Bradley Fighting Vehicles. Germany is sending a similar vehicle, known as the Marder.
“Peace” through heavy tanks is the peace of a vast graveyard at best, a permanent end to humanity at worst. Aren’t high stakes dice games fun?
You have a way with words…
Wow, here is Amerika, just openly strong-arming folks into fueling this war. Great.
It is as if folks can not understand that ‘Germany’, maybe, could be a bit leery of sending panzers to fight ‘Russia’. Maybe a bit of historical doubt as to the wisdom. :-/
Certainly Russia will send all of these tasks to the scrap yard in short order. Yes, Germany has some history with tank warfare but this current war with Russia will not be fought with tanks. Once the missiles start flying this war will be over in about an hour. No more USA, no more Germany, no more Russia, that has been the Zionist game plan all along.
I look forward to this humiliating defeat.
Leave Germany alone to make up their own minds. Poland is a true shyster here; “willing” to “donate” their old Leopards to Ukraine, as long as Germany or the US will “make them whole” by either replacing (with brand new models, at no coat to Poland) the “donated” tanks, or funding Poland’s planned purchase of new South Korean K2 tanks for them. Win-Win for Poland. They tried the same nonsense with their old fighters (that they originally got from Germany for 1 euro apiece). When Poland starts “donating” weapons they actually paid for maybe I’ll take them seriously.
germany is being the idiot here. in reality they need to trade with russia for natural gas and timber and minerals. oh wait, that’s what they used to do.
and why would russia want to invade europe when they already have more land area than they can manage right now.
No tanks.
At least, so far.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-calls-countries-dig-deeper-ukraine-pressure-builds-tanks-2023-01-20/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/no-tanks-for-ukraine-at-the-ramstein-meeting/ar-AA16yUaa?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=6a62b23ab58449538057cb29aff0bf04
Lloyd Austin in Berlin to push death.
Could be that tanks are just a distraction. The Ukraine is clearly on the strategic defensive. It needs more artillery, not more tanks. And that is what is it being given, and why:
https://bigserge.substack.com/p/russo-ukrainian-war-the-world-blood?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Ukrainian officials admit that their artillery is outgunned by 9 to 1 in critical sectors of the front. Russia deploys a cutting edge counterbattery system and increased numbers of Lancet drones. The Russian MoD claims that they have been hunting and destroying Ukrainian artillery systems in large numbers. NATO has hurried to put together a massive package of artillery systems for Ukraine. The United States is raiding critical forward-deployed stockpiles to supply Ukraine with shells. I personally think it is reasonable, given all of this, to assume that Ukraine’s artillery arm has been largely shattered, and NATO is attempting to rebuild it yet again….
My suggestion would simply be that NATO does not believe in Ukrainian victory. Ukraine cannot even dream of dislodging Russia from its position without an adequate tank force, and so the reticence to hand over tanks suggests that NATO thinks that this is only a dream anyway. Instead, they continue to prioritize weaponry that sustains Ukraine’s ability to fight a static defense (hence, the hundreds of artillery pieces) without indulging in flights of fancy about a great Ukrainian armored thrust into Crimea.
Of course, there is always the chance of the following, instead:
However, given the intense war fever that has built up in the west, it’s possible that political momentum imposes the choice upon us. It is possible that we have reached the point where the tail wags the dog, that NATO is trapped in its own rhetoric of unequivocal support until Ukraine wins a total victory, and we may yet see Leopard 2A4s burning on the steppe.
Now that we blew up Nord Stream 2 and made Western Europe dependent on the US for oil supplies, I’m sure Germany (and its neighbors, who can supply peer pressure) can be brought to understand the reality of their present situation. When will these nations learn to not trust Washington?