Once again, the unbridled (verbal) commitment to “do whatever it takes” to ensure a victory for Ukraine and the reality total support are two different things.
The current diplomatic battle among allied nations is over tanks. The Ukraine President is begging for more tanks as the best ground weapon to push Russian troops out of every inch of Ukrainian soil. There is no shortage of tanks that could be made available to Zelenskyy – but they are being held up by needless diplomatic wrangling.
The United States, Germany, and Finland have all offered to supply tanks IF the other nations will also agree to do so. (Poland will send them unilaterally, but the supply is limited.) Since the key nations have indicated a willingness to provide the tanks, it should be a no brainer.
But someone is holding up the process. It is not even easy to tell who that might be – unless you can eavesdrop on the secret phone conversations between the decision makers.
In monitoring the various reports on the subject, it SEEMS that Germany expressed the initial reluctance to ship their tanks to Ukraine. Berlin has been among the most reluctant nation to support the war in Ukraine – although they have been more supportive than was initially believed. Some speculate that it is that damn Russian oil Germany got hooked on.
You may recall that Trump was highly critical of the oil dealing between Berlin and Moscow – and refused to approve the second Nord Stream Pipeline. Upon assuming office, Biden gave the construction the green light.
At one point, Finland agreed to send tanks if Germany and the United States would also send tanks. Germany seemed to soften its opposition and apparently agreed to send tanks IF the United States would approve some of our tanks.
Instead of calling it a deal – as we might have expected – the Biden administration said that American tanks were not suitable for the Ukraine War. That has been refuted by former European Allied Commander General Wesley Clark.
Since tanks are a fundamental weapon of ground warfare, it is difficult to understand why tanks would not be useful wherever there is … ground. Especially lots of flat ground like the topography of Ukraine.
Some of the armchair war experts on the telly have suggested that the West’s highly effective tanks could be used as an offensive weapon – and would piss off Putin. If Ukraine’s goal is to drive the Russian forces out of the country, they have to mount an offensive – which would certainly piss off Putin.
I suppose if you had the Russian military on the run, you could drive those tanks over the Russian border, but that does not make a lot of sense. If Zelenskyy needs to attack Mother Russia to take out missile installations, ammunition depots, and military bases feeding the war effort, that is best accomplished with missiles and fighter jets (which the United States refuses to provide).
General Clark is among the military leaders who believe that to defeat Russia, Ukraine desperately needs more equipment, weapons and munitions.
I am guessing that the decision will be made to send the tanks Zelenskyy has asked for. It is just a pity they have to get bogged down in the mud of international diplomacy — as men, women, and children are dying every day. If the tanks are not sent, that is a tragedy that exposes the hypocrisy of the West’s commitment to “doing whatever it takes” to win the War for the good guys.
So, there ‘tis.
AUTHOR NOTE: As predicted in the commentary, it appears that the tanks-for-Ukraine deal has been approved. The initial objection by the United States – and the Abrams M1 tanks are too complicated – has been resolved. Actually, that excuse was bs in the first place. When the Abrams tanks were first introduced the major advantage was how easy there were to operate. I can attest to that since I arranged for a delegation of Chicago business leader to get briefed, and we all got to drive the tanks around the test course after 10 minutes of instruction. We also participated in a demonstration of their fire power. Sending them is the right thing to do – but why is Biden always a little late on fulfillment?