I don’t know about you, but, I’m really, really, really, really, really hoping that all the intelligence agencies in the U.S. and Europe have their ducks in a row in terms of thinking that Putin won’t lose his mind over this
Biden says U.S. will send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in major boost to firepower
President Biden announced Wednesday that the U.S. will send 31 top-of-the-line M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine, delivering on a key request from Kyiv that will provide a major boost to Ukrainian firepower over the coming months.
“Today, I’m announcing that the United States will be sending 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, the equivalent of one Ukrainian battalion,” Mr. Biden said at the White House, flanked by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The security package is worth roughly $400 million, the Pentagon said.
The move comes after Germany said it would quickly provide 14 of its own Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allow Western partners to re-export their own, a move that Mr. Biden praised. France, the U.K., Finland, the Netherlands and other nations are also sending key security assistance, Mr. Biden noted, emphasizing that the United States’ move is part of a concerted effort by Western allies.
Again, this has been going on for a year. When do we stop dumping money and material into it? Is there any strategic purpose? The M1 is a complicated tank. What about training? How long will that take? Will we have advisors in Ukraine teaching them, being in harm’s way? What about shell replacement? Parts? What does Putin do with NATO dropping lots of tanks into Ukraine?
“Today’s announcement builds on the hard work and commitment from countries around the world, led by the United States of America, to help Ukraine defend its sovereignty and its territorial integrity,” Mr. Biden said. “That’s what this is about, helping Ukraine protect and defend Ukrainian land. It is not an offensive threat to Russia. There is no offensive threat to Russia. If Russian troops return to Russia … where they belong, this war would be over today.”
They’re defending, but, not booting Russia out. It just keeps going and going.
(Politico) In the weeks after Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Christmastime visit to Washington, U.S., German and other European leaders became locked in an increasingly ugly tit-for-tat over whether to send tanks to Ukraine. As language got heated behind the scenes, neither the U.S. nor Germany would budge — even as the standoff exposed a rare breach between two of Kyiv’s biggest backers.
Ultimately, President Joe Biden decided it was more important to show a unified front and send the tanks — a move that could go down as one of the most consequential decisions in the multinational effort to arm Ukraine.
Biden concluded it was important to move in lockstep with an ally, despite the Pentagon’s misgivings, and put an end to the dispute. Backed by some of his top aides, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Biden early this week agreed to send 31 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine. Germany, meanwhile, is sending 14 of its own Leopard tanks to the front line, and gave permission to other countries to re-export their German-made tanks as well, for a total of about 80 Leopards.
The Pentagon, at least in the story, is concerned with training and running them in Ukraine’s muddy winter. Where’s all the fuel coming from, as it gets three gallons to the mile.
“The White House and State are generally viewing the provision of assistance one-dimensionally, focused only on the escalation dynamics,” another U.S. official said in the Pentagon’s defense. “DoD has to worry about our own military readiness, the logistics of providing equipment, sensitive tech disclosure, and training Ukrainians.”
Wiping out our own stockpiles when we already have a manpower shortage.
Don’t act surprised y’all.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-rocked-corruption-scandal-wave-top-official-resignations-sports-cars-mansions
#LetsGoBrandon
#WhereIsHunter
Bwaha! Lolgf
#
We agree with the American far-right that the world’s nations should just give Mr Putin what he wants. The risks of upsetting him are too great. America should do as the Republicans and Mr Putin desire and “encourage” zelenskyy to succumb to Mr Putin’s entreaties.
All Mr Putin wants is to reassemble the USSR to its former glory. President Ronald Reagan destabilized the USSR in the 80s leading to its dissolution, which today’s nuGOP recognizes as a bad, bad mistake. Fortunately for the nuGOP, several NATO countries (Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Belarus) in Europe are being controlled by right-wing autocrats, with emerging right-wing movements in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, Italy, Finland and Norway, largely driven by anti-immigrant fervor. Once the West folds on Ukraine, Mr Putin could “persuade” the Baltics to rejoin the burgeoning USSR in a day. It’s likely the nuUSSR could be even more splendid USSR 1.0!! A strong right-wing nuUSSR could stand with America against the 1.4 billion communists in China!
The nuGOP just wants to save Ukrainians by sacrificing Ukraine to Mr Putin’s commendable and understandable dream to bring the peoples of the USSR back together. NuGOPs also correctly point out that zelenskyy and many of his supporters are Nazis. Nazis!
The global and especially the US left is forcing Mr Putin to consider the use of nuclear weapons in his laudable dream of bringing his people together.
Funny how Rimjob uses the term “far right” sarcastically when the proper term ironically is actually “right so far”.
Take note, Chubby.
#LetsGoBrandon
#WhereIsHunter
Bwaha! Lolgf
It seems as though the
HitlerHistory Channels continual reruns of World War II documentaries have affected the brains of millions of Americans, who see the Russo-Ukrainian War as a replay of WWII, complete with WWII thinking! Germany invaded Poland, so Britain and France declared war on the Third Reich, even though they couldn’t actually do anything to save Poland; Poland was only liberated when the Red Army pushed the Germans out, and that ‘liberation’ was away from Naziism to 45 years of Soviet-style communism.But the very end of World War II should have ended WWII thinking, because now the
SovietsRussians have nuclear weapons, thousands of nuclear weapons, both strategic and smaller, ‘battlefield’ nuclear weapons. Sending what amounts to “the equivalent of one Ukrainian battalion” of M1 Abrams tanks to directly fight Russians is going to be an act of war, and you can damned well bet that Vladimir Vladimirovich will see it that way. The smartest military response is to attack and try to destroy those tanks before they reach the battlefield, and there are only a few chokepoints in which those tanks can be sent into Ukraine. Whether waiting until they cross the border and hitting them in Ukraine, or hitting a last transportation depot in Poland, will be President Putin’s choice. If the tanks are heavily concentrated at a last depot in Poland, the weapon of choice would be a ‘tactical’ nuclear weapon, which could destroy the depot and the tanks, but not cause too much collateral damage outside the area.Of course, Russia could decide to wait until the tanks crossed into Ukraine, to avoid a direct attack in a NATO country, but if the tanks were not immediately scattered, again, a tactical nuke would be the obvious weapon of choice. Conventional munitions could also work, but would be less effective.
Who will be driving those tanks? Jumping from tank to tank isn’t the same thing as jumping from a Chevy to a Ford. Soldiers have to be trained on the Abrams tank, and it isn’t something which can happen in a day or two. This will require American tank drivers, trying to teach Ukrainian tank drivers, for whom English will be only a second language, how to operate those massive and complex machines. It would make more sense, militarily, to send the American armored division soldiers into Ukraine with those tanks, to get them at least safely to close to the front, training the Ukrainians along the way. But any way they do it, this will expose American soldiers to direct Russian attack.
Mr Dowd snarked:
That’s just it: our policies are forcing Mr Putin to consider the use of nuclear weapons! Yes, he brought this on himself, but what difference does that make if the nuclear threshold is crossed?
M1 tank is relatively simple to operate. The US Army can teach people to use it effectively in 2 weeks. Motivated Ukrainians can likely do a trimmed down course in 5 days (not working just 7am to 4pm, no weekends off).
No need to teach platoon and company operations since the Ukrainians would just use their own. If the Ukrainians send untrained draftees to the training all bets are off.
AIT for MOS 19K, Armor Crewman, is 5 weeks, while MOS 19A, Abrams Tank Systems Maintainer, is an additional 17 weeks.
Very true. That’s what I meant by all bets being off to train new draftees. An existing armor crew does not need anywhere near a full AIT course. They need familiarization training followed by a reduced tank table gunnery exercise. 5 days. I have been through the course that did this in 10 with lots of standing around time built in.
Training tank systems maintainers is not possible in Ukraine because they have none of the systems that those US maintainers take for granted. No PLL. No re-order systems. All the Diagnostics in English. Only 2 recovery vehicles large enough to handle M1 in all of Ukraine (yes, they got them from us too). They will contract this out, not try to train their own.
Russia has many options on how to approach this. If it were me, I would set an ambush on the rail lines, not the depots. M1 tanks are not indestructible. There is no need to go nuke, hypersonic, or attack a NATA country.
Of course, strategically, it doesn’t matter if the tanks get through or are destroyed enroute. There are plenty more where those came from. Russia’s best move is to end the war quickly so that shipments from NATO and USA are moot. The Iraqi and Afghan insurgency has demonstrated that those tanks are not indestructible. Nor are they game changers to stop the Russians in their tracks.
The M1 Abrams is the world’s most capable main battle tank, but they are maintenance monsters. Ukrainians have zero experience with maintaining the M1, so next will come spare parts and soldiers, American soldiers, being sent into Ukraine to maintain and repair the Abrams.
What could possibly go wrong?
I have looked into this. The Ukrainians not only do not have the experience to maintain those tanks, they do not have the fuel capacity to fuel them. Existing Ukrainian tank fuelers are totally inadequate for the task. The obvious consequences are obvious:
1. The USA will put together a civilian company to go do tank maintenance in the Ukraine. All contractors so they can be disavowed. Paid by Ukraine, with money from us. And since all the money we already sent them has been stolen/distributed, we will have to send more.
2. 5 years from now, Russian military museums will have M1 tanks on blocks parked out front with a brass plaque saying “captured in Ukraine”.
3 gallons per mile? Where are the solar powered tanks? We probably don’t need them anyway, as our military is tackling the important stuff-trying to become more “woke” everyday
We don’t in fact need them. The US Army has over 2000 M1 tanks excess parked in the dessert collecting dust. Congress keeps telling the Army to buy more every year to keep factories in certain congressional districts open. These are new, never issued, M1 tanks of various types.
The likely path is to send the ones that are already in Poland, and backfill those from storage. They could even be sent from prepositioned stock already in Europe and Middle East.
There is no shortage of tanks in the US Army. Tank ammunition though…
We have spent about 5% of the Pentagon’s budget but knocked out about 50% if Putin’s conventional military power
We have also showed Gyna that it will be met by unified forces from many countries if they attempt to invade Taiwan.
Maybe Putin believed that Ukraine/Brandon would be a push over.
The Force is Strong in the Dark Brandon and he has shown USA #1
Lol
All the pr Putin/Trump guys are still hoping for Ukraine’s defeat.
All of you must have believed like Trump told you that Putin’s invasion was “genius”
Also that Putin was going to be able to freeze Europe into surrendering. Germany’s natural gas storage is still over 90% filled
So typical for the left: according to H, some of us rightly worried that this could lead to an actual nuclear war must be fellating Vladimir Putin’s penis.
If you want to fight the Russians, go right ahead! Head for Ukraine, pick up a rifle, and prove what a manly man you are.
Brandon on March 11th, 2022-“the idea to send offensive equipment in….just understand, don’t kid yourselves, no matter what y’all say, that’s called World War III”
What should the US and NATO do regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
NOTHING! It’s not our business. The Ukraine is neither an ally nor a member of NATO. In fact, that’s how this whole thing started. Russia does not want NATO on its border. Makes sense to stop trying to get Ukraine into NATO then. Unless you want a war!
We understand the need for leftists in America to side with the Ukrainians since they have at least 5 Nazi units in their military and the left is predisposed to Nazis but we don’t need a war over it.
We also understand how urgent the Ukraine is to the democrat party for money laundering and non taxed business deals for the biden crime family and the democrat politicians. But they are trying to get us into a nuclear war. I guess that’s so they can declare marshal law and finally take over without all that stupid election crap.
Funny how the left just loved them some Russians when it was the Soviet Union but once they became even partially free they were kaput (as the Nazis in Ukraine would say).
BTW, we don’t need NATO any longer. As I recall they were our answer to the Warsaw Pact. There is no more Warsaw Pact why do we still fund NATO with our money and men? Why?
Biden is the worst president ever. Thank God he wasn’t elected or the people of this country could rightfully be called morons.
Ms Carolann. Please back away from the ledge. We can indeed count on Putin to be reasonable. He is very unlikely to use nuclear weapons for anything less that dire extremes.
It is unreasonable to think the democrats want nuclear war so that they can take over the country without elections. They have already proven that they now control the election process and no longer even need voters so they certainly don’t need a war to stay in power.
If they had taken my advice decades ago and offered Russia NATO membership, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
As I have stated often. Russia is not the natural enemy of the USA. The USSR was, but only because it was communist, not because it was Russian. Now we “elect” communists in our own country. I pity the souls of all those soldiers who died in far away lands in the cold war to defeat communism only to have their grandkids carry anti-Fa flags and vote for Marxists and socialists here.
How can you say we don’t need NATO? BLASPHEMY! They did such a great job in Afghanistan. We couldn’t have won there without them.
Your point is valid, Professor Hale. I also forgot to mention this:
https://mail.aol.com/d/folders/148/messages/AE2E1jR1n0zZY9PS1QsneGvKZEM#:~:text=https%3A//pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1617799410007609348/2YVmJmP8%3Fformat%3Djpg%26name%3Dsmall
https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1617799410007609348/2YVmJmP8?format=jpg&name=small