Posted on 03/06/2022 9:00:49 AM PST by blam
Polish Air Force MiG-29
Ukraine’s President Zelensky has been urging the United States and NATO countries that his military desperately needs more fighter jets to take on the Russian invasion force, on Friday telling US lawmakers in a Zoom call “close the skies or give us planes” – according to a Congressional leader present for the address.
Apparently the Biden administration is busy working on just that, also at a moment Congress is still prepping a whopping $10 billion military and humanitarian aide package for Ukraine. The new aircraft deal would involve transferring Russian-made warplanes to Kiev from neighboring Poland, according to a new report in FT.
To expedite the deal – given the battlefield situation and Ukraine’s ability to defend itself depends largely on the speediness of getting sufficient arms – Washington would quickly replace Warsaw’s MiG-29 jets with F-16 fighters.
However, a White House official was quoted in the FT report as admitting the deal could be held up by “a number of challenging practical questions, including how the planes could actually be transferred from Poland to Ukraine.”
Further there’s the question of recent threat’s by Vladimir Putin himself against any country seeking to pour more weapons into the hands of the Ukrainian forces. Putin days ago issued a veiled threat of war against any country supplying weapons that are use to kill Russian soldiers, saying those outside nations would “bear the responsibility”.
A White House spokesperson had confirmed to FT that “We are also working on the capabilities we could provide to backfill Poland if it decided to transfer planes to Ukraine.” And previously Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is “very actively” looking at resupplying Poland if it can quickly transfer its own Russian-made aircraft to Ukraine.
“We are looking actively now at the question of airplanes that Poland may provide to Ukraine and looking at how we might be able to backfill should Poland decide to supply those planes,” Blinken said in Moldova, while on a trip that highlighted the growing refugee crisis from the war.
Crucially, there was this statement from an unnamed Polish official given to FT: “I can’t speak to a timeline but I can just say we’re looking at it very, very actively.” The official said further, “Poland is not in a state of war with Russia, but it is not an impartial country, because it supports Ukraine as the victim of aggression. It considers, however, that all military matters must be a decision of Nato as a whole.”
On Saturday, perhaps nervous about coming into Russia’s crosshairs amid the flurry of reporting, Poland’s government batted down the reports as “fake news” – saying there’s been no transfer of its aircraft to Ukraine nor does it intend to…
‼️FAKE NEWS‼️ Unfortunately you are spreading misinformation with quotation from 27/02/22.
Poland won’t send its fighter jets to #Ukraine as well as allow to use its airports. We significantly help in many other areas.https://t.co/wjNOgh97JT
— Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland (@PremierRP_en) March 6, 2022
The only way Russia can win is to go nuclear and make sure everyone loses.
Get your Potassium Iodide ready.
Couldn’t I just order an extra portion of fish?
Whatever. This war in Ukraine will be over soon. And either parts of Ukraine will be absorbed into Russia or a Russia-friendly government installed.
The stupidest thing Biden could do is start WW3 over it. But he just might, because Ukraine is the center of his family’s money laundering operations and God knows what else.
Russia has been sending weapons and arms to those killing Americans soldiers for decades. We should tell Putin to stick this threat where the sun doesn’t shine.
Blinken wants to see Poland pelted with cruise missiles as well. I don’t think they are going to be covered by Article 5 if the airfields are used for the Ukrainian operations.
Ok you have to read between the lines.
If Ukraine buys or is given aircraft from some other country, Poland is not giving its planes to Ukraine. If the deliveries are made by French or whichever pilots, Poland is not letting Ukraine use its airfields.
No Polish or Ukrainian planes will attack Russian forces from any airfield in Poland.
The Biden Administration comment was ill advised.
I wonder how much of that is going to be kicked back to Biden and his family.
When Russia sent weapons to kill Americans last time? In Afghanistan it was a better ally than Turkey and Pakistan.
“Blinken wants to see Poland pelted with cruise missiles as well. I don’t think they are going to be covered by Article 5 if the airfields are used for the Ukrainian operations.”
Agree - the airfield of anything taking off for combat is FAIR GAME as far as Russia is concerned, which is why Poland isn’t too hot on reading about it in the news.
Make all NATO countries No Fly Zones for Russia.
"Regardless of motivation, the hedge fund manager took to Twitter this weekend to pontificate about the potential long-lasting effects on the Russia/Ukraine situation that's unfolding. Likening it to Covid, Ackman wrote: "In January 2020, I had nightmares about the potential for a pandemic, but everyone seemed to think I was crazy. I am having similar nightmares now. WWIII has likely started already, but we have been slow to recognize it."
White House Says “Fake News” again is there anything that isn’t fake about the White House.
It needs to have a sign at the drive way entrance CAUSTION CHILDREN AT PLAY.
Putin is not going to go nuclear unless there is some direct harm to Russia from outside (as in someone destroys a large capital asset INSIDE Russia with some sort of biologic or radiation device).
There is no upside for Putin going nuclear first, only downsides for him personally and for Russia.
You can bet that Putin has read Milton as well.
...and our Democrat party desperately needs an 'emergency', because it looks like they're going to get their collective "clocks cleaned" in November. So the 'usual suspects' are promoting the newest 'emergency' - and for those who are even more clueless than Joe Biden, the people pushing the current "Russia evil!!!" narrative are the same gang that pushed the "Russia/Trump evil!!!" narrative for years...
There's also a domestic political angle: the party in power is being accused of weakness towards Russia by some, which is political poison in Poland.
““a number of challenging practical questions, including how the planes could actually be transferred from Poland to Ukraine.”
No European nation is stupid enough to fulfill this white house wet dream.
So the precedent is already set.
I remember a 60 Minutes segment where some Texas congressman was bragging about how we supplied Afghanistan with Stinger missiles to shoot down Russian helicopters. Russia withdrew from Afghanistan soon after.
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