Posted on 04/16/2014 9:30:57 AM PDT by Zhang Fei
WASHINGTON — Ukraine’s military has an urgent need for nonlethal military assistance like body armor, night-vision goggles, communications gear and aviation fuel to defend against a potential Russian attack, according to a new analysis by a former NATO commander and a former Pentagon official.
But wary of provoking Russia, the Obama administration has been reluctant to provide it, they say.
(snip)
The new interim government in Ukraine submitted a request to NATO nations last month for military assistance, including vehicles, mine-clearing equipment, communications gear, medical supplies, fuel and the sharing of intelligence. The United States has sent 300,000 M.R.E. — meals ready to eat — rations to Ukraine’s forces, but the Obama administration has made it clear that it is not planning to send weapons or other forms of so-called lethal aid for fear of provoking Russia.
NATO has also moved cautiously. Ukraine’s foreign minister recently said a NATO team would assess his nation’s military needs, but some Western officials say the alliance is unlikely to provide much assistance until a new president is elected on May 25 and the East-West crisis over Ukraine eases.
(snip)
The Obama administration has been relying heavily on the threat of stepped-up economic sanctions to dissuade the Russians from invading eastern Ukraine and has rebuffed proposals from Senator John McCain that the United States provide light weapons to the Ukrainian military as too risky.
“We do not see a military solution to this crisis,” Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, said Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
That's the ticket.
“If Ukraine’s leaders behave as meekly as Edward Benes, Ukraine’s fate will be like Czechoslovakia’s”
The “Leaders” (Svoboda/Right Sector) are screaming for blood, but the people they are telling to do the killing don’t want any part of it.
They are told that they are being sent to fight “Russian Infiltrators”, and are encountering old ladies and crowds of civilians instead, with a few armed militants thrown in.
As soon as the Right Sector grabbed power, anyone with any knowledge of the area knew the Donetsk Basin area was going to have a problem with it.
What could go wrong?
Be fair, Benes didn't have much say, England and France basically pushed him out of the way in Munich.
And then send in a few "defensive" combat troops to protect the advisers. And then establish a base for the combat troops. And then wait for an incident.
After all, what could go wrong?
“Ukraine’s military has an urgent need for nonlethal military assistance like body armor, night-vision goggles, communications gear and aviation fuel”
Every day more and more Ukrainian military defect to the pro-Russian insurgents. So they will only say - “Thank you very much Uncle Sam”, coz all that stuff will eventually get in their hands.
What is non-lethal aid? More sling-shots?
I noticed the people defending their homeland were using slingshots and the Russkies automatic weapons.
Send Feng Shui kits quick!
Benes had an army to do his talking for him. He didn't have to involve Britain and France. Historians blame Britain and France, but it was a weak-kneed Benes that allowed them to dictate terms. Czechoslovakia had a pre-war population of 15m (triple Switzerland's) and a thriving arms industry. Note that the Swiss did not ask Britain and France for their opinion about whether to submit to Germany. Czechoslovakia had hundreds of thousands of Jews who could probably have been relied on to fight to the death. It could have declared itself a sanctuary for Jews, contingent on military service by a male member of the family. Bottom line is that Benes wimped out, and the nation suffered the consequences.
The West does not have the will to actually act in Ukraine’s defense.
We should just send that aid to Russia and call it a day.
The Ukrainians started this mess. Let them clean it up. No US involvement. Period.
Non lethal military aid......does that mean we’ll send pea-shooters or bb guns? Not America’s finest hour. Yet if it were an African country being invaded you can bet we’d be sending military aid as we are currently doing.
“Benes had an army to do his talking for him.”
And one of the most heavily-defensible lines in the world, the “Benes Wall”, high up in the mountains.
What they didn’t have was a good lowlands defense, or the ability to keep German Aircraft from flattening the cities.
There was also severe ethnic internal strife, a collapsing economy, and the government was on the verge of complete bankruptcy.
There was a LOT more going on in Czechoslovakia than just “Hitler wanted it”.
Leave it up to Obama and he’ll send in 3,000,000 gay sex instructional videos, 30,000,000 condoms and 5 million gallons of lube.
As Zell Miller said, the dems would arm us with spitwads. So would we be sending them some of our used spitwads. perhaps from 0bama's "frillypants" brigades?
Military industrial complex finds another way to bankrupt America. China can you spare a dime?
“NONLETHAL MILITARY” IS AN OXYMORON
Webster defines military as “pertaining to war’
War is lethal
someone doesn`t know English language word meanings
must be a KenyanAhol.
Actually, it's the civilian welfare industrial complex that's doing so. Civilian spending accounts for 5 out of every 6 dollars spent by the federal government, and that's moving ever higher, thanks to the government's open door policy towards both legal and illegal immigrants, who take more welfare benefits than they contribute in taxes.
Given the lousy performance of the Ukrainian government to date, I'd be leery of handing them anything other than non-lethal aid. They have plenty of weaponry for what they've encountered to date. What they need is some semblance of organization and planning. There's also the question of how much of this bumbling is the result of incompetence, and how much is the result of bribery (by Putin) or corruption (theft of state resources). Compare this to-ing and fro-ing with the crispness with which the Slovenes achieved their military objectives.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.