Posted on 11/28/2022 7:51:22 AM PST by JonPreston
More winning and very fortuitous at this point.
20 NATO States ‘Pretty Tapped Out’ After Weapons Transfers to Ukraine
by Kyle Anzalone | Nov 27, 2022
Two-thirds of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have depleted their stockpiles by sending weapons to Kiev, according to an alliance official. Even larger NATO states are struggling to meet the demands of Ukraine’s war effort.
The New York Times reported on Sunday the North Atlantic alliance is struggling to meet Kiev’s battlefield needs. According to one NATO official, 20 out of 30 members are “pretty tapped out” regarding their ability to supply Ukraine with additional weapons. While larger states like the US, France, Germany, and Italy have the ability to arm Ukraine, those governments have also resisted sending specific weapons systems requested by Kiev.
Ukraine has sought long-range surface-to-surface missiles known as ATACMS from Washington. However, the White House has rebuffed the request out of concerns the munitions could be used to hit Russian territory.
Part of the cause of the dwindling arms supply is the massive demand for artillery. Currently, Ukrainian forces are firing thousands of rounds daily, but the US can only produce 15,000 rounds per month. Camille Grand, a defense expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told NYT, “[a] day in Ukraine is a month or more in Afghanistan.”
The increased demand for weapons has been a significant boon for the Western arms industry. “Taking into account the realities of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the visible attitude of many countries aimed at increased spending in the field of defense budgets, there is a real chance to enter new markets and increase export revenues in the coming years,” said Sebastian Chwalek, CEO of Poland’s PGZ, an entity that owns multiple arms manufacturers.
US arms makers are also profiting off the war. In May, during a visit to a Lockheed Martin plant, President Joe Biden said Washington would increase the number of weapons the US would produce. The President said his plan to ramp up production would not come cheap.
The American arms profiteering has upset some Europeans. According to POLITICO, one European official said, “the fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the US because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons.”
Mark F. Cancian, a former White House weapons strategist and current senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed it would take a multi-year effort to ramp up the production of key weapons. “If you want to increase the production capability of 155mm shells. It’s going to be probably four to five years before you start seeing them come out the other end,” he said.
Multiple US and NATO officials have said the alliance is committed to Kiev for the long term, as they are preparing to fight a multi-year proxy war against Moscow. In October, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the US and its allies would “boost Ukraine’s defensive capabilities for pressing urgent needs and for the long term.”
WION
Gravitas Plus: Did NATO push Ukraine into war?
“On Gravitas Plus, Palki Sharma tells you how Western arrogance & NATO’s expansionism are also to blame, how their actions precipitated the crisis in Ukraine.”
Imagine the reaction that Russia/China/Iran, etc, etc or BRICS putting troops in central America starting out, slowly adding new countries who agreed to have their alliance troops, only to finally put troops in Mexico and the U.S. then, final straw, invades Mexico like Russia invaded Ukraine.
Unlike you, I've called out propaganda on both sides when I see it.
You take joy in even a false report of the corruption of a U.S. Marine general. I suppose you're loyal to whatever country you're from, though.
The artillery has to be sent to Poland for routine maintenance, it is part of using the 155, replacing the barrels and other parts to maintain accuracy and effectiveness,
When maintenance is deferred it results in the gun becoming wildly inaccurate and even in blown guns killing the crew, as we see on the Russian side.
Completely ridiculous. There aren't that many Marine Generals, and you can be 100% certain that the government would already know who it is if this was true. So if it was actually true, they'd give the name.
Which it isn't, so they won't.
And when this guy gets killed…he will just be another check on a list.
I agree it’s probably not true as well. Marine Generals are pretty rare. These days they are mostly political creatures.
Now, if you told me there were a bunch of Marine LT Cols over there…I would believe that. My college friends who were Lt Cols in the corps were more likely to be closer to the fight…and they all miss it.
Why not post the story from a more credible or established source?
“Unlike you, I’ve called out propaganda on both sides when I see it.”
I call BS.
“You take joy in even a false report of the corruption of a U.S. Marine general.”
Did you call out the “corruption of a USMC Colonel who has allegedly created a counter group the Wagner Group?
*crickets*
That’s just plain stupid. After 8 solid months of “Russia is losing the war” lies, you must be a complete drooling media stooge to regurgitate that BS again.
Everything that goes against Biden’s war is click bait to you. Give it up.
It's right there in my posting history, bub. Just yesterday, I specifically called out those who were claiming that one video from a Ukrainian drone shown dropping a grenade into a Russian fighting position somehow proved that Russian soldiers were freezing to death all across the front:
That is one video, with a specific conclusion being drawn by one blogger, which he then generalizes to tell us something about the entire front. And it appears a whole lot of folks are just lapping it up. It may in fact be true, or not. But we have no way of determining that from this one video.
After all, if this is that common along the entire front, shouldn't we be seeing a lot more videos than just this one? And I'm pretty far from being pro-Russian. But this is just weak.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4112134/posts?page=33#33
I still call BS and long will.
You and I have been on this merry-go-round for a while.
Hence, I call BS.
It’s a crying shame we left $billions in weapons systems, vehicles, and other armaments in Afghanistan for the Taliban....
There’s been more than a few of those videos of drones dropping grenades in trenches and clusters of Russians who barely react (if at all). It’s eerie.
Am I “retarded”?
Despite the flagrant violation of FR rules, I’ll just say YOU sound like the retarded one.
USSR….union of what republics????? Precisely????
Oh, yeah. I get all of my geo-political opinion from YouTube (a Google outfit).
Thanks to BO and soros the Uk’s drew 1st blood and shelled those Russians for 5 years.
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