![]() Ukraine is assembling an armored division of tanks and IFVs that will be capable of liberating all its territory including Crimea by this summer, said Ben Hodges on Jan. ![]() This was contemptible claptrap and read like a Kremlin wish list. In return, he said he agreed that Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO. At that point, a cease-fire can be negotiated, he suggested, along with the future ownership of the Donbas and Crimea. 17, Putin pal Henry Kissinger issued a statement that recommended talks begin but fighting continue until the “pre-war line” is reached. Putin cannot win on the battlefield and has decided to prolong the conflict to discourage allies: He now digs in, murders civilians, threatens nuclear attack, and throws tens of thousands of Russian conscripts into action as cannon fodder in order to freeze the war at a point in Eastern Ukraine that is not far from where he began his second occupation on Feb. ![]() Once more Germany is a drag on the alliance at a crucial time. 22 that Poland could send its Leopards if it requests permission, but damage has been done. package represents enough armor to liberate Ukraine or until Putin ends his war of choice.”Ī German official hinted on Jan. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin downplayed Germany’s tank “punt” and announced an impressive platform of smaller tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery and weaponry for Ukraine to mount its needed spring counter-offensive. Kyiv remains confident the Leopards will eventually arrive and has already started training operators. To the Biden Administration: Send American tanks so that others will follow our lead.” It is in your own national interest that Putin loses in Ukraine. To the Germans: Send tanks to Ukraine because they need them. Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted he was “tired of the #$%show surrounding who is going to send tanks and when are they going to send them. Pressure builds and Poland and other Leopard owners intend to defy restrictions. He worries about Russian retaliation if Germany proceeds on its own, but even after the UK pledged 14 of its big battle tanks to break the deadlock last week Scholz still refused to green light the Leopards. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also refused to lift re-export restrictions on the 15 countries that currently own 2,000 Leopards, many of whom are willing to ship tanks to Ukraine. In this case, as in others, Germany’s mentality and hesitation have been unhelpful and disquieting. While eyebrow-raising, these inconvenient historical facts do not justify preventing Ukraine from deploying Leopard tanks to break through Russia’s “Maginot Line” of trenches, landmines, artillery, and cement barriers in its East. German politicians worry that it won’t go unnoticed that the last time German tanks moved eastward was in 1941 when Hitler’s “Barbarossa” armada invaded and swept toward Russia using 3,400 tanks that were, like the Leopard II, made by arms giant Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, who was also Nazi Germany’s prime supplier. Washington has declined to send the Abrams because the tank is inferior to the Leopard, costly and cumbersome. The most recent example is Germany’s refusal to permit the acquisition by Ukraine of 300 German-made Leopard II battle tanks - unless and until America also sends M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Berlin’s political decisions facilitated Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and now its politicians slow-walk the military assistance and sanctions needed to defeat Russia. ![]() Germany, the country that ruined the 20th Century, is damaging the 21st. ![]()
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