Sweden will send 50 CV90 infantry fighting vehicles and an unspecified number of Archer artillery systems (rumoured to be 12).
Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
I think (others might know more) that the last other tank the US military used was the M60, and they seem to have gotten rid of the last of those in the 90s, scrapped or sold to other countries. They don't seem to have any in inventory, even kept as a sort of last resort. It is M1 Abrams or nothing as far as US tanks go (again, seems to me from a quick glance).
Yeah makes sense, the US spend so much on their military that they wouldn't want to keep obsolete stuff around when they can make money selling them on.
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Seems like all eyes are on tomorrow's meeting.
Denmark is going to donate it's Cesars to the Ukraine. So they will go directly from the French producer to the Ukranian battlefront.
So the reason is Scholz doesn't want Germany to be seen as escalating before others do? I don't think there's much danger of that... What's being asked for is him to remove the barrier that prevents other countries from supplying their own equipment. The reasoning doesn't make much sense to me.
Looks like Poland for one is going to release their Leopards regardless.
There's some fog of information here...argument seems to be that no one has actually formally requested Germany for permission to send their own Leopards. Not even Poland.
If these guys need propagandist clowns like Solovyev to travel to the front lines to motivate them then the Russians are truly fecked.
Ordinarily they would sell them to developing nations in the middle east or the like, or in the case of Ukraine, simply donate them
From my understanding they are giving in total 19 Caesars to Ukraine or in other words every 155mm howitzer currently in use with the Danish armed forces.
Feels unlikely given how many countries have pledged a number of these tanks and how long its been debated. I think Spain was the first, probably six months ago now, before it was reported Germany had blocked them.
I suppose we can't know for sure if formal requests have been made.
Patriot, Stryker, Archer, CV-90, GLSDB, Caesar, SAMP/T... We are well passed the "clearing out the old stuff" phase now.
It's highly unlikely that Habeck, who is a vocal supporter of Ukraine, would lie about this. If he says there hasn't been a formal request that is believable.
However it's well possible that it was communicated "don't bother, the chancellor will block it anyways"
True. I think its also a realization that many of these systems will never be used, so might as well contribute them to a real world situation that actually warrants their use, and in the process protect the geopolitical interests of the nations donating them.
Good and informative thread, still a frustrating position on the part of Germany.
Yep... it's unlucky for Ukraine that SPD won the last election. Likely both CDU or Greens would have acted more swiftly if there candidates would have become chancellor, but sadly the party won that always misunderstood what "pacifism" is about
Miracles do happen, I agree with you on something, this is a good article
I missed that, so I'll answer today.
I am really glad we agree on something, and I am sure we agree on much more, but perhaps it is obstructed by different viewpoints and experiences. Let me give you two "what if" scenarios. I know that in your mind they are totally different. Try to see my point of view, that these two scenarios have a lot of similarities.
1. What if, when Putin invaded Ukraine, the Germans thought: "In the past, we invaded Ukraine and killed a lot of Ukrainians but now we will show to everyone that we have changed, we will make sure that Ukraine wins, we have one of the largest military export industries in the world, we will provide Ukraine with everything they need to beat Putin. It does not matter what everyone else is doing or is not doing, we, Germany, we will make sure that Ukraine wins. We will prove to everyone that we are against autocracy, we support democracy and our friends, not with words, but with deeds, we will prove to everyone that we care more about our values than our pockets."
2. What if, when Greece first faced economic problems in 2010, the Germans thought: "In the past, we invaded Greece and killed a lot of Greeks but now we will show to everyone that we have changed, we will make sure that the Greek economy is not destroyed, we have one of the largest economies in the world, we will provide Greece with everything they need to beat the markets. It does not matter what everyone else is doing or is not doing, we, Germany, we will make sure that the Greek economy survives. We will prove to everyone that we support our friends, we support EU, not with words, but with deeds, we will prove to everyone that we care more about our values than our pockets."
What do you think? Perhaps both of those "what if" scenarios seem very silly and impossible to you? Completely disconnected from reality?
But you know what is funny? In both cases, in the end, Germany provides what is needed, but gets there screaming and kicking, blaming others, not accepting their own mistakes, proving to everyone that they are selfish bastards who only care about themselves and their pockets, have no real values, have learned nothing from the past, and they are not dependable as friends. In the second example, in the end, Germany provided Greece with the loans it needed. Only, it happened 5 or 6 years too late, after considerable pressure from other countries, after many many Greek companies went bankrupt, after the Greek economy fell 22%. If Germany had provided exactly the same loans in 2010, voluntarily, with a smile, nothing bad would have happened, and all Greeks today would love Germany.
In my opinion, the same thing is happening during this past year with Ukraine. In the end, Germany will provide Ukraine with what it needs to beat Putin. But Germany will do this only after considerable international pressure from UK, USA, Poland etc. But why? Why does Germany need so much external pressure in order to do the right thing? And no, Germany should not look sideways, Germany is not in the same position as the Netherlands or France (for example). Holland has never invaded and killed Greeks or Ukrainians. And yes, it matters, people remember the past, the present and the past are linked.
Indeed interesting scenarios and as you assume I do indeed think they are massively different. Who broke the rules in both scenarios? Russia by invading Ukraine, Greece by faking it's economy. One is a victim of an external aggressor, the other is victim of it's own corruption and criminality.
Nonetheless for both scenarios you describe an outcome that would have been the best for the people in Ukraine and Greece. And indeed for both scenarios there were politicians that advocated for more or less what you propose, but they simply were a minority.
And regarding the current conflict: Germany wants to not repeat WW2 at all costs. There is probably nothing which feels more like WW2 to most Germans than German tanks rolling towards Russia. Everything which isn't a tank somehow doesn't invoke the same pictures, so that's part of the psychology behind this hesitation.
I think this is stupid, but the chancellor does seem to think so, as well as a lot of German people. Don't forget, we are talking about a country that got taught the lesson not to fight wars after WW2, and then again had to agree to a massive demilitarization to formally make peace after that in 1990. It's hatd to find another society that is less open to military topics than the German.
Is this SOP?
Greece was not "faking its economy"? What does it ever mean, "faking its economy"? Why Germans keep blaming the victims? Merkel said that Ukraine is corrupt, that's why Germany did not accept them into NATO in 2008! USA wanted them into NATO but Germany, Putin's best friend, are the paragons of virtue who keep blaming all others as corrupt!
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Don't tell me the Kremlin are expecting Ukrainian airstrikes on Moscow soon albeit that single building alone is quite the juicy target. #Insecurity
I read that the machine weighs 15-20 tons. Not the best idea to put that on a roof. One for the memes anyway.
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Greece was doing financial shenanigans in order to make their numbers look better.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-16834815
And Ukraine was corrupt, says Merkel. While Germany is perfect. Always. One hundred years of perfection. Blame everyone else.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...lf-not-trying-hard-enough-ukraine-2022-06-07/
"That wasn't the Ukraine we know today ... The country was not stable, it was riddled with corruption," she said.
Don't tell me the Kremlin are expecting Ukrainian airstrikes on Moscow soon albeit that single building alone is quite the juicy target. #Insecurity
I read that the machine weighs 15-20 tons. Not the best idea to put that on a roof. One for the memes anyway.
Shows the levels of paranoia they must be going through.
Alright.
You seemed so dumbfounded by the notion that Greece faked its economy. I just gave you a source. Never said Germany itself is perfect.