NATO and others send 'game changer' weapons to Ukraine

Streiff:

On Thursday, NATO held an emergency meeting about Russia’s increasingly horrific and atrocity-filled invasion of Ukraine. However, unlike most NATO meetings, this one was substantive.

For starters, the attendees were not only NATO nations; there were also observers present: the European Union, Sweden, Finland, Georgia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Ukraine. If Putin was afraid of being surrounded before, he should take a quick look at his map now (just a reminder that Japan and Russia still have an unresolved border dispute, see Russia conducts military exercises in disputed islands).  As if to validate the stereotype of the Germans being either “at your throat or at your heel,” the German Foreign Minister showed he was definitely at Putin’s heel by leaving early.

The main issue on the table was weaponry. Quantity, quality, and purpose were all concerns. To date, the weaponry supplied to Ukraine has been defensive, and the defensive weaponry has been careful not to tip the balance of power....

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Even as the meeting took place, individual NATO countries, particularly those from the old Warsaw Pact, started to act, leaving the tired German-dominated NATO hierarchy to follow.

Australia had already committed to sending at least 20 of their version of the MRAP, the Bushmaster, to Ukraine.

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The conference did break a logjam.

This morning, Poland announced it was transferring a large number of modernized T-72 tanks to Ukraine. More importantly, Slovakia is transferring its S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Ukraine.

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The S-300 system is a potential game-changer as 1) the Russian Air Force has shown itself to be monumentally inept at attacking surface-to-air missile sites, and 2) the range of the system allows targets to be engaged shortly after take-off from bases in Belarus and Russia.

The meeting seemed to augur a shift in NATO’s attitude from February. Then there was a feeling of resignation, and sending aid to Ukraine was just throwing good money after bad. Now NATO appears to be working more from the idea that not only can Ukraine win this war but that Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to walk away looking like anything but a loser. The Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, penned an op-ed for the New York Times last week titled: I’m the Prime Minister of Estonia. Putin Can’t Think He’s Won This War.

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There is more.

I am also seeing an attitude shift by former US commanders that we need to get game-changer weapons to Ukraine to defeat Russia.  That is being seen as a win for NATO with long-term implications to keep the Russian bear away.  These former generals are sending a message to Biden to get off his duff and get the weapons to Ukraine that will allow them to defeat Russia.  Whether Biden is smart enough to do it is still an open question.