For about a week now, we’ve been following the saga of the MiGs-for-Ukraine program.
Poland came up with the idea to transfer MiG and Sukhoi planes flown by Slovakia, Poland and Bulgaria, to Ukraine, according it appears. Let me tell you how it works in “Did Blinken Place Poland Under NATO Protection? If It Transfers a New Fighter Aircraft To Ukraine?”
Former Warsaw Pact members who were all too familiar the Russian fraternal leadership quickly stepped in to provide weapons and other supplies for Ukraine after the Russian invasion. Many countries came up with a strategy to supply the Ukrainian Air Force 70 more fighters or attack planes: 56 MiG-29s (28 aircraft), Slovakia (12), Poland (16) and Bulgaria (16) and 14 Su-25s (15 from Bulgaria).
It was planned that the planes would be flown to a Polish airbase, then married with Ukrainian pilots. There are some things I want to know about this whole scheme. The Western MiGs and Sukhois are not off-the-assembly-line aircraft. These aircraft have Western-style avionics and have had their engines upgraded. They are different aircraft than the ones used by the Ukrainian Air Force. I haven’t read any authoritative account of how the Ukrainians plan to maintain these aircraft, and one can’t help but wonder if the plan isn’t to service them in Poland, fly them to a base in Ukraine, run a few missions there, and return to Poland. The whole thing looked to be in trouble on Wednesday. Read the whole story at Transfer of NATO Aircraft to Ukraine Falls Through as Zelensky Resumes His Campaign for a No-Fly Zone.
As it turned out, the deal didn’t break down because it was impractical; it broke down due to the behind-the-scenes machinations of the Biden junta, see Revealed: The Real Reason That Deal to Send Fighter Jets to Ukraine Fell Through.
After word got out that Biden was behind the problem, the State Department stepped in to help. Anthony Blinken, the Secretary of State for the United States announced on Sunday that they were fine with the transfer. However, he did it in an interesting way.
Let’s take a moment here to consider what Putin has said. He has declared that an attack on Russian forces coming from any country outside Ukraine will result in Russia considering that as “participation in the armed conflict.” This quote is in the context of the possible NATO no-fly zone, but here is a guy who claims he wants to “denazify” a country literally headed by a Jewish guy.
In my interpretation, Blinken just told Poland, “You’re on your own, Scooter.” He said you are free to send aircraft to Ukraine, but it is not part of any NATO operation.
Imagine Putin interprets the transport of planes from Poland and Ukraine as an imminent threat to Russian forces, so he launches one or more missiles towards the airbase. Do we view that as an act of mutual defense?
It seems that the Poles smell the same rat. On Tuesday the Polish government had announced that it will send its MiG-29s over to Ramstein AFB in Germany and leave the rest up to the US.
!!! The “Republic of Poland, after consultations between the President and the Goverment, are ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MIG-29 jets to the Rammstein Air Base and place them at the disposal of the Government of the USA.” https://t.co/6NF0Lg8Hak
— Michael Weiss 🌻🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@michaeldweiss) March 8, 2022
It is crucial: The Polish PM suggested that Ukraine should receive fighter aircraft from NATO in order to establish a no-fly zone for Russia. According to him, this is why Poland will move its MiG-29 aircraft to the US from Germany. “But we are not ready to take any actions on our behalf.”
— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) March 8, 2022
The Department of Defense seems shocked by this.
A surprise statement from Poland that it would hand over its MiG-29 fighter planes to the United States was rejected by Pentagon. A transfer of the MiGs to Ukraine is fraught with complications and could further inflame tensions with Russia.https://t.co/FN5TxBB60w
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 9, 2022
So now we’re back to where we were when the idea was first hatched.
House Democrats have revealed that Biden’s junta may be at least half as duplicitous and obstructive as we had thought. Not only was the White House trying to sandbag the deal and leave Poland holding the bag, the whole “Interagency” was mobilized against it, too.
New: Even before the Pentagon nixed the plan to get Polish MiGs to Ukraine via Ramstein, House Intel cmte members wrote to Jake Sullivan with concerns about “reported impediments NSC associated with the delivery & the NSC’s decision on whether/how to backfill the resulting loss” pic.twitter.com/o8VXK6208d
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) March 8, 2022
Personally, I can’t see any way these aircraft get to Ukraine without undergoing some disassembly and being sent by rail.
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