Why the Pentagon Nixed Polish Offer Of MIG-29s To Ukraine

ZHUKOVSKIY, RUSSIA – JULY 20: (RUSSIA OUT) Russian Sukhoi SU-35S (NATO reporting identify: Flanker E) air defence fighters and Mikoyan MIG-29 (NATO reporting identify: Fulcrum) jet fighters aircrafts are offered at the air present throughout the MAKS-2021 International Aviation and Space Salon, on July 20, 2021, in Zhukovskiy, outdoors of Moscow, Russia. Main Russian annual aviation and house salon has opened at Zhukovskiy airfield regardless of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemy. (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)

The Pentagon instructed Poland thanks however no thanks for providing 28 Soviet-era MIG-29s to Ukraine. Unfortunately, the Pentagon’s choice added an pointless ingredient of confusion. The snub to Warsaw got here after the Secretary of State Antony Blinken instructed CBS News’ Margaret Brennan the switch of the fighters received the “green light.” Brennan’s query to Blinken was fairly particular. Was he in favor of the switch of Poland’s fighters to Ukraine, or was he involved giving Ukraine the jets would escalate the degree of the battle?

“[W]e’re talking with our Polish friends right now about what we might be able to do to backfill their needs if, in fact, they choose to provide these fighter jets to the Ukrainians,” Blinken instructed Brennan emphatically. That was on Sunday, March 6. On Wednesday, March 9, John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, instructed reporters a special story. Kirby defined that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had spoken together with his counterpart Minister of National Defense (MND), Mariusz Blaszczak. Austin clarified with Blaszczak that the US did “not support the transfer of additional aircraft to the Ukrainian Air Force at this time.”

The Pentagon spokesman continued with the causes the US protection secretary gave Polish MDN:

1. The finest option to help the Ukrainian armed forces is to supply the weapons they want most to defeat Russian aggression, primarily anti-armor and anti-aircraft weapons
2. The Ukrainian Air Force presently has squadrons of plane which can be “fully mission capable.”
3. The US assesses the addition of plane wouldn’t “significantly change the effectiveness of the Ukrainian Air Force relative to Russian capabilities.
4. And lastly, and it’s worth quoting Kirby verbatim, “[T]he intelligence community has assessed the transfer of MIG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory,” he mentioned.

(Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

The US Defense Department says there may be an excessive amount of threat the Russians will see the Soviet-era fighters as escalating the battle. But how is that attainable? Isn’t the third motive for turning down the Polish initiative that the effectiveness of Ukraine’s Air Force wouldn’t change with the additions of the fighter jets. If the correlation of power doesn’t change, how can the Russians see the MIG-29s as escalating the battle?

Furthermore, if motive primary is the finest option to help Ukraine’s armed forces with Javelin Anti-tank Missiles and Stinger Anti-aircraft missiles, then the battle has already been escalated. Besides, Secretary of State Blinken disagrees with the Pentagon’s evaluation. In his CBS interview, Blinken mentioned he had been in session, “working closely,” with NATO, allies, the European Union, and the G7 international locations about how “to increase the pressure on Russia… taking further steps to give the Ukrainians what they need to defend themselves against Russian aggression.” So, the Biden administration’s chief diplomat was not simply “blue-skying” with CBS’s Brennan when he mentioned he didn’t see the switch of the jets as escalating tensions.

Unpacking Secretary Austin’s dialog with Blaszczak, one can not assist however be struck by the hubris of the Pentagon chief. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, pleaded for the switch of the MIG fighters. If the video studies from Kyiv are something to go by, Ukraine’s chief is on the floor experiencing the Russian bombardments each day. He and his navy leaders are higher positioned to evaluate what would assist beat again Putin’s invaders. Not to belabor the level, but when the 28 MIG-29s gained’t change the battlefield calculus, then escalating the degree of hostilities isn’t a compelling argument. But in accordance with the Ukraine president, it’s what the brave Ukraine fighters imagine they want. And seeing extra Ukrainian jets over the battlefield will increase the consolation degree of the troopers preventing for his or her lives on the floor. That’s why in all floor engagements US forces are in, air help is important. So why would the US Defense Department deny Zelensky’s pleas for extra air property?

What seems to be taking place is the Pentagon is hiding behind an intelligence group (IC) evaluation that doesn’t sq. with the different rationale for turning the Poles down. It’s painful to recollect, however the IC the Defense Department finds handy to imagine now could be the similar group whose evaluation was dismissed earlier than the Afghanistan withdrawal catastrophe. What are Americans to suppose? Biden’s protection group doesn’t have generally held, constant, and compelling logic for addressing the disaster happening on NATO’s borders. Between the State Department saying one factor and the Pentagon saying one thing totally different, the world sees the strongest nation in the world as indecisive. Putin sees the indecision as a chance to maintain the invasion going. And, he’s.

The views expressed are these of the creator and never of every other affiliation.

~  Read extra from Dave Patterson.