Tag: tanks

Fakebook ‘Fact-Check’: Conservative commentators, politicians distort Biden’s remarks on tanks for Ukraine

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment
I got a Fakebook warning for this meme!

Conservative commentators, politicians distort Biden’s remarks on tanks for Ukraine

“The President’s remarks mentioned planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews, not giving Ukraine tanks to help them defend themselves against Russia’s invasion,” Sean Savett, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, told AFP in an email.

Savett said that, in line with his 2022 comments, Biden’s recent announcement that the US will supply tanks to Ukraine included language about “how giving Ukraine tanks will help Ukraine defend themselves and how they are not an offensive threat to Russia.”

What Biden said:

But, look, the idea — the idea that we’re going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews, just understand — and don’t kid yourself, no matter what you all say — that’s called “World War Three.” Okay? Let’s get it straight here, guys. That old expression — “Don’t kid a kidder.”

Opinion: Blinken ponders the post-Ukraine-war order

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Opinion: Blinken ponders the post-Ukraine-war order

Crimea is a particular point of discussion. There is a widespread view in Washington and Kyiv that regaining Crimea by military force may be impossible. Any Ukrainian military advances this year in Zaporizhzhia oblast, the land bridge that connects Crimea and Russia, could threaten Russian control. But an all-out Ukrainian campaign to seize the Crimean Peninsula is unrealistic, many U.S. and Ukrainian officials believe. That’s partly because Putin has indicated that an assault on Crimea would be a tripwire for nuclear escalation.

The administration shares Ukraine’s insistence that Crimea, which was seized by Russia in 2014, must eventually be returned. But in the short run, what’s crucial for Kyiv is that Crimea no longer serve as a base for attacks against Ukraine. One formula that interests me would be a demilitarized status, with questions of final political control deferred. Ukrainian officials told me last year that they had discussed such possibilities with the administration.

As Blinken weighs options in Ukraine, he has been less worried about escalation risks than some observers. That’s partly because he believes Russia is checked by NATO’s overwhelming power. “Putin continues to hold some things in reserve because of his misplaced fear that NATO might attack Russia,” explained the official familiar with Blinken’s thinking. This Russian reserve force includes strategic bombers, certain precision-guided weapons and, of course, tactical and strategic nuclear weapons.

Are they really this delusional?!