Poland's Offer Of Jets For Ukraine 'Raises Serious Concerns For Entire NATO Alliance'

Poland's Offer Of Jets For Ukraine "Raises Serious Concerns For Entire NATO Alliance": Pentagon

BY TYLER DURDEN

Some sharp words and a swift rejection from the Pentagon Tuesday evening: "The prospect of fighter jets 'at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America' departing from a U.S./NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said of the Polish announcement which caught the Biden administration by surprise.

Kirby described the Pentagon perspective on Poland's earlier in the day declaration that it would send all its Russian-produced MiG-29 jets to Ramstein Air Base in Germany for the United States to be able to transfer them to Ukraine further as follows:

• "It is simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for it," he added, stressing that the proposal "shows just some of the complexities this issue presents."
• "We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland's proposal is a tenable one."

One insightful online commentator quipped of Tuesday's inter-NATO confusion: "No, one wants to take the responsibility. Poland passed it to the US, and now the US says this is all Poland. What a farce."

Update(17:24ET): This level of huge contradiction among allies on such a big development is just a bit awkward and even embarrassing. The Biden administration is saying it was caught completely by "surprise" at Poland's declaration hours ago that it would send all its Russian-produced MiG-29 jets to Ramstein Air Base in Germany for the United States to be able to transfer them to Ukraine.

The bizarre back-and-forth over the "surprise" MiG fighter jet agreement gave rise for some in Congress to demand the White House see it through, now that the offer has apparently already been made by Poland. It would require, according to the statement from Warsaw, for Washington to supply in place of the depleted MiGs new F-16s at a future date.

All of this possibly just brought Warsaw into Russia's crosshairs, or at least some in Poland might now be worrying... After all, the logistics alone of such a major transfer during a war inside Ukraine would be perilous and difficult, to say the least. Russia has also warned it could target such externally supplied major weapons systems entering from abroad.

And then there was this deeply alarming scenario floated on Tuesday in the Senate hearing with Nuland:

Ukraine has "biological research facilities," says Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, when asked by Sen Rubio if Ukraine has biological or chemical weapons, and says she's worried Russia may get them. But she says she's 100% sure if there's a biological attack, it's Russia.

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