But its bills are paid by its member countries, per capita the most paid by the Dutch. Then EUs € can be spent by the Ukrainians to get Polish krabs, Bullgarian shells, repairs in Slovakia and whatever is avaiable inside the EU. An European € may get “more bang for the buck” then a German € or a Canadian $.
I am no a fan of the present Polish goverment, but a statistic stating Polish support to Ukraine is less then Canadas? Ignore it.
By the way, Poland and Germany have each more than a million Ukrainians to care. The estimate is a refugee causes costs between 1000 € - 2000 € every month (nearly nothing of this money is aviable to the refugee).
No MBT´s No F16`s only 1 or 2 billions per month.
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I don’t know if all Ukrainian aid is calculated the same way but I believe when the US gives military aid it is valued at replacement costs. So when we took 500 humvees out of storage it cost very little but would have been written down as a significant cost… financial aid is a real cost. Refugee aid is a real cost. Military aid is a delayed cost which stacks up when replacement of those resources is initiated.
It will be interesting to see how countries react when this real the costs increase at a high rate and more new production requirements have to be financed.
Nearly every country in this world is being affected. Only 2 are paying in blood though. Restoring peace should be the priority for them the most.
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You are right. The German goverment list uses the “current values which can be significantly lower than the corresponding values for new or replacement goods” for existent eq. And somehow for reasons “deliveries” (paid by somebody else) are not seperated from donations by some goverments (and a lot of nationalist internet trolls). Some goverments overstate their donated aid to Ukraine, meanwhile Germany and other nations have very valid reasons to understate their importance in supporting Ukraine. The US is the most important donor of help to the Ukrainians, but a lot of the money in the headlines never leaves the US.
The US has given lots of aid but our headlines are often misleading. Our congress will appropriate an amount of money to Ukraine. Then the Biden administration will announce various packages of equipment for Ukraine. If you don’t look closely it just looks like it keeps going up and up. But when you look at the money, the Biden administration is just spending the money Congress appropriated. You cannot trust what the press headlines are here. Every politician and reporter has an axe to grind and you have to sift through it. I wish we would accelerate aid to win the war not just extend it but I just pray it ends with dignity and freedom for Ukraine and a path for Russia to someday rejoin the west in Peace.
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Ambulances for the war in Ukraine. Ex-Tomcat Rio Ward Carrol talks with an astronaut AND nurse who are helping in the Ukraine.
American Woman Serving on the Front Lines in Ukraine - YouTube
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The Swedish Gripen for the Ukraine? Interesting discussion from people who know jets. Some are better for purpose than others. I am not telling people what to send but this discussion is refreshing!
Is not a NATO plane. It is the only European/US modern fighter plane designed for the situation the Ukrainians have, but because of Erdogan and Orban, Sveden has no article 5 protection.
Another take on this from an Aussi history and aviation channel (aviation after 07:30, Gripen after 19:30)
I’m not denying facts. I am exposing western propaganda lies that costed the rest of us way too much.
I am also aware that there is no more blind than those who don’t want to see. Therefore, no need to discuss your morals.
I have no hatred towards anyone. It is clear that something will have to be done with western hegemonic elite. Hopefully that will be done by their own oppressed people.
LOL … Grenada, Panama, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan … all big guys
Oh, what a mistake to make … Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions mothers of all mistakes.
Please since you are so educated please tell me how both our respective countries could be invaded without our knowledge and preparedness and while it is well known our energy resources can be vulnerable how prey tell does one expect to attack or sabotage oil, gas and manufacturing without the aid or use of nuclear weapons. Yes it can be crippled but it can’t be stopped so please tell me how an invading country could do this to Canada or the US?
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Good points and these were also mentioned in the video from Ward!
But actually NATO has 2 Countries which use the Saab plane (correct me if wrong). Hungary and the Czech Republic, the first one is of not much help BUT The Czechs have a military which both has massive experience with the Mig-29 AND Gripen. Saab was and undoubtedly still is aggressively pushing its new models and offered to give the leased ones to the Czechs for “free” if the get new ones.
From a transition perspective this is great because retraining from a Mig to a Saab isn’t the easy as the pilots would have to reset muscle memory and get used to other tech. Nasty accidents happened.
The Aussie channel looks cool but misses the point of the F-16 having the large intake and other points Ward Carrols guest make as to why it is not the best choice. Actually NATO prepped for another war and the realities of war keep changing fast. Finally I don’t think Sweden should not be too worried about an invasion.
PS The Gripen sadly lost out almost everywhere against Lockheed Martin. For one the Gripen is a lot less expensive to operate for 5K per hour which would make it great for even the Civilian JetWarbird market.
Czech Gripen lease extension to 2035, until the F-35 arrives (aviacionline.com)
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There are some more possible issues. On the space side WION points outs the publicly known Value AND Vulnerability of Satellites.
This has been publicly discusses since probability the 70s but it still is a growing risk. The Nordstream 2 was blown up, so is other infrastructure safe?
Chewie.
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There was a huge controversy in Canada over procurement of new fighters and after a long procurement process(Canadas procurement process is badly flawed) it came down to the Gripen and the F35.
A lot of people wanted the Gripen as it was cheaper, met the requirements for Canadian needs and it would be produced under license in Canada however at the end of the day the F35 was chosen which a lot of people feel was politically motivated but the deal is done and we get to live with it.
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Same here in NL, I can’t judge what was true about the political motivations but I hear that a lot. Thanks for sharing.
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F35s in teamwork over Poland and the Baltic, (my guess: NATO telling the Russians via the press that the airspace was not empty):
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Satellites are not easy targets as it costs a lot of money to get the means to interrupt them. Other kinds of infrastructure is child’s play by comparison. Literally children could damage infrastructure. Would it shut down a country? No but it is an incremental thing.
In the US, disaster scenarios are an industry in themselves. Virtually anything can be be blown up, people threatened and feelings hurt. We as a culture live in both fear of and fascination of these scenarios. But like any real disaster, after it happens we pull together and get on with it.
Energy infrastructure will always be vulnerable. Think Nordstream is the only pipeline? Electrical transformers are a royal pain to replace with the big ones in incredibly short supply. Communications is also vulnerable but incredibly redundant.
Harder to come up with infrastructure which impairs military capability. I could come up with 100 places in the US to damage us but if our intelligence community finds out who did it, we will rain holy hell on the actors. It is just something you live with.
Ok sorry for rambling. Personally I would aim for LNG infrastructure. Makes for BIG fireworks.
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I would say F35 is partly political pressure, partly very good salesmanship and partly the incredible appeal of stealthy platforms. If you can’t be seen, then it’s hard to shoot down your very expensive fighters.
I’m honestly surprised F35 has been so widespread. It’s very good but hugely expensive and backorders go for years. I think the Swedes probably got outsold. The French had a bad streak selling their fighters but have recently done much better. But I’m sure the US government tries to influence the deal too.
Is the Gripen the best fighter for Ukraine? Maybe so. I’m no expert but I’m partial to the F16 for one reason….it’s not the best but we are already training Ukrainians to fly them. The plane you know is often the best.
NATO should field several different fighters from multiple sources. It’s more flexible and we can handle the infrastructure to keep 1/2 dozen platforms on the frontline.
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I’m pretty sure Russia knows NATO skies are closely watched. I would take NATO pilot for pilot and plane for plane anyday in a defensive battle especially. Frankly think Russia would get their ass kicked and they know it too even without the US there. It’s a long way from the 70’s but I think this is the most equal NATO has ever been and maybe the healthiest at the same time.
I say this not because the US is weaker but it seems everyone is focused on smaller high quality units of all kind. We don’t need to field a million men on a weeks notice like we used to (nato as a whole). This allows for a great team approach.
I don’t want war but I’m proud we are a part of Nato. Being a superpower gets old, better to have a group of diverse countries who believe in Freedom and tolerance.
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