Germany Again Warns Against Lethal Weaponry for Ukraine

[misskit]

Germany's top diplomat has warned against supplying Ukraine with lethal weaponry in its fight against pro-Russian separatists, saying such a move could trigger a "dangerous, permanent escalation" of the crisis facing Kyiv and Moscow.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke Thursday in Washington after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. He told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that giving such weapons to Ukraine could send the ongoing conflict spinning "out of control."

Steinmeier also predicted that pressure within and outside the United States to arm Ukraine will increase if pro-Russian rebels attempt to seize the strategically important Ukraine seaport of Mariupol.

The latest German warning comes just days after that country's ambassador to the United States said President Barack Obama has decided against sending lethal weaponry to Ukraine at this time.

Ambassador Peter Wittig said Obama's decision came after recent talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Wittig told the Associated Press that Western powers must be "fully prepared" for the consequences of arming Ukraine - a non-NATO country - including the possibility of a massive Russian military response that Europe is seeking to avoid.

Obama has come under increasing pressure from the U.S. Congress to bolster the vastly overmatched Ukrainian army with lethal defensive weaponry.

But French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said last month that France has no intention of providing lethal hardware to Kyiv "at this time," while Germany's Chancellor Merkel has repeatedly voiced opposition to such a move.

Other military aid critics have argued that no amount of Western weaponry in Ukraine would stop a concerted Russian incursion by a military said to be at least four times larger than Ukraine's, with twice as many tanks and more than six times as many combat aircraft.

Germany Again Warns Against Lethal Weaponry for Ukraine

[Neverna]

Obama has come under increasing pressure from the U.S. Congress to bolster the vastly overmatched Ukrainian army with lethal defensive weaponry.

I suppose they mean sell US weapons to Ukraine. I imagine that's quite a lot of US weaponry if they want Ukraine to match Russia.

[bsnub]

I imagine that's quite a lot of US weaponry if they want Ukraine to match Russia.

So you acknowledge that the Russians are at the very least supplying the rebels? That is more than pseudo and ohdoh are willing to concede.

The reality is that it goes far deeper than that but I am willing to take this step by step...

[boloa]

Obama has come under increasing pressure from the U.S. Congress to bolster the vastly overmatched Ukrainian army with lethal defensive weaponry.

I suppose they mean sell US weapons to Ukraine. I imagine that's quite a lot of US weaponry if they want Ukraine to match Russia.

Yes.... Hundreds of US military vehicles have arrived in the Baltic states and are to stay in Europe, in a mission to reassure Nato allies unsettled by Russia's actions in Ukraine. BBC News - Ukraine conflict: US tanks in Baltics as Nato drills start

[bsnub]

^ Well thousands of Russian military pieces have been used in Donetsk. Tanks, apc's, Mobile artillery, ammo, medical aid and gas.

Only an idiot would deny this reality.

[Neverna]

I imagine that's quite a lot of US weaponry if they want Ukraine to match Russia.

So you acknowledge that the Russians are at the very least supplying the rebels? That is more than pseudo and ohdoh are willing to concede.

No, that's not what I meant at all. All I was saying was that the US would have to sell Ukraine a lot of weapons if they want the Ukraine military to match the Russian military. Nothing more.


* I did not mention any rebels and I did not imply anything about any rebels.

[bsnub]

the US would have to sell Ukraine a lot of weapons if they want the Ukraine military to match the Russian military.

That is all I need to hear....

[Neverna]

I'm sure you didn't need me to tell you the Russian military is bigger than the Ukraine military, bsnub.



But in case you need some links to make your mind up, start here ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_of_Ukraine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Armed_Forces

[thaimeme]

I'm confused...
Who are the bad guys and who are the good guys??

[Horatio Hornblower]

Now what have the Ukraine done with the IMF money.

[boloa]

I'm confused...
Who are the bad guys and who are the good guys??

Venezuela apparently

[Norton]

Who are the bad guys and who are the good guys??