This man made a really important decision today with his men and women. Yes, United States Secretary of defense, Gen Lloyd Austin, calmed the world when Pentagon released that important statement: “Secretary Austin thanked the minister for Poland’s willingness to continue to look for ways to assist Ukraine, but he stressed that we do not support the transfer of additional fighter aircraft to the Ukrainian air force at this time, and therefore have no desire to see them in our custody either,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said at a briefing.
I spoke with a director in a big Wall Street firm when Poland posted that it would send its fighter jets to a US base in Germany, and then US/NATO can give them to Ukraine. In that call, I said it could be problematic.
Why? If Russian intelligence picks data that fighter jets are leaving the US base in Germany to Ukraine, one could expect Russia to assume that Germany/USA is coming to attack its soldiers in Ukraine or even in Russia. They may decide to send missiles to the base to avoid further uplift, triggering a chain reaction that the world may regret.
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The Secretary of State Antony Blinken had endorsed the Polish idea and market was worried. But when Gen Austin released his statement today, Wall Street rejoiced – and market closed well.
The United States under President Biden continues to manage this issue with a nuanced pragmatic strategy. There are many exemptions in all these sanctions. If you read Russian websites, they’re mocking some of them.
Case 1: Europe cannot decouple Russia from the SWIFT payment system because it needs to pay for oil and gas. If they do that and cut off Russia 100%, Russia will demand cash delivery before shipping gas. This explains why some Russian banks were exempted from the SWIFT sanctions so that Europe will continue to pay for energy.
The world needs rational leaders right now because a small mistake could be consequential.
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From Ndubuisi’s worldview, the US has remained spot on in managing pre-war and war situations in Ukraine, so its leadership is teaching the world the art of good judgment and excellence.
The confusion here is that, depending on what you wish to amplify or diminish, the framing can run a circle on the real questions, without even attempting to answer any, and when hard pressed, a new narrative will replace the old one.
If you were to be a journalist, it would have been pretty straightforward to understand, but the position keeps changing, sometimes as a liberal journalist, another time as a political analyst, another time as an American patriot, and the modulation continues…
Since Austin has been added in the basket of rockstars, just like Biden before him, it’s possible that the funny Blinken, might still make the list soon, because Washington is filled with top performers, no problem. Just know that there’s no difference between American and Russian propaganda, depending on who has the louder speakers and bigger microphone at any given time.
So, since your beloved US dodges bullet at every turn, what action or inaction do you think it should take in order to bring the carnage in Ukraine to a stop? No drama this time.