Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg meets with the Minister of Defence of Germany, Boris Pistorius, in Berlin (Picture: Nato)
The US and Germany will send heavy tanks to Ukraine, in another major escalation of Western arms supplies. It’s a terrifying new step that heightens the chances of Russia replying with its own new level of armaments, and the threat of nuclear weapons.
The military surge had looked in doubt earlier this week. The key development came when president Joe Biden’s administration said it would deliver M1 Abrams tanks.
Previously German chancellor Olaf Scholz from the Labour-type SPD party had hesitated to provide Ukraine with heavy armour. He feared that it would increase the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and Nato.
But on Wednesday Scholz said that, as a first step, Germany would supply 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. He said the move was a result of “intensive consultations that have taken place between Germany and its closest European and international partners”. Another German tank battalion will follow.
The German Green party, which is part of the governing coalition, has been in the vanguard of demanding more weaponry and killing in Ukraine. The Green Katrin Göring-Eckardt, vice president of the German parliament, celebrated on Twitter, “The Leopard’s freed!”
Ukrainian leaders demanded the weaponry so that they could step up their offensive in Donbas and, potentially, Crimea.
The US and German joint decision mirrors a similar escalation at the start of this year. They jointly announced they would both provide infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine—US Bradleys and German Marders.
Last July Scholz told the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee that the delivery of Marder infantry fighting vehicles would be a “terrible escalation”. Now he has not just agreed to that, but has gone much further.
Germany is also set to give the green light to Poland’s request to send some of its Leopards to Ukraine. Earlier on Tuesday, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said he was “willing to consider” purchasing 18 Leopard tanks it had leased from Germany and providing them to Ukraine.
Britain has already gone down this bloody route. Defence secretary Ben Wallace announced on 16 January, “the most significant package of combat to date to accelerate Ukrainian success”. It included 14 Challenger battle tanks, the first such shipment from a Western power.
The Telegraph newspaper reports, “The West is poised to send nearly 200 battle tanks to Ukraine.” Everywhere military production and spending are on the increase. The New York Times newspaper reports the US war machine is “racing to boost its production of artillery shells by 500 percent within two years”.
This is “pushing conventional ammunition production to levels not seen since the Korean War”. It will mean spending billions of dollars to make up for “shortfalls caused by the war in Ukraine and to build up stockpiles for future conflicts”.
The increase in arms spending is part of “the most aggressive modernisation effort in nearly 40 years” for the US defence industrial base, according to an army report.
It is more important than ever to demand no more Western weapons to Ukraine, Russian troops out and opposition to Nato escalation.
Rheinmetall, Germany’s main defence contractor, is celebrating the drive to a wider war. According to the Financial Times newspaper it “could offload its stock of the weapons, refurbish those of clients, and sell valuable ammunition by the tank load”.
The report adds, “the real prize would be supply contracts for spare parts and ammunition. These typically fetch twice the revenues of the original sale”. Every single round of ammunition costs around £6,000 and tanks carry 40-plus rounds. If every tank fired 20 rounds a day, monthly profits would be around £1 million per vehicle.
The Financial Times report ruthlessly comments, “The cost would also be quantified in gruesome deaths and bereaved families. But plentiful finance and superior engineering determine conventional conflicts alongside casualties.
“Already, the cost of restocking Europe’s armed forces with 120mm shells could be almost £6 billion. Rheinmetall will be joining Ukraine and much of Europe’s leadership in congratulating wary Germany for changing its spots and uncaging the Leopards.”
Meanwhile this week US arms firms announced soaring profits from the slaughter:
During this period the US army awarded GD a £150 million contract to upgrade Abrams main battle tanks and £80 million for Stryker M-Shorad vehicles.
Overall, GD had profits of over £800 million in the last three months of 2022.
Chief Executive Greg Hayes said the Russian invasion of Ukraine had boosted demand for its products. The US government said in December it would offer Raytheon’s Patriot air and missile systems to Ukraine.
“We remain in lockstep with the US government,” said Hayes.
Also adding to the top line was £90 million for tactical and strike missiles, including the guided multiple launch rocket systems that Ukrainian troops have been firing out of the high mobility artillery rocket system (Himars).
Russia invaded Ukraine 11 months ago. The reckless and reactionary move by Vladimir Putin was blocked and in part thrown back by Ukrainian resistance. A stalemate followed with very gradual Russian advances in the south and east of Ukraine, with horrendous casualties on both sides.
All the while, Russia continued to use its artillery to pulverise a series of cities. But the US and its allies poured in weaponry as a way of furthering the expansion of Nato. This desire to humiliate Russia and extend Nato were partly to blame for the war in the first place. A victory over Russia would be a staging post towards confrontation with China, the US’s main competitor.
More recently Ukrainian forces, using the most advanced Nato weaponry have won further battles against Russian forces. Ukraine has become a pawn in a proxy war, used by the West for its own ends. The Ukrainian people are cannon fodder for Western war aims.
There is unlikely to be an early end to the conflict. The US is happy to bleed Russia and empty its weapons arsenal. Putin might be driven out if he retreats.
The hope lies in opposition to imperialist war—in Russia, Ukraine and the Nato countries.
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