French President Macron: We Must Do "Whatever It Takes" to Rescue Ukraine's Failing Effort Against Russia, and "Nothing Is Ruled Out"

Via Jazz Shaw-- what a great idea!

Macron didn't actually say "send troops to Urkaine." But "whatever it takes" and "nothing is ruled out" means, well, he's not ruling out sending NATO troops to fight Russia directly.

Via Politico, which is Axios for YA readers. (Axios is Politico for Kidz.)

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday night said "nothing is ruled out" when it comes to sending Western troops to help Ukraine. He warned the situation on the ground was so critical, and the stakes for Europe were so high, that much more effort was needed to fight back Russia's invasion.

"Whatever it takes": "We're at a critical point in the conflict where we need to take the initiative," Macron said after hosting European leaders at the Elysée Palace for a summit on Ukraine. "We're determined to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes."

Macron more like Crackron amirite

Jazz Shaw's article discusses what would happen if France, unilaterally, sends troops to Ukraine. That seems to be a highly fantastical scenario, but if France did go to war with Russia, and Russia attacked France, that would invoke NATO's Article V and compel the US to come to France's defense.

Or, more likely: It would result in Article V being officially repudiated.

From the foul, corrupt AP: Germany and Poland immediately said "Count us out."

BRUSSELS (AP) -- European military heavyweights Germany and Poland affirmed Tuesday that they would not be sending troops to Ukraine, after reports that some Western countries may be considering doing so as the war with Russia enters its third year.

The head of NATO also said the U.S.-led military alliance has no plans to send troops to Ukraine, after other central European leaders confirmed that they too would not be providing soldiers.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, warned that a direct conflict between NATO and Russia would be inevitable if the alliance sends combat troops. "In this case, we need to talk not about probability, but about the inevitability (of conflict)," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The New York Times reported Sunday that the CIA built 12 secret spy bases in Ukraine.

On Sunday The New York Times published an explosive and very belated full admission that US intelligence has not only been instrumental in Ukraine wartime decision-making, but has established and financed high tech command-and-control spy centers, and was doing so long prior to the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of two years ago.

Among the biggest revelations is that the program was established a decade ago and spans three different American presidents. The Times says the CIA program to modernize Ukraine's intelligence services has "transformed" the former Soviet state and its capabilities into "Washington's most important intelligence partners against the Kremlin today."

This has included the agency having secretly trained and equipped Ukrainian intelligence officers spanning back to just after the 2014 Maidan coup events, as well constructing a network of 12 secret bases along the Russian border--work which began eight years ago. These intelligence bases, from which Russian commanders' communications can be swept up and Russian spy satellites monitored, are being used launch and track cross-border drone and missile attacks on Russian territory.

...

"Without them [the CIA and elite commandoes it's trained], there would have been no way for us to resist the Russians, or to beat them," according to Ivan Bakanov, former head of the SBU, which is Ukraine's domestic intelligence agency.

The full NYT article is here, through an archive.

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:15 PM

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