US Believes Russia Might Provide Iran With Fighter Jets: W.House
Barron's skrev:"We believe that Russia might provide Iran unprecedented defense cooperation, including on missiles, electronics and air defense. We believe that Russia might provide Iran with fighter jets," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
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"Iran is also seeking to purchase additional military equipment from Russia, including attack helicopters, radars and combat training aircraft. In total, Iran are seeking billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment," Kirby said.
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According to Kirby, Iran has already sent hundreds of drones, as well as artillery and tank ammunition, to Russia and that "Iran's support for Russia's war has expanded."
Ryssland och Iran fördjupar sitt militära samarbete. Det är dock alltjämt oklart om Iran skickar ballistiska missiler till Ryssland.
Renewed protests in Iran's restive southeast, currency at new low
Reuters skrev:Meanwhile, Iran's currency continued its slide to hit new lows, weighed by the unrest and Tehran's increased isolation under mounting Western sanctions.
The rial plummeted to a new record low of 539,200 against the U.S. dollar on Friday, compared to 526,500 on Thursday, according to foreign exchange site Bonbast.com, amid reports of new sanctions against Iran.
The U.S. Commerce Department targeted Belarus, Iran and others in its latest response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, imposing export control measures and adding more targets to its entity list.
Den iranska valutan, rialen, är i fritt fall. I början av september förra året kostade en USA-dollar mindre än 300 000 rial. I början av januari kostade en USA-dollar mindre än 400 000 rial. För tre dagar sedan kostade en USA-dollar mindre än 500 000 rial. I skrivande stund kostar en USA-dollar 540 000 rial, och priset ökar för varje dag. Ryssland och Iran har världens största gasreserver. Tänk om det svarta guldet kunde användas till annat än att sprida terror.
Sweden, Germany Pledge Almost 30 Tanks to Arm Ukraine Battalion
Bloomberg skrev:Hours later on Friday, the Defense Ministry in Berlin said Germany will send 18 Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine, four more than initially planned. Together with three Leopard 2 models from Portugal, this will enable the German-led allies to assemble a battalion of the most advanced tanks for Ukraine. A battalion in Ukraine’s army consists of 31 battle tanks.
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Poland has been assembling a coalition of countries to send the older A4 version of the Leopard 2, while Germany is working with allies to supply the modern A6 version.
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Poland has delivered its first four Leopard 2A4 battle tanks to Ukraine, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced during a visit to Kyiv on Friday. Sweden’s Stridsvagn 122 is based on the Leopard 2A5 model and is intended to fight alongside German 2A6 Leopards.
The Swedish package, its eleventh since Russia’s full-scale invasion, will also include IRIS-T and Hawk air defense missile systems, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Defense Minister Pal Jonson told reporters at a military base in northern Sweden.
Utmärkt! Då kan Ukraina upprätta två bataljoner med Leopard 2-stridsvagnar.
The west’s limited support for Ukraine fails to measure up
Financial Times skrev:In the first 12 months of the war in Ukraine, the condemnation of Russia and rhetorical backing of Kyiv by the governments of Europe and the US has been intense and largely unanimous. But the economic numbers tell a different story. Judged against current potential and historical standards, the war looks like an exercise in calculated restraint.
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Over the past 12 months, the US spent 0.21 per cent of GDP on military support for Ukraine. That is slightly less than it spent in an average year on in its ill-fated Afghanistan intervention. In Iraq the spend was three times larger. The Korean war cost the US 13 times as much. Lend-Lease aid for the British empire in the second world war ran to 15 times as much in proportional terms.
To see the Europeans doing more, you only need to go back to 1991. To support the American-led operation to oust Saddam Hussein from the oilfields of Kuwait, Germany gave three times as much as it is offering to Ukraine in bilateral aid.
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Western governments may sincerely support a Ukrainian victory, but they are failing to match means and ends. Reservations about specific weapons systems and the limits of western stockpiles play a part. But neither factor should inhibit money from flowing more freely. Rather than strategic objections or principled political opposition, it is complacency, a lack of imagination, small-minded budgetary thinking and procedural wrangling that are driving a wedge between intention and action.
Både USA och Europa prioriterar ändå krig i Mellanöstern framför det största kriget i Europa sedan 1945. Det är bara att följa pengarna!
‘Something Was Badly Wrong’: When Washington Realized Russia Was Actually Invading Ukraine
POLITICO skrev:Tip O’Neill — I’m from Boston, he was a Boston guy — and he said all politics are local. If it’s not happening to you, or in and around you, there’s a sense of remoteness. It doesn’t strike through the same way it does if it happens to you and your family. But for some of us, who have a lot of combat experience, who have seen a lot of war, it’s very real. For many people — good people, smart people — it’s very difficult to get your head around this stuff. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s human nature. Just the other day, there were 1,100 Russians killed in a single day — more than that, closer to 1,200 — down around Bakhmut. That’s Iwo Jima, that’s Shiloh.
Men ändå går det inte bra för Ryssland. Var Saddam Husseins armé starkare än Vladimir Putins?