Dangerous Business

As we noted a short while ago, Poland just announced that it is going to transfer its collection of MiG-29 fighter jets to the U.S. at Rammstein Air Base in Germany. Then what the U.S. does with them is up to the U.S. All they ask is that they get new U.S. jets. But Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, during Senate testimony, just said that the statement from Poland wasn’t discussed in advance or approved by the U.S. This is a very dangerous game with a lot of governments involved, each responding to their strategic situation and public opinion. At the end of the day though, funny business about who exactly is giving the planes doesn’t matter. This isn’t a technicality kind of situation. Supplying fighter jets to Ukraine is a big, big escalatory deal. And that decision has to be for the U.S. to make — because the consequences will be on the U.S. to deal with.