This “largest air force redeployment exercise since NATO was founded,” according to the Pentagon, involved around 200 aircraft – half of them American – and has been given a high priority in terms of participation, budgeting and “coordinated strategic communications.” In plain English, that means public relations – and they admit it, saying the exercise will “generate a high level of media attention.” On June 12, the US-led military bloc launched a massive display of air power in Europe, dubbed Air Defender 2023. So NATO seems to have decided to win an imaginary one instead. How fortunate!Īs it turns out, winning full scale wars is difficult. Germany’s foreign minister has already asked the world not to call the tanks “German-made,” trying to avoid embarrassment, while the American-made Abrams are still stuck in transit. Kyiv’s “great summer counteroffensive” has so far resembled a big cat safari, with the Leopards faring about as well as the Tigers and the Panthers did in 1943. Finland was accepted alone, abandoning decades of careful neutrality only to then see half of the tanks it provided Ukraine reportedly become smoldering wrecks practically overnight.
Sweden is still stuck in the waiting room, because Turkey is using NATO’s consensus rule as leverage to resolve some lingering issues. Then reality got in the way, notes Global Times. It was supposed to be a big summer for NATO, welcoming Sweden and Finland at the summit in Vilnius and showcasing the best-of-the-West tanks and other armor in Ukraine’s blitzkrieg counteroffensive against Russia.
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