Tanks ratchet up risk of global war

Moves by the United States and Germany to supply Ukraine with tanks in its conflict with Russia have raised the stakes in a war scenario that could become increasingly perilous for the world.

Ted Galen Carpenter, in a post on Thursday on the Antiwar website, wrote: "A dramatic escalation of US and NATO involvement in the Ukraine war is taking place - and that move is yet another reckless provocation toward Russia.

"The Biden administration and NATO are playing a very dangerous game by engaging in such an escalation of its assistance to one side in an increasingly emotional and destructive conflict," wrote Carpenter, who is a senior fellow in defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute in Washington.

"Washington's approach is to use Ukraine as a pawn (a proxy) ... without NATO ending up in a direct war with Russia. It is a replication of the strategy Washington used in Afghanistan, providing military aid to the rebel mujahidin to harass, bleed, and eventually force the Soviet Union to execute a humiliating withdrawal."

But Carpenter wrote that "using the same strategy in Ukraine is vastly more dangerous. By virtue of its greater size and more important location, Ukraine is a crucial strategic stake for Moscow in ways that Afghanistan never was".

He added: "Washington and its allies have sought to maintain such an impossibly precarious status, but they are now careening toward becoming full-fledged belligerents."

Former US president Donald Trump, in a post on Thursday on his Truth Social site, wrote: "FIRST COME THE TANKS, THEN COME THE NUKES. Get this crazy war ended, NOW. So easy to do!"

People in the US also took to Twitter to express concern over a seeming escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.

US Representative Eli Crane, a newly elected Republican from Arizona and former US Navy SEAL, wrote on Wednesday: "This is so foolish. We are over 31 Trillion in debt, escalating a war that could quickly turn nuclear, and depleting our own weapon stockpiles."

Clint Ehrlich, a foreign-policy analyst and lawyer, on Thursday wrote: "The American people have no idea that the White House is gambling with their lives."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the tank deliveries represented "direct involvement in the conflict".

Meanwhile, any countries that are prepared to provide Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets would face no shortage of supply, US weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin has said.

Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet told investors in a Wednesday earnings call that a backlog of weapons contracts grew to $150 billion from $135 billion in 2021,"driven by all-time record orders".

Virginia-based General Dynamics makes the tanks that Ukraine will be getting from the US. Its backlog of contracts has reached a record $91.1 billion, the Responsible Statecraft website reported.

The missile and defense sector for Raytheon Technologies, also based in Virginia, had a record backlog of $34 billion in 2022, the website reported.

'Disastrous plan'

Germany and the US made the announcements on Wednesday that they would send the tanks to Ukraine to help Kyiv break combat stalemates.

US President Joe Biden said the US will send 31 M1 Abrams tanks, following Germany's agreement to send 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks from its own stocks. "There is no offensive threat to Russia (itself)," Biden said.

Germany had refused to send the Leopards unless the US offered the Abrams tanks, not wanting to anger Russia without the US making a similar commitment.

Biden said European allies have agreed to send enough tanks to equip two Ukrainian tank battalions, or a total of 62 tanks.

Peskov said: "Simply because of technological aspects, this is a rather disastrous plan". He cited "a completely obvious overestimation of the potential" the tanks would add to the Ukrainian military.

Senior US officials said it would take months for the tanks to be delivered.

Anatoly Antonov, Russia's ambassador in Washington, said delivery of the tanks would be "another blatant provocation".

On Thursday, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said the country will send four Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, in an article on the institute's website on Thursday, wrote: "Supposing the United States were fighting a war close to its own borders, with stakes that many members of the US government and political elites believed - right or wrong - were existential for America's survival as a great power or even as a united country; and supposing a hostile great power were massively and increasingly arming America's enemy, leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of American troops and the risk of complete defeat.

"Would Washington refrain permanently from some form of harsh retaliation? Perhaps it would - but I really would not like to bet on it."

Agencies contributed to this story.