The UK and France have “reactivated” talks on sending troops to Ukraine, French newspaper Le Monde reported on Monday. The idea has already caused a rift among European NATO members.
Back in February, French President Emmanuel Macron caused controversy by declaring his willingness to send ground troops to Ukraine “to prevent Russia from winning this war.” The statement was quickly disavowed by NATO officials, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters that Ukraine’s Western backers were “unanimous” in their opposition to the idea.
The plan was seemingly shelved, Le Monde has reported, until British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Paris earlier this month. Citing anonymous sources, the French newspaper claimed that talks on a possible Franco-British deployment to Ukraine were “reactivated” by Starmer and Macron.
No further information was provided, and Le Monde speculated that this deployment could range from both nations sending private-sector technicians to repair military equipment (as Britain already does), to private military contractors (as Russia insists that France does), to flag-wearing personnel on the ground, either on the front line or to enforce an eventual ceasefire and peace deal.
I imagine the US has told them to do this.
The thing I think most of the conversation around the salami slicing isn't accounting for is intelligence and counter-intelligence. Every new thing Russia does, and especially every new capability it demonstrates is an intelligence win for the West.
As the West ramps up production, that intelligence will be invaluable in deciding WHAT to ramp up production of, and how to design it to counter Russian capabilities.
Yeah that's why they're probably letting them shoot the missiles deep into Russia too. They'll use satellite analysis to better determine how Russian air defense systems work to attempt to counter them. Every missile Russia shoots down increases the risk that in 5-10 years they may have one they can't. Heck they still have enough time to apply some of these lessons to fighting China in a few years so that alone they may consider well worth the expenditure.
Great point. I hadn't considered the Russian missile defense angle
I've heard talk of ramping up weapons production, but can the gutted neoliberal west actually pull off anything significant?
Possibly? There's plenty of barriers, but there's enough risk that Russia has to consider it in their strategic analysis
No. I have seen estimates that it would take at least 10 years of concerted effort to ramp up US production to that scale.