Poland and the U.S. really, really wanted Germany to send their own Leopard 2's but Germany kept referring to that pesky Potsdam Agreement. This compromise looks like a fig leaf over the naughty bits.
From The BBC:
Germany's foreign minister Anna Baerbock has said she "would not stand in the way" of Poland if they were to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
Ukraine has called on the West to provide the German-made tanks which they say will help them defeat Russia.
But Germany is yet to provide the armoured vehicles, and its export laws prevent other countries from sending theirs.
On Sunday, Ms Baerbock said Poland had not yet asked for export permission.
"For the moment the question has not been asked, but if we were asked we would not stand in the way," she told France's LCI TV on Sunday.
Last week, Poland's prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the country was ready to provide 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv if Berlin permitted them to do so....
....MUCH MORE
Apparently the Leopard 2 tanks, reputed to be very efficient killing machines, can be beaten:
German Leopard 2 tanks: People are excited about a potential delivery to Ukraine and already announced them as the next invincible game-changer.
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) January 12, 2023
So let’s look at the past and project into the future.
Video: ISIS destroyed Leopard 2’s
1/ -> thread with news articles pic.twitter.com/zw1AfSZP9z
“Germany’s Leopard 2 main battle tank has a reputation as one of the finest in the world […] However, that reputation for nigh-invincibility has faced setbacks on Syrian battlefields, and placed Berlin in a uniquely awkward national-level dispute with Turkey.”
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) January 12, 2023
3/ pic.twitter.com/zjLvtEmtkm
....MUCH MORE (thread)
So, as with the V-1, V-2 and the rest of the Nazi stuff, not a wunderwaffe.
Next up, who will fly the F-16's when they are delivered to Ukraine?
