An F-16 Fighting Falcon – the latest offensive weapon the West have agreed to supply to Ukraine
Source: Salami Slicing, Boiled Frogs, and Russian Red Lines
I was wondering what these defensive vs. offensive weapons might be; obs things like mines, barbed wire, dragons teeth, etc. are defensive, most other weaponry can be used either way.
“While it was never likely that the US would go to war against Russia on behalf of Ukraine, Obama’s reluctance to get the US too engaged in this conflict led to restrictions on the support given to Ukraine, even as it sought to develop its own armed forces to cope with the continuing challenge from Russia in the Donbas region. While weapons that were unambiguously defensive were provided anything that looked like it might have an offensive purposes was refused. Ukraine was to be helped to defend itself against further aggression but only to the point where Ukrainian forces would be unable to take the fight to the Russians.”
“The precedents for arms supplies to Ukraine going back to 2014 involved a determination, restrictively applied, to confine supplies to defensive systems, such as anti-tank and air defence systems. Yet the distinction between defensive and offensive systems is always artificial.“
Dude uses the salami slicing metaphor, then switches to the buffet metaphor. Both to good effect. Maybe they were hungry when writing?
“At first they are guided to the salads and told that is all they are allowed. But that hardly satisfies their appetites, and they are soon looking longingly at more nutritious dishes, only to be told that there is no room on their plates or that they might find the food too rich. Eventually the conversation shifts. If they choose carefully and are not too greedy they might start to take from more of the buffet.”
… and finishes with the salami again…
“As his bluffing became evident, Western leaders gained in confidence. Of course this confidence carries its own risks if one day Putin decides that he dare not bluff any more, but for now it is the Russian salami that is being sliced in ways that leave it frustrated and thwarted.”
This snip is an example of an essential Chrome extension called “Google Dictionary. 2click a word and automagically Chrome does a definition lookup and pops it up above the word.
