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U.S., NATO Put the Squeeze on Germany for Leopard Tanks for Kyiv

The pressure on Germany to agree to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine is intense. Reports on today’s meeting between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his newly-appointed counterpart, Boris Pistorius, made that clear, amidst complaints from other NATO members and allies that Germany is “stalling” on making this decision. The nationalnews.com website reported that Austin spent his meeting with Pistorius “throwing his weight around” to get him to agree to send the Leopard tanks.

Speaking yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was quite clear: Germany will not act on sending these tanks to Ukraine unless the U.S. acts in tandem.

In its article blaring that the U.S. and Germany are “heading for a showdown” over tanks for Ukraine, NBC News warns that the success of the Jan. 20 Ukraine Contact Group meeting at Ramstein Air Base will depend on whether “it can bring the heavy tanks,” which, NBC claims, “could shift the war’s momentum in 2023.”

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