Thread by @JPaulKirby

There is some fog of war about what is happening with these Polish Mig-29s. My guess
- US thinks any NFZ is unacceptable
- POL has wanted to send them for a week
- US secretly armtwisted POL into stopping
- Neither US nor POL will disclose the details of the armtwisting 1/

- POL is desperate to send them
- US has been flooding American media with propaganda equating NFZ with nuclear disaster
- What POL has now done is to "out" the US' armtwisting without disclosing details
2/

- POL now unlinks the issue of backfill with F16s etc.
- As GHW Bush wld have said, "no linkage! no linkage!"
- And Germany says it will accept anyone's jets for deployment to UKR
- Shoe now on other foot
3/

- US now has 2 opts
1) We forbid any NFZ. Wont take jets into GER even if POL sends, GER will take & UKR will receive. We take responsibility for UKR massacre.
2) We accept that someone other than UKR will be at war with RUS

Poland has forced Biden's hand. Well played Poland.

And when I say flooding US with propaganda, just turn on normally liberal @MSNBC. Poor @VindmanAlex is only one arguing for *anything* more. Every general, every elderly writer, and FFS @TheLastWord is screaming fear into everyone.

For the past week @Lawrence has outperformed Russian state media every single day. She says nothing to see; O'Donnell says we're all gonna die. Just fucking stop it.

@Lawrence Ppl complain about Fox. I do. But turn on @MSNBC. It's worse than Tucker; it's worse than Voldemort. If a guest even says those three words--no fly zone--newsreaders turn into beat cops. "But that can't happen because..." "That isn't an option." Way out over their skis.

I am listening this very second to live air raid sirens in Kyiv. Listen to it right now. This is real. These people are being slaughtered.

If you succumb to "well, it's sad they're having a rainy day, but someone who looked important told me..." Then I'm sorry, but:

Look at this. Every shelling does this. Putin will do this to a million ppl if no one stops him.

https://twitter.com/JPaulKirby/status/1501255679692136451?t=mWAYeu8G_PXaTpEHVkkKlA&s=19

If you think Putin has no further ambitions, and hasn't already started a world war, then explain the Z -- which does not exist as a letter in the Russian/Ukrainian alphabet. On tanks, and on billboards. This is Putin's swastika.

Apologies. I meant @AVindman, not the person above.