Blazingcatfur

Only about 8 percent of EU firms have divested from Russia, with the majority of Western firms still active in the country being German.

A vast number of firms headquartered in the European Union and G7 countries continue to operate and invest in Russia, according to a new study on equity investments made by Western companies.

Less than 9 percent of about 1,400 EU and G7 companies that had subsidiaries in Russia before Moscow invaded Ukraine had divested at least one subsidiary in the country by November 2022, according to data obtained by professor Simon Evenett, from the University of St. Gallen, and and professor Niccolò Pisani, from the International Institute for Management Development. This is despite the harshest ever Western sanctions against Moscow and the media reports of multiple companies’ exits from the country since the start of the Ukraine war.

What kind of war is this? What kind of allies are these?

Tanks, no tanks: Scholz holds key to Leopards for Ukraine, but waits for Biden

BERLIN/DAVOS — International efforts to ship Ukraine modern tanks may hinge on Germany — but it’s waiting for the U.S. to move first, which isn’t happening.

Ahead of a meeting of Western defense ministers this Friday at the U.S. Ramstein air base in Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is being goaded to help Ukraine get Germany’s best-in-class Leopard 2 tanks in anticipation of a possible spring offensive. The reason: In addition to overseeing his own fleet of Leopard tanks — and Europe’s largest economy — Scholz must approve other countries’ donations of the German-made tanks.

But But But …. Western Allies Back Sending Modern Tanks To Ukraine As Pressure Mounts On Germany (No sign of Canada agreeing)

… U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks (Democrat-New York), the top-ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told AFP on January 19 that Scholz told U.S. congressmen in Davos that Germany will supply heavy tanks to Ukraine if the United States also sends tanks. German government sources have told Reuters that Berlin wants the Americans to specifically send Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

“It’s basically that it’s got to be the United States and Germany. There’s no question about that,” Meeks told AFP.

But U.S. officials say the Abrams is not the right tank for Ukraine since it runs on turbine engines that use too much fuel for Kyiv’s strained logistics system to keep them supplied at the front.

The Biden administration must discern the strategy most likely to end the war at an acceptable cost and pursue it.

With Americans across the political spectrum increasingly skeptical of massive aid to Ukraine while domestic woes mount, staunch Ukraine supporters in Washington must explain more convincingly why Ukraine deserves continued financial support from America. The Ukrainians have fought with admirable courage and skill, and Ukraine’s democracy bests Russia’s autocracy in both moral and practical terms. And yet, critical questions remain. With a population more than three times the size of Ukraine’s, can Russia ultimately prevail through bloody attrition? How much aid will other countries contribute to the combatants in the next year? What plausible conditions will convince both sides to agree to peace?

Now there’s talk of taking Crimea back. That says escalation.

#Ukraine: In #Donetsk Oblast, the Ukrainian army destroyed a Russian 2S1 122mm self-propelled howitzer and damaged a 2A36 Giatsint-B 152mm towed howitzer using M982 Excalibur guided projectiles. pic.twitter.com/t6REB4qwZw

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) January 18, 2023