Thank you for this excellent, detailed article. You keep us up to date with all the crucial information on Ukraine. If we could lock Trump in a closet, we might all be better off. His posturing is killing so many people. Thank God for Germany and France.
Yes. It was a clean cut. Came out of nowhere. When he said long range capablities I was thinking may be he was talking about drones, i also thought may be Taurus production in Ukraine. Nope. He is saying, full tech and development. A free hand for Ukraine to decide. That is freaking amazing. No one has better idea about where to hit Russia and how. With France and Italy bumping the sat network and Ukraine themselves planning to launch their own in the near future, this move actually pushes Putin into a desperate corner. It is almost a now or never for Putin. But still, you have no choice, you gotta do what is right and what Germany did is right.
I trying to remember where I saw it, but I read something that the intent was to build long and intermediate range missiles. 🤔 If I can find it, I'll post the URL here.
i think drones are still very much a part of that investment, because even if Ukraine gets the money tmrw, developing the neptune or any other missile for that matter is going to take some time. So you need something to bridge between now and then and that has to be long range drones.
Thank you, again, Shankar for your insights. There will be an important dynamic to consider as Germany sends funds to Ukraine. So far, the Ukrainians have developed Neptune and a host of other weapons on a shoe-string through their bottoms-up, backyard capabilities. A big infusion of outside cash could upset this home-grown effort. It will be a challenge for the Ukrainians and Germans to spend this money in a way that preserves Ukraine's local-national resolve, quickly ramps up production and avoids waste and 'siphoning' - by all parties.
Ukraine can forget pumping money into long range drones and reduce their long term drone planning. They have something else to work on. Missile families.
The more I hear about Merz the more I like him. Europe should’ve been much more proactive after the no show from the US when Crimea was annexed. But I get it, it’s hard to remove oneself from a codependency relationship with the US. I guess better late than never.
“Imagine admitting a critically ill patient to the world’s best hospital—armed with the best doctors, the best technology, and shelves fully stocked with the cure. And then choosing to give him low-grade medicine. Moving him in and out of the ICU, again and again. For three years.”
You just described our healthcare system. 😂
So of course that would be our approach to foreign policy as well. Biden was very much an institutionalist to a fault. He didn’t want to use the AUMF to go all in to end the war in Ukraine.
And the GOP was never gonna vote for that or feckless Democrats in Congress either.
Tell me about it. I am still living with the trauma of sitting in the ER for three hours. They had everything. I was here writhing in pain, can't even stand up or sit down. All I heard was some one will come. Yep, they came after three hours, for a half hour work. Fucked up. I still remember that hallway. Jeez. Will never forget that hospital ever.
This is very good news, indeed. A German/Ukrainian collaboration here is a nightmare scenario for Putin and could very well be the "game-changer" in this conflict. As you point out, providing the proper weapons several years ago could have ended this war earlier but it takes a little while for western politicians to find a spine. Hopefully, this will open the door for more such actions by other European states. Germany has also put a "spoke" in the Trump/Putin plan to re-open the Nord Stream pipelines...another "check" on Putin's attempt to re-establish influence in Europe.
It is long term game changer. This will take some time to show up. But when it does, it will irreversible. All Germany needs to do now is to develop the IRIS-T into a long range defensive weapon. It is medium range right now.
Thank you for this article. The world is changing radically. The West is significantly shifting on its axis . Trump may be glad that Canada Europe and their allies are doing their own thing however it may not be as he envisioned. America is increasingly being left on the sidelines. Ukraine deserves the very best we can give to them. They are on the frontline of Europe and it is only their persistence and courage that has kept Russia from overwhelming them and redrawing the map.
I might not have the background to appreciate everything you've laid out re the various missile systems listed here, but I sure can appreciate the multiple benefits of locking Trump in a closet! And I'll keep doing my best, in concert with my fellow Americans, to see that this happens, ASAP. Meanwhile, Slava Ukraini.
Hahahahaha. I have difficulty with defense related terminology, most especially the bravura names we give to our weapons. Tomahawk? Hmm. I'm more familiar with the ones wielded in The Last of the Mohicans. So maybe some indicator of the the uses and the relative power inherent in the various to be deployed? And whether their primary use is offensive or defensive, if that can be determined outside of specific strategic plans. I am the daughter of a military Colonel, (long time dead now), hence my interest. I am also a woman and a former therapist, so ask me about cooking or helping people get their heads on straight if you ever need to. Seriously, Shankar, you are doing us all a service. I was gnashing my teeth as I read about our decision to send outdated weaponry to the brave people of Ukraine. On the other hand, as evidence of the ever-present unintended consequences of our decisions, the lousy artillery has stimulated Ukrainians to develop drones and other nimble tech with which to strike the enemy. I hope we deploy all of the things at our disposal short of biological or nuclear weapons to stop Putin dead in his tracks. Especially including boycotts and sanctions of all sorts. Ah, me.
Understood—let’s approach this from another angle. Russia is vast—nearly the distance from New York to Tokyo. This immense landmass gives it a significant strategic advantage: it can spread its military production and storage facilities deep across its territory. Without long-range strike capabilities, those facilities remain out of reach and effectively untouchable.
Meanwhile, Russia possesses missiles capable of reaching any production hub across Europe. In contrast, Europe relies primarily on air-launched missiles with a maximum range of around 300 kilometers. These jets can’t cross into Russian airspace without being intercepted by dense air defense systems. As a result, Russia can simply place its critical infrastructure beyond this 300-kilometer range and operate with impunity.
The only country with ground-launched missile systems capable of striking deep into Russia—like the Tomahawk—is the United States. Ground-launched systems have significant operational advantages over air-based platforms, particularly in a high-risk, defended environment.
Europe, however, has no equivalent ground-launched capability. If Ukraine were to invest in and scale up systems like the Neptune missile to a range of 2,500 kilometers, it would dramatically alter the strategic equation. In the event of another Russian invasion, Ukraine could immediately target and neutralize the industrial base that enables Moscow’s war machine.
Crystal clear, thank you. I feel certain that satellite intelligence technology has allowed the US to pinpoint the locations of many if not most of Russia's missile silos and other critical infrastructure. And wouldn't it be a coup for a Tomahawk (I'm borrowing 'coup' from the practice of demonstrating to an enemy without necessarily killing him that you could get close enough to do so from our Native Plains warriors, those colorful, intrepid men on horseback who outfoxed our army for a hundred years while vastly outnumbered.) The Ukrainians strike me as having developed a similar attitude. So why not strike the Kremlin or one of Putin's palaces in Crimea? What a coup that would make!
Few words capture Donald Trump quite like feckless. Behind the bluster and bravado is a man wholly unfit for leadership—an attention addict who shirks responsibility, evades accountability, and governs with the discipline of a toddler mid-meltdown. His decisions are driven not by principle, but by impulse, grievance, and the promise of applause. He talks like a strongman, but history will remember him as a weak man playing dress-up.
Nowhere is Trump’s fecklessness more grotesquely apparent than in his decade-long submission to Vladimir Putin. This week, after Russia launched its deadliest aerial assault on Ukraine since the war began—leaving dozens dead—Trump responded with a limp, self-serving post claiming Putin was “playing with fire” and that “really bad things” would’ve happened to Russia without him. No sanctions. No support for Ukraine. Just hollow chest-thumping, followed by total inaction. Putin bombed civilians; Trump posted nonsense.
But this isn’t new—it’s his original sin. Trump owes his rise, in part, to Putin’s 2016 election sabotage—an act of foreign interference that Trump amplified by parroting Kremlin propaganda. A hostile autocrat helped install a man so vain, so malleable, so staggeringly ignorant, he could be played like a balalaika. For years, Trump has fawned over Putin, even as Russian forces kidnapped children, bombed hospitals, and executed civilians. His admiration has never been for democracy or decency—but for unchallenged power, no matter how brutal.
There is no ideology here. No strategy. Just one man’s bottomless narcissism—desperate for validation, incapable of courage, and loyal only to those who flatter him.
Real presidents confront tyrants.
Trump curtsies.
A real leader defends freedom.
A feckless one folds.
••••
“Rage, Reason, and Righteous Mockery. Mersault writes what the moment demands.” – New York Magazine
This is a material change in Ukraine options which I hope can be progressed in the background and not in front of the cameras. Obama was a great president but I acknowledge that he made a mistake trying appeasement in 2014. That has stopped with the sidetracking of Trump but leadership also has to move to the European coalition with Ukraine and be prepared to protect the Balkans, Moldova and Romania from the ambitions of Putin.
In my experience over the past two years, the Germans have consistently followed through on their commitments. They haven’t missed once. With Boris Pistorius still serving as Defense Minister, the likelihood of this being just a PR stunt is extremely low—he’s a serious and capable leader. And then there's Armin Papperger, the CEO of Rheinmetall—another rock-solid figure. These are people who speak less and deliver more.
“But you should never count contributions in dollars. You measure them in capability and delivery. Counting money is a mistake—and worse, it’s a trap. Dollars are psychological tools.”
Especially if when they ship old stuff that in the near future would be replaced anyway, for purposes of claiming how great their support supposedly was, they nevertheless include the full list price of the items in the “total value of military hardware provided” calculation.
In the realm of business, that kind of accounting would be considered criminal.
Did you know that Biden refused to use nearly 3 billion available in the Presidential Drawdown authority in 2023. He didnt move even when Avidiivka was circled in three directions. They moved only after that. Their excuse, it was the only way to get the House GOP to move on the April 2024 aid package.
My Op/Ed @ KyivPost 6 Sept 2024 expressed disgust with Biden timidity to the point of expecting his legacy to be “the protector of the Russian war machine”. He thoroughly earned it.
Thank you for this excellent, detailed article. You keep us up to date with all the crucial information on Ukraine. If we could lock Trump in a closet, we might all be better off. His posturing is killing so many people. Thank God for Germany and France.
Great post. Its also important for us to realize, it was not just Trump who abandoned Europe, it started with Obama and his inaction in 2014.
He was the one. Did you know where Mr. Jake got his start? Obama admin.
Brilliant analysis. Love how Merz is blowing through all obstacles with one move. Slava Ukraini!
Yes. It was a clean cut. Came out of nowhere. When he said long range capablities I was thinking may be he was talking about drones, i also thought may be Taurus production in Ukraine. Nope. He is saying, full tech and development. A free hand for Ukraine to decide. That is freaking amazing. No one has better idea about where to hit Russia and how. With France and Italy bumping the sat network and Ukraine themselves planning to launch their own in the near future, this move actually pushes Putin into a desperate corner. It is almost a now or never for Putin. But still, you have no choice, you gotta do what is right and what Germany did is right.
I trying to remember where I saw it, but I read something that the intent was to build long and intermediate range missiles. 🤔 If I can find it, I'll post the URL here.
i think drones are still very much a part of that investment, because even if Ukraine gets the money tmrw, developing the neptune or any other missile for that matter is going to take some time. So you need something to bridge between now and then and that has to be long range drones.
Shankar! We appreciate your dedication to Ukraine and all of Western Europe!
America has been duplicitous for years, posing as Europe’s great defender through NATO!
Now we know the truth!
NATO was a smokescreen for funding our own, gigantic military-industrial machine!
You correctly describe how Biden “spent” $120 billion on Ukraine’s defense! All of this weaponry was older and mostly useless in “winning” the war!
BUT, Biden’s money enabled our own military-industrial machine to upgrade ITSELF, after shipping the older, mediocre machines out!
Please use your amazing investigative powers here in the USA when this war ends!
In the meantime, WATCH OUT FOR PUTIN’s ☢️ NUCLEAR BULLYING ROUTINE!
Let’s hope the Europeans stand firm under French leadership and courage provided by its “nuclear umbrella!”
I will be back soon. Europe now + US will always be in my radar. It gave me everything, I will never quit it. Ever.
Stay safe!
We need your insight and guidance in these important matters!
Thank you, again, Shankar for your insights. There will be an important dynamic to consider as Germany sends funds to Ukraine. So far, the Ukrainians have developed Neptune and a host of other weapons on a shoe-string through their bottoms-up, backyard capabilities. A big infusion of outside cash could upset this home-grown effort. It will be a challenge for the Ukrainians and Germans to spend this money in a way that preserves Ukraine's local-national resolve, quickly ramps up production and avoids waste and 'siphoning' - by all parties.
Ukraine can forget pumping money into long range drones and reduce their long term drone planning. They have something else to work on. Missile families.
The more I hear about Merz the more I like him. Europe should’ve been much more proactive after the no show from the US when Crimea was annexed. But I get it, it’s hard to remove oneself from a codependency relationship with the US. I guess better late than never.
He thinks long term. So far he has pulled all the right cards.
“Imagine admitting a critically ill patient to the world’s best hospital—armed with the best doctors, the best technology, and shelves fully stocked with the cure. And then choosing to give him low-grade medicine. Moving him in and out of the ICU, again and again. For three years.”
You just described our healthcare system. 😂
So of course that would be our approach to foreign policy as well. Biden was very much an institutionalist to a fault. He didn’t want to use the AUMF to go all in to end the war in Ukraine.
And the GOP was never gonna vote for that or feckless Democrats in Congress either.
You’re right on the money. Great read as usual.
Tell me about it. I am still living with the trauma of sitting in the ER for three hours. They had everything. I was here writhing in pain, can't even stand up or sit down. All I heard was some one will come. Yep, they came after three hours, for a half hour work. Fucked up. I still remember that hallway. Jeez. Will never forget that hospital ever.
This is very good news, indeed. A German/Ukrainian collaboration here is a nightmare scenario for Putin and could very well be the "game-changer" in this conflict. As you point out, providing the proper weapons several years ago could have ended this war earlier but it takes a little while for western politicians to find a spine. Hopefully, this will open the door for more such actions by other European states. Germany has also put a "spoke" in the Trump/Putin plan to re-open the Nord Stream pipelines...another "check" on Putin's attempt to re-establish influence in Europe.
It is long term game changer. This will take some time to show up. But when it does, it will irreversible. All Germany needs to do now is to develop the IRIS-T into a long range defensive weapon. It is medium range right now.
The only thing that would be worse for Putin would be the entire EU doing what Germany and France are doing. It just might come to that.
Thank you for this article. The world is changing radically. The West is significantly shifting on its axis . Trump may be glad that Canada Europe and their allies are doing their own thing however it may not be as he envisioned. America is increasingly being left on the sidelines. Ukraine deserves the very best we can give to them. They are on the frontline of Europe and it is only their persistence and courage that has kept Russia from overwhelming them and redrawing the map.
yes. it is moving in the right direction, despite the US deploying a Putin protection plan.
Good
Good. Good.
I might not have the background to appreciate everything you've laid out re the various missile systems listed here, but I sure can appreciate the multiple benefits of locking Trump in a closet! And I'll keep doing my best, in concert with my fellow Americans, to see that this happens, ASAP. Meanwhile, Slava Ukraini.
ask me. what do you want to know. Let's see if i can help.
Hahahahaha. I have difficulty with defense related terminology, most especially the bravura names we give to our weapons. Tomahawk? Hmm. I'm more familiar with the ones wielded in The Last of the Mohicans. So maybe some indicator of the the uses and the relative power inherent in the various to be deployed? And whether their primary use is offensive or defensive, if that can be determined outside of specific strategic plans. I am the daughter of a military Colonel, (long time dead now), hence my interest. I am also a woman and a former therapist, so ask me about cooking or helping people get their heads on straight if you ever need to. Seriously, Shankar, you are doing us all a service. I was gnashing my teeth as I read about our decision to send outdated weaponry to the brave people of Ukraine. On the other hand, as evidence of the ever-present unintended consequences of our decisions, the lousy artillery has stimulated Ukrainians to develop drones and other nimble tech with which to strike the enemy. I hope we deploy all of the things at our disposal short of biological or nuclear weapons to stop Putin dead in his tracks. Especially including boycotts and sanctions of all sorts. Ah, me.
Understood—let’s approach this from another angle. Russia is vast—nearly the distance from New York to Tokyo. This immense landmass gives it a significant strategic advantage: it can spread its military production and storage facilities deep across its territory. Without long-range strike capabilities, those facilities remain out of reach and effectively untouchable.
Meanwhile, Russia possesses missiles capable of reaching any production hub across Europe. In contrast, Europe relies primarily on air-launched missiles with a maximum range of around 300 kilometers. These jets can’t cross into Russian airspace without being intercepted by dense air defense systems. As a result, Russia can simply place its critical infrastructure beyond this 300-kilometer range and operate with impunity.
The only country with ground-launched missile systems capable of striking deep into Russia—like the Tomahawk—is the United States. Ground-launched systems have significant operational advantages over air-based platforms, particularly in a high-risk, defended environment.
Europe, however, has no equivalent ground-launched capability. If Ukraine were to invest in and scale up systems like the Neptune missile to a range of 2,500 kilometers, it would dramatically alter the strategic equation. In the event of another Russian invasion, Ukraine could immediately target and neutralize the industrial base that enables Moscow’s war machine.
Crystal clear, thank you. I feel certain that satellite intelligence technology has allowed the US to pinpoint the locations of many if not most of Russia's missile silos and other critical infrastructure. And wouldn't it be a coup for a Tomahawk (I'm borrowing 'coup' from the practice of demonstrating to an enemy without necessarily killing him that you could get close enough to do so from our Native Plains warriors, those colorful, intrepid men on horseback who outfoxed our army for a hundred years while vastly outnumbered.) The Ukrainians strike me as having developed a similar attitude. So why not strike the Kremlin or one of Putin's palaces in Crimea? What a coup that would make!
The only thing I can criticize about Tomahawk is that it's subsonic. It's much easier to stop.
Thanks
Few words capture Donald Trump quite like feckless. Behind the bluster and bravado is a man wholly unfit for leadership—an attention addict who shirks responsibility, evades accountability, and governs with the discipline of a toddler mid-meltdown. His decisions are driven not by principle, but by impulse, grievance, and the promise of applause. He talks like a strongman, but history will remember him as a weak man playing dress-up.
Nowhere is Trump’s fecklessness more grotesquely apparent than in his decade-long submission to Vladimir Putin. This week, after Russia launched its deadliest aerial assault on Ukraine since the war began—leaving dozens dead—Trump responded with a limp, self-serving post claiming Putin was “playing with fire” and that “really bad things” would’ve happened to Russia without him. No sanctions. No support for Ukraine. Just hollow chest-thumping, followed by total inaction. Putin bombed civilians; Trump posted nonsense.
But this isn’t new—it’s his original sin. Trump owes his rise, in part, to Putin’s 2016 election sabotage—an act of foreign interference that Trump amplified by parroting Kremlin propaganda. A hostile autocrat helped install a man so vain, so malleable, so staggeringly ignorant, he could be played like a balalaika. For years, Trump has fawned over Putin, even as Russian forces kidnapped children, bombed hospitals, and executed civilians. His admiration has never been for democracy or decency—but for unchallenged power, no matter how brutal.
There is no ideology here. No strategy. Just one man’s bottomless narcissism—desperate for validation, incapable of courage, and loyal only to those who flatter him.
Real presidents confront tyrants.
Trump curtsies.
A real leader defends freedom.
A feckless one folds.
••••
“Rage, Reason, and Righteous Mockery. Mersault writes what the moment demands.” – New York Magazine
Subscribe » @Open Letters by Mersault
This is a material change in Ukraine options which I hope can be progressed in the background and not in front of the cameras. Obama was a great president but I acknowledge that he made a mistake trying appeasement in 2014. That has stopped with the sidetracking of Trump but leadership also has to move to the European coalition with Ukraine and be prepared to protect the Balkans, Moldova and Romania from the ambitions of Putin.
In my experience over the past two years, the Germans have consistently followed through on their commitments. They haven’t missed once. With Boris Pistorius still serving as Defense Minister, the likelihood of this being just a PR stunt is extremely low—he’s a serious and capable leader. And then there's Armin Papperger, the CEO of Rheinmetall—another rock-solid figure. These are people who speak less and deliver more.
The Russians tried to assassinate papperger which only made him more determined to help build EU military industrial capability
“But you should never count contributions in dollars. You measure them in capability and delivery. Counting money is a mistake—and worse, it’s a trap. Dollars are psychological tools.”
Especially if when they ship old stuff that in the near future would be replaced anyway, for purposes of claiming how great their support supposedly was, they nevertheless include the full list price of the items in the “total value of military hardware provided” calculation.
In the realm of business, that kind of accounting would be considered criminal.
Did you know that Biden refused to use nearly 3 billion available in the Presidential Drawdown authority in 2023. He didnt move even when Avidiivka was circled in three directions. They moved only after that. Their excuse, it was the only way to get the House GOP to move on the April 2024 aid package.
Ouch! No, I wasn’t aware of anything along those lines. Fits the overall picture perfectly though.
Hurts my brain to even think of it.
My Op/Ed @ KyivPost 6 Sept 2024 expressed disgust with Biden timidity to the point of expecting his legacy to be “the protector of the Russian war machine”. He thoroughly earned it.
https://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/38555