[Goose]

Is this a change in policy or just a change in semantics?  I recall the U.S. said the Polish offer of MiGs was untenable, but I'm not sure whether "does not object" is a material difference, unless the US or someone else is willing to back fill Slovakia's MiGs with F-15s or some other viable fighter jet.  

https://twitter.com/JackDetsch/status/15...8027288591

I think the "does not object" is not a change in policy. I think all along the US was willing to sell/give F-16s to Poland (who already has many) to replace Migs given to Ukraine. However, the Poles wanted the Migs to go through a US base, which meant the US government was transferring the Migs to the Ukrainian government. It is the government to government aspect that is (apparently) the problem. The US doesn't care if some other government is willing to "take the blame" from Russia. It also appears that commercial transactions are OK, as Germany will allow Krauss-Maffei Wegmann to sell howitzers to Ukraine.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articl...ent-source
This isn't a nuance. Technically, the US wouldn't be giving Migs to Ukraine, even though it obviously furthered such a transaction. It is similar to the Flying Tigers. The US government had nothing to do with that (technically).

[Goose]

Is this a change in policy or just a change in semantics?  I recall the U.S. said the Polish offer of MiGs was untenable, but I'm not sure whether "does not object" is a material difference, unless the US or someone else is willing to back fill Slovakia's MiGs with F-15s or some other viable fighter jet.  

https://twitter.com/JackDetsch/status/15...8027288591

I think the "does not object" is not a change in policy. I think all along the US was willing to sell/give F-16s to Poland (who already has many) to replace Migs given to Ukraine. However, the Poles wanted the Migs to go through a US base, which meant the US government was transferring the Migs to the Ukrainian government. It is the government to government aspect that is (apparently) the problem. The US doesn't care if some other government is willing to "take the blame" from Russia. It also appears that commercial transactions are OK, as Germany will allow Krauss-Maffei Wegmann to sell howitzers to Ukraine.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articl...ent-source
This isn't a nuance. Technically, the US wouldn't be giving Migs to Ukraine, even though it obviously furthered such a transaction. It is similar to the Flying Tigers. The US government had nothing to do with that (technically).