Obligations forbid sending the tanks, though, without approval. Seems like withholding the parts is simply saying “you weren’t supposed to send those, so you can’t have parts.”
The success of that scenario for Putin will depend a lot on if Belarus goes all-in on Russia’s side. Lukashenko has been hedging and manipulating so far but that may change if he sees a possibility of land gains making up for becoming (in the view of OECD countries) a pariah state along with Russia.
…is akin to cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face in Nato terms.
Only now? 
Worried they’d have to make the same determination for Blackwater Group / Xe services?
There is also growing use of PMSCs in armed conflicts and in the context of countering terrorism (CT) for the protection of persons and infrastructures, procurement of weapons, intelligence gathering, training and combat functions. PMSCs such as Blackwater, Titan Corp and CACI were widely used by the US in Iraq for a range of security-related functions, but were also implicated in human rights abuses.
Lets check in on Erik…
An older piece:
Poland’s Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau also criticised Germany’s reluctance.
“Arming Ukraine in order to repel the Russian aggression is not some kind of decision-making exercise. Ukrainian blood is shed for real. This is the price of hesitation over Leopard deliveries. We need action, now,” he tweeted.
My take now from inside Germany is that it’s devolved into Olaf Scholz mistakenly turning it into an issue of “you can’t push me around”, as most of the German government (and polls indicate voters as well) want Germany to release the Leopards. Olaf is physically not a big guy, and guys like him in the dominance-driven world of politics tend to dig in their heels harder to show their own strength.
In other words, it’s the fear of looking weak that is blocking the logical move. Which in the end makes him look even weaker than if he had relented.
