>

Unless Russia goes for broke and launches the first nuclear missile
“We leased them, which means we can buy them, which means we can give them away,” said Rutte. 

As a Dutch person, I feel like this is an incredibly Dutch attitude to have towards a lease agreement with Germany, and I'm loving it.
Also, I want to point out the Netherlands leases the 2A6 version (which we sold back to Germany, then immediately regretted). Would be incredibly happy if we end up sending 18 of these to Ukraine, despite technically owning none. >

Its not really attitude. There was always a buy back Option included in the contract so its good they using what they can. >

It’s going to be an interesting few months >

Indeed, arming Ukraine for its own offensive is bold and hopefully allows the Ukrainians to make significant gains.
What’s more, I think it’s now clear that if it comes to it, NATO will go to war with Russia to ensure that Ukraine’s integrity isn’t lost and that Russia doesn’t change the geopolitical security order in its favour. These decisions are always made with a view to what comes 10 steps ahead. >

The idea is to say to Russia “We have all of these modern tanks. You can’t stop them. You could leave all occupied territory and never come back. You could head on home, have some vodka, and tell your kids about how the west is responsible for all of your failures in life. Or we could see how well these things really work.” Of course these are Russians, so maybe they would rather just die. >

Picard: You may test that assumption at your earliest convenience. >

They also want to give them their F-16’s. Netherlands out here being generous. >

We didn't forget about MH17... Fuck Russia. >

Putin* never forget we want peace after war, forgiveness after hate.. >

But we might not like the idea of a big Russia.
Small Russia, and a ton of independent regions >

Gewoon doen jongens. >

All of our weapons were acquired to defend against Russia. Now we defend against Russia. Defeat Russia and we don't need many weapons. Send everything we've got now! There is no other enemy left that can threaten Dutch territory. >

Yes, but what if Belgium and Luxemburg form a military alliance to steal your tulips and wooden shoes? /s >

they will be stopped by heavy traffic and potholes before entering Netherlands, so no danger >

As a Belgian, this is absolutely accurate. >

The Netherlands used to have around 500 Leopard 2s before selling and scrapping all and then just few years later leasing back a few from Germany. Germany itself only has about 300 of them (but maybe more in storage, I couldn't find out more). Interestingly according to wiki Spain has got more then 300 of them and were actively trying to unload some just a few years back. As Spain isn't directly or indirectly threatened, they could be the ones being able to sell/donate a significant amount of these to Ukraine. >

Spain is actually only country which could (unlikely) find itself in conflict NATO is not obligated to assist with. Namely NATO treaty doesnt protect some of their provinces outside the mainland >

France and the Netherlands do also have territories that aren’t protected by the NATO treaty. >

UK as well. Remember the Falklands War? >

Any Leopard tank Ukraine receive I am sure they will be very happy.  Hope that will be very soon. >

400 modern tanks!!! That's how much they need to win. 
According to military experts, Ukraine needs at least 400 modern tanks to push Russia out in the coming offensive. 
So far only 100 (roughly) are pledged by various countries, its only enough to take some territory but not all the way to Crimea. 
Unless Ukraine developed some genius strategies to utilize a small number of good tanks to win big gains? >

The numbers I got are:
18 Netherlands
8 Norway
16 UK
We don't know precisely howmany the US will send but I think I read "Up to 50"
I don't think I've read a number on the Germans and Polish yet.
Finland has signaled some vague intention to send Leo 2's but we haven't heard from them yet during this recent string of announcements, but they said it would be limited due to their border with Russia.
I Also read somewhere that the French were considering something too but having 4 different tanks seems to be a bit much so I don't trust that info.
And then theres the 90 T-72 thats done jointly by Czechia, the US and The Netherlands.
Assuming the US will deliver all 50 then thats a total of 182, thats excluding Finland, Poland and Germany and whether the French will do something or not. >

Finland for security reasons will never divulge the number, better to keep the Russians guessing how many tanks we have than knowing the exact count - as those tanks were bought to protect against Russia. 
I recall someone saying it would be a small number because we don’t want to compromise on our existing defence capabilities, so I guess 6-8 will probably be the amount (out of 239 leopards). 
Best of indicator will be how many new leopards we order from Rheinmetall in the next 1-2 years >

It's difficult to really judge how much a country like Finland would be able to miss. On the one hand, of course you want to keep enough in your own forces. On the other hand, the only realistic threat to Finland is Russia. And sending those tanks to Ukraine now to destroy Russian tanks is a heck of a lot better than having to use them yourselves later to do the same thing.  
So I honestly feel like it could go both ways, either not that many, or many more than we'd expect. >

I'm not fan of us providing tanks, but what we can provide are spare parts (we have overstock them) and training. >

Man, besides Ukraine and Poland, the Netherlands clearly don't shy away from playing ball, and neither should they, for they have some unfinished business with the Ruzzians. >

If Ukraine can gain use of 300 Leopard and Abraims tanks, this war is over. Russia has no way to counter such a force. They can’t do it with air power because they cannot safely fly over the area. They can’t do it with their own tanks, which are no match for Ukrainian anti tank infantry units much less far superior western tanks. And they sure can’t do it with their infantry, which doesn’t even want to be there. Russia should get the picture, cease all hostilities, leave all occupied territories., and resume blaming the west for their own mistakes as they have for the last 70 years. Or they can stand there drinking vodka and making calls on unsecured phones until they die. I doubt anyone other than the Russian soldiers themselves have a particularly strong preference.