On Tuesday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told Face the Nation the US would "greenlight" Poland sending fighter jets to Ukraine. Later in the day, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby issued a statement indicating it would not allow Poland to use the US Ramstein AFB as the middleman for this transfer. However, Kirby also said, "the decision about whether to transfer Polish-owned planes to Ukraine is ultimately one for the Polish government."

Apparently, the Pentagon recognizes fighter jets sent to a hot war to benefit one side would be recognized as an act of war by the other. This is nothing new. See the Lusitania. But why the statement leaving it up to Poland to send the jets directly? Poland is a NATO member and any attack on a NATO member brings the United States into the war anyway.

What's going on here?

Nothing good for Poles who remember their history. In 1939, Poland was in a dispute with Nazi Germany over a city called "Danzig" at the time (it is now Gdansk). It's strategic significance on the Baltic coast is obvious and it had a long history of changing hands politically. However, it had been a part of the Kingdom of Prussia and subsequently the German Empire from 1793 until the end of World War I.