France would like to help Russia assault their neighbours “more swiftly”.
According to Reuters, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France might sell a French assault ship to Russia. The Mistral-class ships can be used in amphibious assaults and can carry tanks, helicopters, and other armoured vehicles and personnel. The purchase would be Russia's biggest arms purchase from abroad.“If Russia had had this kind of ship in its fleet, it could have moved more swiftly in the Black Sea during last year's war with Georgia. Instead of taking 26 hours to perform certain unnamed tasks, it would have taken the Russian Black Sea fleet 40 minutes with such a warship”, naval commander Vladimir Vysotsky said.
"This political agreement should be reached, I think, but it's not up to me to decide ... concerning this wonderful warship," Kouchner told Moscow's Ekho Moskvy radio station on Thursday.
This puts Sarkozy’s negotiation of the size fire agreement between Georgia and Russia, which Russia has declined to fulfil, in a strange light. Georgia is also a key energy transit route for oil and gas from the Caspian sea to Europe. That makes this deal even more irrational. Looking at France as a NATO and EU member I honestly can’t understand what goes on in the French political heads. The monumental stupidity of such a transaction is only surpassed by the amount of money the french gets for this vessel. And yes, it's more than 30 silvercoins.
posted by Eistein G. at 3:46 pm
7 Comments:
I think Sweden and Finland should follow this crazy and greedy Frenchmen very closely .
Russia, Belarus hold joint military exercises
Analysts and opposition figures in both countries saw them as anti-West.
Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent Russian military analyst, said they were directed "at NATO and the Americans, the Baltic states and the Poles and all the other enemies."
High technology transfer to Russia
Russia, Belarus hold joint military exercises
"These exercises are taking place near Poland on the border with NATO, and that creates nervousness and separates Belarus from Europe, not bringing it closer," said Anatoly Lebedko, leader of Belarus' opposition United Civil Party.
Analysts and opposition figures in both countries saw them as anti-West.
Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent Russian military analyst, said they were directed "at NATO and the Americans, the Baltic states and the Poles and all the other enemies.
The carrier under consideration belongs to the so-called Mistral Class of amphibious assault, command and projection ships.
Independent Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told VOA that France will likely need to consult with allies to go ahead with the sale.
Felgenhauer says that almost every country that produces modern weapons uses some patents or know-how from the United States. He says France will, therefore, consult with NATO and above all with Washington whether to sell or not to Russia and to what extent.
Moscow has indicated it may purchase one helicopter carrier and acquire licenses to build several more in Russian shipyards. Each ship costs an estimated $1 billion.
http://streetwiseprofessor.com/?p=2617
They’re Always Asking “More, More, More”
Putin challenged Washington to also cancel all existing restrictions on trade with Russia and give the go-ahed to World Trade Organization membership for Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
"Putin very much hope that this right and brave decision will be followed up by the full cancellation of all restrictions on cooperation with Russia and high technology transfer to Russia as well as a boost to expand the WTO to embrace Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan," Putin said at an investment forum in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Hello again, Oleg. In Norway we are used to russian military excercises. They are flying around close to our airspace and practice attacks on our northern cities. Theese exercises have become quite frequent. The west is ofcourse a big threat to Russia, as we all can see by the forceful action taken by EU and NATO during and after the war in Georgia. Paranoia has always been a significant part of Russian leaders genetic makeup.
But the French..I dunno what to say, it's absurd selling carriers to Russia. Hopefully someone starts using their brains.
weird to event and good to post.
Great blog.
This is not particularly surprising. French foreign policy has been led by national industrial interests for quite some time (Since DeGaulle, at least), and this is just another example of that in action. If you consider that much of French Mideast policy was based on business ties (France to Hariri in Lebanon, to Saddam Hussein's oil in Iraq), this is not at all surprising.
Taiwan (and Israel) used to be a major allies of France until they shifted to purchasing defense equipment from the United States (particularly aircraft), which has led to cool bilateral relations with France for both those countries.
You can also see this in play with France's obsessive marketing of its Rafale multirole fighter (which has yet to seal an international export order). Entire policy shifts are being offered by French government to see this airplane exported.
Perfect, Khatia :-)
Michael Hikari: I must admit I know little about France, and therefore very much welcome your enlightening comments about French forreign policy. Please write more about this theme if you find time for it.
I actually planned to write something about this awhile ago but haven't posted on Evolutsia.Net yet. Expect a pingback! :)
Looking fwd to that, Michael!
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