French Warship Sale to Russia: Another Symptom of NATO Erosion?

The Jamestown Foundation ^ | 2/26/2010 | Vladimir Socor

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

serving President Nicolas Sarkozy as his State Secretary for European Affairs, Lellouche follows Sarkozy’s line in defending the French Mistral warship sale to Russia, regardless of its corrosive effects on NATO. Visiting the Baltic States –where serious concerns have been voiced over the possible Mistral sale to Russia– Lellouche insinuated that other NATO countries might sell their warships to Russia, if France does not do so. Claiming that the warship sale would merely “turn the page on the Cold War,” Lellouche invited the Baltic States to follow the Franco-German example and seek reconciliation with Russia, overcoming a difficult history (BNS, February 24, 25).

This argument presupposes that Franco-German reconciliation would have worked if Germany had continually denounced France to Europe and the world for the “mistreatment of the German-speaking population in Alsace-Lorraine,” or if Germany had opposed French full membership in NATO as contravening some German design for an “all-European security order.” The Lellouche argument also assumes that Russia is a reconciliation-prone democracy, similar to Germany or the Baltic States.

Officials in Paris adduce varied arguments to different audiences in an effort to justify the French naval rearmament program for Russia (four or five Mistral-class power-projection ships). The justifications sometimes seem to underestimate the interlocutors’ comprehension capacity in trying to ennoble the motives behind the warship sale. An unusually frank case, however, recently appeared in the editorial pages of Le Figaro, which is known for its privileged connections with President Sarkozy’s Elysee Palace team (Le Figaro, February 19).

[Forward the Light Brigade]

France is hedging her bets and making a nice profit in this sale. The only people who should worry are the Baltic States, Georgia and the Ukraine. The old order of things is gone. I don’t blame the French —they are in this for themselves.