Check. You're move.
Posted on 05/12/2014 11:17:45 AM PDT by PieterCasparzen
PARIS/BAKU (Reuters) - France will press ahead with a 1.2 billion-euro ($1.66 billion) contract to sell Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia because cancelling the deal would do more damage to Paris than to Moscow, French diplomatic sources said on Monday.
France's move illustrates the limitations of European Union sanctions meant to punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea and dissuade Moscow from intervening in east Ukraine.
The United States has been pressing France, Germany and Britain to take a tougher line against Russia. For France, this would mean at least delaying the Mistral contract. For Britain, closing its mansions and bank vaults to magnates close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. For Germany, initiating gradual steps to reduce dependency on Russian gas.
France had said it would review the deal in October - but not before. However, French diplomatic sources said on Monday the 2011 contract with Russia for two Mistral helicopter carriers, with an option for two more, would not be part of a third round of sanctions against Moscow.
"The Mistrals are not part of the third level of sanctions. They will be delivered. The contract has been paid and there would be financial penalties for not delivering it.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Ping.
“The Mistrals are not part of the third level of sanctions. They will be delivered. The contract has been paid and there would be financial penalties for not delivering it.”
DUH...
If the French really gave a damn, they would eat the costs.
But, they don’t, and while they may sing along with Obama and Kerry’s BS, the reality is that they aren’t going to harm themselves over it.
Kerry assured us that he was in tight with these Frenchies, looks like he is FOS on this too.
The US needs to pull out of NATO.
It is creating a kind of moral hazard among Western European leaders.
ALL of eastern Europe is now learning just how much the major states of western Europe actually care about them - zip, nada, zilch.
Check. You're move.
This is why the elite “machine” is trying to whip up...
support...
amongst American
conservatives.
With some grassroots Republican support, and “compulsory” Dem support for anything the administration wants,
it’s then easy to get bills passed in Congress to provide support for the US-backed Kiev regime.
The Europeans just don’t want to shell out anything; they expect all the money needed to fund “adventures” to come from the US taxpayer.
As long as there is bipartisan support, if a few billion from the US taxpayer are needed for anything and it’s not already hidden inside a budget, that spending can be included in new legislation.
But Republican politicians are looking for the right signals from their pollsters, that the war-hawk wing of the Repub party willl wholeheartedly support their votes.
But the word is getting out amongst conservatives on international financial elites, and how they run both parties.
There have been just too many wacked out operations in the past few years, too many things revealed.
These are things that a lot of the war-hawks (like me) thought were reserved for totalitarian states and banana republics.
Suddenly the grassroots support is just not materializing.
Not only that, but the lid is slowly being blown off the whole criminal mess that the Rockefeller powers have been running here for over a century, in concert with their bedfellows in the UK.
Sounds like a hell of a good reason to stay out of further “entangling alliances” in Europe — INCLUDING UKRAINE!
Interesting comments—thanks!
Speaking of trade with Russia, ever hear of the Kama River plant ?
That’s okay. The French can still build warships for Russia. We just won’t sell them the engines that make them go forward.
All the polls show an overwhelming opinion against military action there and elsewhere, most say they`re tired of trying to “police the world”. Those that ignore them will simply hear from the voters on election day.
I see from dear olde unreliable WIKI, and Jane’s, that these splendid vessels have a top speed of 35kMH, or 19 knts. Seems mighty slow.... 1914 speed, in fact.
How can that be? Also, modern destroyers seem far slower (as publicly announced) than WWII counterparts. What gives? If the nuclear carriers can crank out 40+knts, how does the escort fleet keep up?
That’s why Russians ordered these ships, to make that clear during a crisis like this one. They have space technology but can’t build 2 medium size helicopter carriers ? Divide and conquer, nothing more.
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