Maybe It’s the French Who “Get It” These Days
Many TAH readers have a low opinion of France. And in truth, the French have their faults.
But in some respects, they seem to “get it” better than we do.
First, they actually decided to do something meaningful about the recent Russian “adventure” in the eastern Ukraine. Specifically, they’ve suspended delivery of a warship they built for Russia . They’re also doing the same with a second ship under construction.
And now, one of their politicians has recommended that the Devil’s Island prison near Guyana be reopened – and used to house French residents convicted of terrorism. He also said that it would be a good place for those who’ve fought for ISIS and/or al Qaeda.
Makes sense to me, and the guy advocating this sounds like a smart man. I wonder if we could lease some space there – or work out a dual-use agreement?
Category: Foreign Policy, Military issues, Terror War
To be fair, the French suspended the Mistral delivery under a LOT of pressure from NATO allies, who really didn’t want them to build the ship for the Russians in the first place. I remember a whole lot of sturm and drang over the deal when it was first announced. The biggest thing the Russians want is the technology, so the deal was actually for four ships – two to be built in France, and the other two to be eventually built in Russia under French tutelage. No one was particularly comfortable with the deal. So I’m not sure if it was the French “getting it” so much as it was the pressure from everyone else to not be dickheads.
Correct, Nicki. But remind me again what we’ve done of a tangible, meaningful nature?
In terms of Russia? Oh, we have. Believe me, we have. I’m actually floored at how effective our policy has been in that sphere in terms of doing exactly what we want it to do. That said, it doesn’t seem to have changed Putin’s calculus thus far, because he doesn’t seem to give a shit that Russia’s economy has been swirling the drain.
Well, Nicki – if it hasn’t changed Russia’s/Putin’s behavior, perhaps what we’re doing hasn’t actually been particularly effective so far.
Our short “show the flag cruise in the Black Sea” certainly wasn’t.
I will say this. The Russia program is meant to hurt over the medium-long term. The question is really how much longer can Russia withstand the economic pressure. Its banks can’t borrow long term. It cannot get tools it needs for energy exploration. The oligarchs are cannibalizing one another, and they’ve dipped into their reserves to help prop up state-controlled businesses as well as oligarch enterprises. They’re panicking. They just hired lobbyists to help them fight Senate sanctions for the bargain price of $280,000. They love to pretend everything is cool, but I’m amused at just how UNcool things are right now.
So we’ll see.
This kind of shit makes me laugh.
https://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine-abroad/bloomberg-exxon-rosneft-scrap-arctic-deals-as-russia-sanctions-bite-373671.html
Nicki: you did notice that it was a Norwegian company that took the big hit there (somewhere around 16% of it’s stock value, if I’m calculating that correctly), right?
The Europeans are perfectly happy to take the hit in order to kick Putin in the nuts. We’ve heard very little complaining from them other than to ensure that everyone is shouldering the effects. Note that the contract wouldn’t have been affected, even, because the deals were signed before sanctions were decided this year. And Norway isn’t even a part of the EU.
And yet, a whole lot of companies are de-risking and getting away from Russia. On their own. That’s the cool thing about it.
Did you see what happened to that ship?? http://silverfoxnavy.blogspot.com/2014/11/what-frightened-uss-donald-cook-in.html
Nicki, perhaps Putin subscribes to the leftist Cloward-Piven strategy to let everything in Russia fall apart so that he can then step in with totalitarian powers to set everything right and thus assure himself of being in power for life.
That’s an interesting supposition. I’m more of the mindset that Putin is polarizing the world environment. He’s setting the Russian populace against the West, and messaging well that somehow it’s our fault his country is swirling the economic drain. The ruble literally lost like 40 percent of its value since their little adventures began. And all of this isn’t helped by dropping oil prices. They actually tried to get OPEC to cut production a few weeks ago, and OPEC told them where to stick it.
The way to galvanize power there is to galvanize public opinion against a specific enemy. That’s what he’s doing.
Hopefully, Vlad the Impaler will get to experience his very own Bastille Day.
I wish. Listening to the Russian press interview these trailer trash morons and looking at LEVADA’s numbers for Putin’s approval ratings, I fear the propaganda campaign is working.
Their tactics, while unorthodox, seem to be quite effective.
NATO’s entire purpose is as a counter to Russia. How is a NATO ally selling military equipment to Russia in the first place?
No. They don’t get it by a long shot.
Exactly. You should have seen the angst about it when it was first announced. OMG.
I believe it. I was shaking my head in disbelief.
Nothing new, though. IIRC, France and Germany were up to their eyebrows in deals with Saddam prior to GWII.
You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination.
Charles de Gaulle
Ya, I just love the French.
Dave Hardin: sadly, it appears that since 2009 de Gaulle was correct.
No one ever went broke betting on the gullibility of the American public – or the idiocy of our government.
I will concede there is merit in that statement. It is always easy to be piously arrogant from the cheap seats. They have perfected that to an art. I will continue to savor the taste of Freedom Fries. Semper Fi.
My favorite story having to do with DeGaulle was when he threw us Americans out of France back in the 60s.
The story goes that he said to Dean Rusk, SecState at the time, that he wanted all Americans out of France.
Rusk simply replied, “Would that include the ones in the cemeteries, Mr. President?”
Somewhere I read that Americans will always do the right thing – after trying all of the other possibilities. Perhaps we are not unique?
It’s a shame when our POTUS has take lessons on how to counter Russian relation lessons from France.
^^ Like ^^
“Many TAH readers have a low opinion of France.”
Not me. I love France. What I can’t stand is all of those sissy-speaking Frenchmen in France.
I always said that Paris is a great place to visit, if it weren’t for all of the Parisians there.
An elderly gentleman of 83 arrived in Paris by plane. At the French Customs desk, the man took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry-on bag. “You have been to France before, monsieur?” the customs officer asked, sarcastically. The elderly gentleman admitted he had been to France previously. “Then you should know enough to have your passport Ready.” The Canadian said, “The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.” “Impossible. Canadians always have to show their passports on arrival in France!”
The Canadian senior gave the Frenchman a long hard Look. Then he quietly explained. “Well, when I came ashore on D-Day in 1944 I couldn’t find any Frenchmen to show it to!”
Sorry, had to be done.
Nice. Too bad he was Canadian, though. If Quee-beck, that’s just a Froglight. I’ll use that with an American as the visitor.
How many French men does it take to defend Paris? ……………. Nobody knows; its never been tried.
The French will have to do an awful lot before my opinion of them changes.
I’m a proud member of the Admiral Lord Nelson Francophobe Society.
MustangCryppie: like maybe honor some of our Vietnam dead that we’ve never honored, perhaps?
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=43182
I hate the French!