Dealing Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates a diplomatic slap, France announced Monday it will sell at least one amphibious assault warship to Russia.
The sale, the first by a NATO member to Russia, comes despite objections from U.S. and other NATO members and was disclosed while Mr. Gates was visiting Paris.
The French sale will help Moscow to begin modernizing its aging armed forces at a time when its own military industry is not capable of meeting world standards for advanced weaponry, diplomats and defense analysts said.
It was not clear if French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government intended to make the announcement, which alarmed the United States, Georgia and the Baltic states, during Mr. Gates’ trip. Nonetheless, the issue came up during a press conference with Mr. Gates and French Defense Minister Herve Morin.
“I understand that, for some Central and Eastern European countries, the wounds are still there. France wants a new relationship, and that means it needs to go through new exchanges,” Mr. Morin said. “We cannot, on the one hand, enlist Russia in building this security, and at the same time consider that Russia has not profoundly changed since 1991.”
Mr. Gates declined to comment on the deal beyond saying, “We had a good and thorough exchange of views on it. I’ll just leave it at that.”
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell later said that the secretary had “made our concerns clear” to Mr. Morin.
NATO has tried various forms of cooperation with Moscow since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, but the 2008 Russian-Georgian war marked the lowest point in their relations since the end of the Cold War.
It was the 2008 conflict that exposed Russia’s outdated military equipment and sent it shopping for advanced technology around Europe. Russian military leaders have said that having the 21,300-ton Mistral-class helicopter carrier from France would have made a significant difference in Georgia.
“Everything that we did in the space of 26 hours at the time, this ship will do within 40 minutes,” Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky, chief of the Russian navy, was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency in September.
Those comments and Paris’ interest in a deal prompted officials in the former Soviet republics Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — now NATO members — to raise serious concerns.
U.S. diplomats and analysts said that such sales to Russia would make sense at some point, but the NATO-Russia relationship is not at that level yet.
“France should have held off, and its decision should have been part of a wider process to defuse political tensions with Russia,” said Robert E. Hunter, former U.S. ambassador to NATO and a senior adviser at the RAND Corp.
Mr. Hunter said the Obama administration warned France against the deal but was ignored.
In December, six Republican senators expressed serious concern about the potential sale, which they said would send the message that France supports Russia’s “increasingly bellicose and lawless behavior.” The group included Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl of Arizona, Sam Brownback of Kansas, James E. Risch of Idaho, Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
Jacques de Lajugie, head of international sales at the French Defense Ministry, said that another NATO member would have sold a similar ship if France had not. Spain’s Navantia shipyard had emerged as a serious rival to DCNS. In addition, Dutch Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop said last year that the Russians had approached Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding in the Netherlands.
The French Defense Ministry said Russia has requested three additional ships but a decision on a larger deal has not been made.
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Silly me, I forgot the “dot com” at the end of the link for the website or blog. please add it in. Its
http://www.vaticproject.blogspot.com There is an excellent video on the “People to People” initiative button. Go check it out. Its from a Vet against the Iraq War. It is what is making many decide to do non cooperation with all that these bankers are trying to shove down our throats.
Dear Percy,
I think you are right
And I observe that in every country there are people that are willing to act for peace: now in the streets of Wall Street, in Israel, in London, in France a.s.o.
And I am sure we find the same kind of people in Turkey, Greece and everywhere else on earth
Just it is difficult in some countries because of the power of dictators (North Korea, Saudi Arabia and so on)
All religion must be respected, as long as these respect the other religions and don’t try to be superior to the other
And as long as they give the liberty of thinking to everybody
If not, it want be WW III, but the continuation of and endless war that has began millenariums ago…
Please give me a website or somthing I can contact you: I will not put my e-mail adress public
Azook, please contact me through [email protected] and give me your email address there. First of all, you are right about our well intentioned disagreements, but if you read the protocols that have been twice verified, you will see it in there and they were written a hundred years ago. They use war to affect revolutions internally, then they take control of the nation once the revolution is successful.
Propoganda and manipulation through the legit disagreements, are used to make those disagreements into more than what they need to be. Its all for gain, profit, power, and revenge. The website for the “PEOPLE TO PEOPLE” Initiative is http://www.vaticproject.blogspot and they have a mission statement, as well as strategy and Tactics and because of 9-11, more and more sheep are waking up and turning to the internet for real news. The basis of the people to people initiative is NON COOPRATION BY ALL PEOPLES OF THE GLOBE AGAINST THE INTERNATIONAL BANKERS AND THEIR BOUGHT AND PAID FOR LEADERS OF EACH PERSONS COUNTRY. The only world war anyone now will fight is all peoples against the international psychopathic bankers… since they are the true and real enemy of all people of the globe and that includes the people of Israel, ironically, since the leaders of Israel are CFR, GLOBALISTS and work for those same international bankers that our elected officials work for.
Out of 18 teaparty candidates who won, only 4 have not voted with the bankers. That means the neocons took over the teabaggers and like everything else they do, used them as cover for their misdeeds. That will end soon as well.
Hmmmm, I find it interesting that this article AND THE RUSSIAN SPOKESMEN did not mention the role of both the US and Israel on the side of Georgia in attacking that russian province. That alone would have justified Russias purchase and Frances’s sale of such.
However Savorsky is a dual Israeli citizen, so the question that needs to be asked is “are the international bankers (Rothschild) setting us up for a third world war like they did the first two world wars????”
Do the intend to fund both sides, like they did before and make money off both sides not only in loans but profits from weaponry in the companies these bankers own????
This is a dangerous game they are playing and as usual, WE, THE CATTLE, ALWAYS PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE IN THESE GAMES. Its time WE THE PEOPLE TAKE THE INITIATIVE in this one. This is a world-as-we-know-it-ending game with them left standing with their heritage seed bank in the arctic.
The world leaders are in on it, and the people are not. So, lets do a people to people contact between us and refuse to fight their dirty filthy little wars.
I have already got other nations agreeing to this through their people and we need europeans to do the same. Post on here if your interested along with a contact place for me to reach you. Thanks