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France Folds; Suspends Shipment Of Russian Warship - NATO Allies Pleased
France is suspending the delivery of the 1st of 2 hulking Mistral warships to Russia amid security concerns about Moscow's actions in neighboring Ukraine, AP reports President Francois Hollande's office said Wednesday. Hollande's change of mind - as he begs Draghi to devalue the EUR and Schaeuble to lift the deficit limits in Europe - comes at a time when the French economy can hardly cope with losing a few billion (which he previously said was too costly to cancel) but as he explains, Russia's recent actions harm "the foundations of security in Europe." We will see what Hollande got for this... or how he was blackmailed - but for now NATO allies have commented that they "welcome the French Mistral sale suspension."
Despite a possible cease-fire in Ukraine, "the conditions that would allow France to authorize the delivery of the first Mistral-class ship aren't met as of now, " the Elysée Presidential Palace said in a statement released after a gathering of country's defense council around Mr. Hollande.
As AP reports,
France is suspending the delivery of a hulking warship to Russia amid security concerns about Moscow's actions in neighboring Ukraine, President Francois Hollande's office said Wednesday.
The announcement comes a day before the start of a NATO summit and after months of pressure on France from allies to suspend the sale amid tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Hollande's office, in a statement after he met with top defense advisers, called the fighting in eastern Ukraine "grave," and said Russia's recent actions harm "the foundations of security in Europe."
The Vladivostok, the first of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers ordered by Russia, was to be delivered next month. The second — named Sevastopol, ironically, after a port in Russian-annexed Crimea — has been slated for delivery next year.
Despite talk Wednesday of a possible cease-fire in Ukraine, Hollande said that's not enough to allow France to authorize the delivery of the Vladivostok. His office made no mention of the second warship.
As recently as July, Hollande said the deal was too costly to cancel, and even this week, his advisers had indicated that France was ready to go ahead with the first delivery. In July, the president said that the Russians had paid for the ship, and France would have to reimburse 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) if it cancelled the delivery.
Unyielding to months of pressure from allies — including from some U.S. senators — French officials had argued that France needed to respect an agreed contract, and said recent sanctions against Russia didn't apply retroactively to the contract agreed three years ago.
French officials have also argued that the ship would be delivered without any weapons.
And Bloomberg notes:
- *NATO OFFICIAL: ALLIES TO WELCOME FRENCH MISTRAL SALE SUSPENSION
* * *
How long before France gets special exemption on running bigger deficits?
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Mistrals… Menstruals… Honestly, I don’t understand why the Russkies even ordered those in the first place. The only things the French used to be good at building somepin’ were guillotines, but over the centuries they’ve lost even THAT expertise. ;-)
Looney
BREAKING NEWS: Mistral Warship hijacked, stolen, and headed East
Maybe a ZH crowd funding is in order?
The Ole Confederate Flag brings nostalgic warmth to quite a few of us. The White Flag does the same to the French. ;-)
Looney
In a UK city 5% of all white women between 11 and 30 years were raped by pakistani:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/world/europe/reckoning-starts-in-brita...
Notice that the contract is suspended, not terminated. Under the terms of the original agreement, France is obliged to pay Russia the full cost of the ship if she fails to deliver. Moreover, the Russians could build similar ships to the Mistral for much less, and will not suffer greatly without them.
Clearly the Ukies are really getting their asses kicked if NATO has to resort to such crude measures.
Putin can limit the flow of energy to Europe but he doesn't do that. Why is that?
Well, they're French... What do you expect them to do, actually stand up for themselves?
Mistral? It's a shitty name anyway for a warship that isn't supposed to miss anything, man.
One thing for sure there was a deal DONE in closed doors as usual
France is too broke to pass on the Russkies cash
Watch the Fins cancel the nuke plant built by the Frogs its almost ready and so flawed it wont get a licence to operate, talking about 20+ bils here.
Why the fuck would anyone buy a french warship? Everyone knows they only sail in reverse.
200 Russian sailors still having fun in Paris and/or somewhere near the base.
..does not sound like a bad deal to me.
How do you say "mademoiselle" in Rooskie or maybe Ukie?
oh.. oh.. and sir swan, the frogs do a pretty good job on boats, one must admit.. not to mention cruise missiles.
howsomever.. maybe the mistral wind is a wayward wind thats yearns to wander.
The Mistral is the name of a famous Mediterranean wind
Is the wind burrito-induced?
Christ ...
Anti-French bigotry is alive and well on ZH.
Thought the crowd was alittle more enlightened.
Give your heads a shake for fuck's sake.
Mediterannean Wind- Correct Sir.
And a great song from Heart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOfQaYPYXSo
yeah the ascending trips on that guitar solo are awesome. if you look for a replication of that solo live, it's difficult to find. i've never found a live version of mistral wind with the guitar chops of the studio version's solo. but take away the guitar solo, and it's still very cool.
Heaven forbid the French burn the ships...then we'd be faced with the New Crispy Mistrals.
Before your time.
Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys
Dear Keyser,
has it ever occured to you French people actually hate their goverment and elite and most would tear them to pieces if they had the opportunity to do so?
Has it ever occured to you that an overwhelming number of them would gladly Exchange that spineless SOAB not worth dulling the blade of a guillotine for Putin as a president?
Has it ever occured to you the French government, not unlike in the good old US of A, does not hesitate to violently repress with extreme prejudice any citizen voicing their concern?
And last but not least has it ever occured to you that most of them are sickened of seeing their government behaving like a good little puppet wich string are pulled by Whashington, and confirming evreyday France's position as a vassal and staining its honor a little bit more everyday?
Know this, the French people ARE ANGRY, and the world will be reminded a Frenchman's fury has no equal amongst nations. When the last straw finally break the camel back all hell will break loose.Some people are in for a very rough awakening.
Best regards
So, what is the unemployment rate in France right now? How bad does it have to get before...?
Re: raped white women in UK or the US.
The days of male citizens protecting women is over. Women voted for this brave new world; every bit of it. Told everyone that they could handle anything. Said they wanted to be completely free. Some of these 'raped' women had relationships with their 'rapers'.
Turn to the state for protection, deary, and count your blessings, if your fartbox didn't get violated.
Oh, but they took their case to the police, MF...
Everyone is so shocked with these celeb nude leaks, what about the fact that NSA was ogling these pics soon after they were taken??? Why isn't that equally alarming?
Oh, because they are trusted. Gotcha. Trust is such a fragile thing.
So the police laughed at them? Too bad. Suck it up.
.
I caught a down arrow.
Why?
You favor fartbox violations?
Lol
probably from a pakistani
@Looney
The White Flag does the same to the French. ;-)
You forget that without the help of the French flags the USA wouldn’t be independent …
So the French are responsible for making possible the clusterfuck that the US turned out to be?
Rochambeau = 33°
You figure it out.
Maybe France extorted Europe + USA for France to "play along" ?
A contract is a contract. France has dishonered themselves. Thier credit rating should suffer.
France is going down really fast. France will be the next Greece squared........soon !
So what happens to the EU when France and Germany tank? Hint: WWIII...
It will be a cold day in hell Europe when they get this ship.
CORRECT
Winter is fast approaching, the days are getter shorter...
Yes that French warship has the same Klingon cloaking technology as that ISIS tanker sitting off Texas offloading to the Conoco refinery. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/01/us-kurdistan-oil-usa-idUSKBN0G...
Nah. It's just being being retrofitted to lauch a missing 777.
China will announce tomorrow the sale of a look alike warship to Russia but with new technology at a better price.
They forgot to tell Putin the propellers on French warships are in the front.
Of course these were the same idiots that sold a nuke plant to Iraq in the 80s. What's next, chem weapons for NoKo?
And they are only outfitted with white flags...
Only on the French ships. Those are also not really flags. Those are actually spare tampons for the French pussies.
I have to deal with the French for work. What a bunch of insufferable pricks
Notice the wording, the French were "suspending" delivery, not canceling. You think this might be so they don't have to pay the 1.1 billion euro fine to Russia for reneging? I put nothing past those weasels.
Time to "suspend" some delivery of NatGaz then!
Missing Libyan Jetliners Raise Fears of Suicide Airliner Attacks on 9/11
Egypt set for military intervention as Libya spirals toward failedMissing Libyan Jetliners Raise Fears of Suicide Airliner Attacks on 9/11
Egypt set for military intervention as Libya spirals toward failedI'm hearing via my sources that ISIS outbid the Russians for this ship. More to follow...
We bought new technology - seamless welding with them and some documentation, ships are an application
So... the Fed will pay DOUBLE to cancel [cough, cough] 'suspend' the Delivery?
God, it's good to be King Fiat! (BTW, I saw that one coming months ago, but did not want to post it -- lest we give them any more bright ideas via "free crowd-sourcing for ideas")
It is just printer time my man. It doesn't mean anything.
They probably predicted this event. Points to note
a) French arms sales totally discredited. No arms when you need them on NATO's whim??? No thanks.
b) the agreement comes with strings attached, as is full refund in case of no delivery.
Anyway, it feels like they played right into Russia's hands, AGAIN. These people are beyond useless
50% of these two ships was constructed in Russia, sailed to France and connected to the other 50%. Do the Russians get compensated for this as well?
There's now a clear pretext for a handful (maybe less) of Russian soldiers to invade France, take the ship and sail home to Crimea.
The Russian sailors are already on board. I find it hard to believe they would just get off. Well, technically they stay the nights on a support ship, and trained on the Mistral during the day... Of course one could always sneak back on, at night...
Yes, it is not at the forefront of the talk but the loss of confidence/faith/belief in some countries has been one result of their actions. Who trusts the US/Israel/UK to live up to agreements or contracts. Now France cannot be relied upon to honor contracts. As an insult France may refuse to refund any money as well. These countries start to isolate themselves from groups of countries in these ways. The main 3 will turn their backs on France or sacrifice France for their own economic gain.
Will Germany discredit itself is the question or perhaps the question is will a German leader sell out his/her country due to blackmail by the allies?
French whine.
Never underestimate the french, and never trust the english.
Though they seem to have lost some "élan" by letting OTAN dictate their policy (through the handpuppet Hollande).
Where's De Gaulle when you need him?
http://www.goldmadesimplenews.com/interviews/blast-from-the-past-charles...
De Gaulle had the balls to kick NATO out of France. He was pretty pissed off when he found that NATO was behind 31 assassination attempts against him.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-lessons-of-history-in-1966-president-de...
The thuggery of NATO hasn't changed since then. That's why it wasn't dismantled 25 years ago. NATO doesn't exist to protect Europe, it exists to run a protection racket in Europe.
OAS = GLADIO?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smwNCV-Sfa8
NATO was sold to me as an alliance to defend Europe from Soviet Communism. A worthy goal actually. I served in US forces connected with NATO. Now then, when cold war ended and Soviet Communism died a well deserved death at the hands of the Russian people themselves, WHY was NATO not ended, BUT expanded! EXPANDED at a time when it's role was over. Instead of accepting victory, NATO now wants to play the NAzi Germany role and fight for America to control Europe and destroy Russia. You have got it correct FourthStooge!
21st century NATO is an AMerican occupation army set to militarily defeat any political moves in Europe not approved by Washington DC. That greedy Zionest Whore House on the Patomic river.
"NATO doesn't exist to protect Europe, it exists to run a protection racket in Europe."
Exactly. That is why I knew France would be coerced into reneging this contract. Euro countries are so weak they now depend entirely on Nato (cough USSA) to defend them.
They were stupid to ever let any outsider control their destiny... but there you have it. The French and rest of europe are stupid and now entirely dependent on a monster.
It wasn't Hollande; Sarko was the culprit.
@Looney and all haters
Again and again and again …
This kind of article encourages the anti French racists. We will surely have a fireworks of hateful comments, in place of the high level interesting debates we are waiting for...
All this ugly disdain and nasty jokes come from the firm refusal of the French to join America in Irak, in 2003. Since France refused to go to Iraq, American warmongers and neo-cons made French army look like cowards – as a punishment.
But History has proved the French were right, and that the WMD were only a dirty trick to serve as a pretext.
Nevertheless, the hate of American warmongers against France remains still there, well alive, even in ZH.
This stale hate still shows through "innocent good jokes" about the “surrender monkeys” and their white flags … As for the rest, the French can be proud of their Military History which remains despite these stupid jokes the best military record in Europe.
France had a good military record until Germany got its shit together. France does have a commendable military history, but its also worth mentioning the lesser known aspects, such as the Franco-Mongol alliance and the Franco-Ottoman alliance.
I find it interesting that stuff like this gets completely lost down the 'Memory Hole' esp. with the rise of nationalism through the 1600s/1700s. Much like the story of the Italians fighting (each other!) primarily via Swiss and German mercenaries, during the Italian Wars (1490s to ~1530)
Christ ...
Anti-French bigotry is alive and well on ZH.
Thought the crowd was alittle more enlightened.
Give your heads a shake for fuck's sake.
Someone else will buy it.
Fuck Russia.
Prelude to war -- officially?
Can't be selling NATO equipment to the enemy. Even if you are French.
Son, you're special; a special kind of stoopid.
But we still love you, Mom.
Nobody wants to buy Mistrals. So far, only 2 have been delivered.
Even Putin says, "We don't really need them."
And Russia is safe. It said it would pay when both Mistrals are delivered.
You mean the shipyards financed the entire project and expect to get their money back on delivery? OUCH!
and pigs fly and you are intelligent
Australia bought them Canada wants to buy as does South Africa as does Germany
Japan is hot for them as well, need to project power.
Wikipedia tells only about 3 French Mistrals and 2 Russian Mistrals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistral-class_amphibious_assault_ship
Very probably you with your taxes. Or with your job.
Russia built it. The ship is theirs to begin with.
Sounds like another step to a hot war. We are being played . . .
Sorry. Hair on the back of my neck standing up. Students of history will recall how on the eve of WWI - thats right, that WWI which started 100 years ago more or less to the month - the Brits had two basically complete battleships being built (prepaid?) for Turkey. Churchill - in his caapacity as First Lord of the Admiralty (?) and before Turkey had even taken sides) said 'those ships are now in the British fleet - sorry Turks, nothing personal, just business.' Of course the Turks later came in on the German side.
I posted about Churchill destroying half the French fleet shortly after the fall of France in 1940 because the French failed to do anything to guarantee that those ships wouldn't fall into Nazi hands, much less being weenies and not using them to fight the Nazis. The French really can be such.....well...fill inthe blank.
At least this time the French followed Churchill's earlier example and learned the lesson taught in 1940. Now who do you suppose would have nuked the French ships in the construction yards instead of seeing them get into Russian hands? Surely the guy who failed to nuke the Syrian airbase before it fell into ISIS hands, and the access roads to the Mosul dam, and the university with the makings of a dirty bomb, and the half bi$$ion in whatever bank ISIS grabbed. This "leading from behind" strategy really works out well. Thanks Neville.
We should have known this would happen when he sent the Churchill bust back. (True confessions - I did.) So where is our Churchill? John McCain? Gag - can't tell and Al Quaeda from a Syrian "freedom fighter." Lindsy Graham? Frankly I can't think of one.
BTW: I think that Paul Craig Roberts might have gone off the rails. I can't dismiss his arguments that this whole Ukrainian mess resulted from NATO pushing the envelope with Russia. There was no way...NO WAY...that Putin could have let the naval base in Sevastapol fall into EU hands. That was like asking for his first born male. If the IMF wanted to Goldmanize Ukraine, the first thing they should have done would have been to cede Sevastapol to Putin.
Has anybody seen any diplomacy with Putin? Just this childish shunning.
Back in the 19th century, some diplomat started a war by commenting to another that he regretted that 'the relations between thir two countries wern't what they used to be. How about this one: 'Vladirmir Putin acts like a bored kid in the back of the class.' B. Huessein Obama. Thanks Barry. Way to keep a dialog open. Your puppet masters either want WWIII or you are amongst the feeblest minded to hold the White House. Jimmy Carter feels a great burden lifted from his shoulders. Now where is the killer rabbit?
So where is our Churchill?
He was AMERICAN
The deep state has ran all of the potential sucessors out of DC. All that is left is the controllable pederasts like Menendez.
Half American.
A good and accurate point.
So why wasn't just half the bust sent back?
Maybe what makes a great leader is being a dichotomy: half American, half black, half Kenyan, etc.
I suppose that if having your mother be a slut is a prerequisite to greatness, Churchill and Obama have at least that in common. Churchill's mom was more high end of course. That might go a long way in explaining Obama's antipathy.
Young Winston Churchill - serving in France as commanding officer of the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers from 5 January to 6 May 1916 - wore a French army helmet in the trenches during WWI in honour of the bravery and valour of the French soldiers.
http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/38317.html/churchill-in-french-helmet
Without the French navy, infantry , America would for sure have lost the Revolutionary War.
Quite true. Very good point.
But something happened along the way. Was it just the French monarchy using the Americans to bleed the Brits white back during the Revolutionary War w/o really caring about the American cause. Did the strength dissipate with Napoleon? Napoleon kicked a*^ all over Europe. Shouldn't have messed with Russia of course. (Hmmm. Did Obama read in the back of the choom wagon about how well Napoleon and Hitler made out invading Russia? For sure "W" forgot to read the chapter about the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.) I think it went downhill as a result of WWI. The world has rever recovered from WWI. Everybody lost their best and brightest playing in the machine gun fire in th trenches. WWI is highly underated as a watershed historical event. I would guess that WWII was half as important. I mean....like....Iraq was created out of WWI because the Brits wanted to leave w/o too much mess on their hands and the Euro-fops felt some need to create a state amongst a handful of disparate tribes which had been killing each other for centuries.
europe committed mass suicide in ww1. europe was never the same. leading into ww2, the french were still tired of what had gone on in the teens. french did have some state-of-the-art hardware in 1940, but tactics had passed them by, and morale was low. i too, do not understand all of the people who come out of the woodwork to insult the french.
french are well-dressed, have good cigarettes, and their tv shows are quite good. also, they're the only country who told greenpeace to fuck off. plus, if you go to normandy you might see laetitia casta.
@mc225
"if you go to normandy you might see laetitia casta."
Maybe, but if you go to Normandy you might see the Memorial for the remembering of D-Day June 6, 1944.
On the other hand, the 5,000 sailors of the French Navy who died for US Independence at the battle of the Chesapeake are still waiting for their memorial in Washington… And I have never heard that French representatives were formally invited to the celebrations of the Yorktown victory (where half of the fighters were French soldiers led by the Comte de Rochambeau), or at the 4th of July celebrations …
Why did the French plant trees along the Champs-Élysées?
So the Nazis could march in the shade.
Churchill was a war criminal.
but you live in a democracy so you can stop it if you want
Pretty sure the Russian boomerang is going to sting France a lot harder than France can poke Russia...
By lifting austerity measures on France, they'll live to die another day....
French banks will fight back against their cheese eating surrender politicians by attacking the USD. Mark my words...
The writing is on the wall...
It was all a diversion. Russia is actually building a new type of space based carrier that is protected by a shield generator based on a remote moon. Hope Nuland can get the spear chucking bi-pedal rats to help being down the shields..
$heet! Okay, okay, Sacre bleu, we surrender; again...
Wow, how did US blackmail France government into this decision...mhm.
Naked pictures of Gérard Depardieu. Need I say more?
I refuse to click on your fucking link. I just refuse...
He is Russian.
Russian or not, they still ain't pretty and nobody wants to see them!!!!
Everyone knew that Hollande was a weasel. And very susceptible to NSA spying. What skeletons are banging around in his closet?
Great for French jobs. How about banning French wine sales to Russia? And French cheese too. But French escargot would be the ultimate insult to Putin.
Amazing... Just two months ago Hollande was fuming at the BNP record fine, now he folds.
We need to impeach that fucker in 2015.
Obola "Doubled Up" with fresh FRNs, just to 'suspend' (aka Cancel).
Impeaching is for pussies. You're a fucking Frenchie!!! Roll out the motherfucking guillotines already! Enough of this EU bullshit and endless immigration from North Africa that's destroying your country! Take a fucking stand. At least you're allowed to have a right wing party! Nobody else in Europe can do it.
Now get your own space shuttle...
Somebody put his pecker in a vice. Will be interesting to see how this unfolds.
They folded his pecker first ?
"I'd rather have my pesants unemployed than find out what I do to ten-year-old girls."
~Hollande
/sarc
Are you sure that's sarc?
He meant to say sheep. And receive not give.
The French crumbled,...who would have thought?
< meh > Your move putin, go ahead and suspend the shipment of all Russian oil and natural gas.
is this all kabuki theater or not? the world is waiting.
As with many things in life... Timing's everything.
How do you say it?... "Tick, tock, Mfers". ;-)
best served cold.....
Interesting that NATO can control Ukraine but certainly not Russia. A lot more on the line than Europe's security.
Something about this seems vichy
Nicely done...
Lol. Suck it up France cos' Uncle Sam says so.
like Russia really needs these floating bathtubs that hold what, fifty helos and a dozen tanks.
plus Russian sailors have been training on the finished one for months already.
I bet they have now figured out that the props go in the back, not the front.
Someone felt the barrel of a nailgun to his/her temple.....
France did not fold at all.
Hollande got a deal with Federal Reserve and the White House.
We'll find out soon, what deal
Sure, the Pentagon is buying the ships for double the amount. Still doesn't change the fact that the ships are partially Russian property. This is theft and when nations agree to stealing, you know that the road is paved to war. Germany should have never agreed to paying one red cent in reparations to the Redshields.
Your debt dollars at work!
Is it really any wonder why GOLD is portrayed as irrelevant. The currencies are sacrosanct to NWO.
bye bye frenchies.
Me thinks France is in for a surprise...
It is fitting then that "douche" is a French word.
We bought a battleship without even getting a test drive. The next we'll buy sight unseen.
For sale, French warship. Never fired, and only sailed once.
NATO will buy it.
For 50% more than Russia was paying for it. Printing money has its advantages.
For everything else, there's proxy wars.
The US will buy it and flag it as another NATO country. Belgium perhaps?
@Dr. Engali "For sale, French warship. Never fired, and only sailed once"
Poor joke.
Happily for the US, this was not the case at the battle of the Chesapeake, where the Comte de Grasse defeated the British fleet and prevented the Royal Navy from reinforcing or evacuating the blockaded forces of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown.
The result was the reinforcement of the American army with siege artillery and French troops - all of which proved decisive in the Siege of Yorktown, effectively securing American independence.
BTW, at this decisive battle, more than half of the fighting troops were French - led by the Comte de Rochambeau ... with their flags!
Your are a lying asshole to suggest they had any interest in the freedom of americans. They were just opening a 2nd front on their war with England. Totally self serving.
Now go away and eat a baguette you french faggot.
Anyway, you cannot say that from Lafayette.
But you also would be a lying asshole to suggest that the USA had any interest in the freedom of France in 1944 - which in fact needed help in 1940. They were just opening a 2nd front on their war with Germany.
Now ... etc
In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. (Friedrich Nietzsche)
Hmmmmm so when does France return the prepayments made by Russia for the aforementioned ships??
I predict they will pay FAR MORE than that when their natural gas supply is slightly restricted to increase prices. Plan for that this winter.
There will be an excuse, of course. Perhaps rebels will disrupt a pipeline.
Wow, that's gonna hurt.
Not
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1325965/French-c...
"An attempt to go to sea in November ended characteristically in disaster somewhere in the Bermuda triangle. A substantial part of a 19-ton propeller broke off, obliging the carrier to limp back to southern France."
too bad they did not break one of the rudders, they would still be going around in circles.
mmm....circles inside triangles, isn't that an illuminati sign or something.
Not sure about the illuminati, but the circle and triangle is the AA symbol.
I no longer look for illuminati signs. They own everything via stocks and being major shareholders.
When you sail the Bermuda triangle you need to watch out for those underwater UFOs. They're a bitch on propellers.
Boy, that Obama sure has got some dick huh. Yup, this was ALL Obama, he really twisted some arms. That Obama sure is a manly man. What a heroic manly man that Obama is, showing the French who's dick is biggest. That man is sure a manly man. That GUY did IT ALL. It's THE MAN. The MAN and the DICK is worshiped.
Was it really?