From: slider@anashram.com   
      
   ### - well here we go, let's see what's happenin' in the old 'Wallyworld   
   Herald Gazette today hehe ;)   
      
      
      
   PARIS -France accused U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday of stabbing it   
   in the back and acting like his predecessor Donald Trump after Paris was   
   pushed aside from a historic defence export contract to supply Australia   
   with submarines.   
      
   The United States, Britain and Australia announced they would establish a   
   security partnership for the Indo-Pacific that will help Australia acquire   
   U.S. nuclear-powered submarines and scrap the $40 billion French-designed   
   submarine deal.   
      
   “This brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision reminds me a lot of   
   what Mr Trump used to do,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told   
   franceinfo radio. “I am angry and bitter. This isn’t done between   
   allies.”   
      
   It is the latest dramatic twist in a contest that has seen naval   
   shipbuilding powers battle for years over what many observers called the   
   world’s largest single arms export deal.   
      
   In 2016, Australia had selected French shipbuilder Naval Group to build a   
   new submarine fleet worth $40 billion to replace its more than   
   two-decades-old Collins submarines.   
      
   Just two weeks ago, the Australian defence and foreign ministers had   
   reconfirmed the deal to France, and French President Emmanuel Macron   
   lauded decades of future cooperation when hosting Australian Prime   
   Minister Scott Morrison in June.   
      
   “It’s a stab in the back. We created a relationship of trust with   
   Australia and that trust has been broken,” Le Drian said.   
      
   French relations with the United States soured during the presidency of   
   Trump, who often irritated European allies by demanding they increase   
   their defence spending to help NATO while reaching out to adversaries like   
   Russia and North Korea.   
      
   Diplomats say there have been concerns in recent months that Biden is not   
   being forthright with his European allies.   
      
   The French Embassy in Washington said it was cancelling a gala event   
   related to French-U.S. ties on Friday following the day’s events.   
      
   France’s ties with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have also soured   
   over the UK’s exit from the European Union.   
      
   Washington’s actions in Australia are likely to further strain   
   transatlantic ties, political analysts said. The European Union was due to   
   roll out its Indo-Pacific strategy on Thursday and Paris is poised to take   
   on the EU presidency.   
      
   “This is a clap of thunder and for many in Paris a Trafalgar moment,”   
   Bruno Tertrais, Deputy Director of the Paris-based think tank the   
   Foundation of Strategic Research said on Twitter, referring to a French   
   naval defeat in 1805 that was followed by a long period of British naval   
   supremacy.   
      
   He said it would “complicate the transatlantic cooperation in and about   
   the region. Beijing will benefit.”   
      
   U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said France was a   
   “vital partner” in the Indo-Pacific region and that Washington would   
   continue to cooperate with Paris, comments that appeared aimed at calming   
   French anger.   
      
   Those comments are likely to fall on deaf ears in the immediate term.   
      
   A French official said they had not been informed of the deal until a few   
   hours before it was announced and that Paris would not fooled by   
   platitudes.   
      
   Morrison said Australia looked forward to continuing to work “closely and   
   positively” with France, adding: “France is a key friend and partner to   
   Australia and the Indo-Pacific.”   
      
   ‘JAW-DROPPING‘   
      
   It is the second setback to French defence exports in three months after   
   Switzerland spurned Dassault’s Rafale to buy U.S.-made Lockheed Martin   
   F-35 fighters.   
      
   Analysts said the loss of the much bigger submarine contract was a   
   significant blow to France, whose experienced arms sales machine had gone   
   all out to wrest the submarine deal from likely winner Japan under then   
   defence minister Le Drian in 2016.   
      
   Germany had also been in the race.   
      
   The 2016 win came a decade after France radically overhauled the way it   
   handled arms sales following Paris’ embarrassment over the loss of a   
   contest to sell fighters to Morocco.   
      
   Word of its cancellation dominated Europe’s largest arms fair in London   
   where one delegate called it “jaw-dropping”.   
      
   France’s Thales, which analysts say stood to gain about $1 billion from   
   sales of sonars and optronics – the eyes and ears of the French submarines   
   – swiftly reassured investors its 2021 finances would not be hit.   
      
   But some analysts warned France’s furious reaction over the Australian   
   contract could backfire and noted there had been reports of Australian   
   doubts over the pace of implementation.   
      
   Thales, which owns 35% of Naval Group, remains Australia’s biggest local   
   defence contractor through a subsidiary.   
      
   “Betrayal is the wrong language and hurts France’s position in Australia;   
   it can poison the well,” said UK-based defence analyst Francis Tusa,   
   adding France would now be more reliant on selling Rafales to secure its   
   place in the global arms market.   
      
   ### - oh dear oh dear, trumpy becoming a byword these days in cut-throat   
   'unpleasantness' in this part of the world... and well yes, was a bit   
   naive of france to think the uk was just gonna SIT there letting a big FAT   
   40-fucking BILLION! contract pass them by like that? are ya fuckin' NUTS   
   or wot?? lol, as IF!? huge sharks were all in the water circling for a   
   feast of THAT nature!   
      
   but it's nada ah personal france (cough-cough) it's just, erm, business,   
   right? (sarcasm heh)   
      
   besides, we're on our own here now and you still have the back-up of the   
   european union to bail ya's ass out of a sling if'n ya's ever gets into   
   trouble innit, a luxury we no longer enjoy after brexit, so what did ya   
   really expect then when it comes to pullin-off a deal behind the scenes of   
   THAT magnitude huh? lol we fuckin' 'invented' australia ya cunt! did ya's   
   really think we don't still have some connections there?? well duh! (all   
   the nobs in their private clubs tap their brandy glasses in jovial   
   grinning agreement, and then stand to toast in unison: *As IF!* hahaha...)   
      
   (france glowers at the uk calling them all the shits under the sun: les   
   cheatin' cunts vous!)   
      
   pure gangster stuff really... i mean, if'n THIS is how NATIONS openly   
   behave with each other, is it any wonder then that their respective   
   citizens are also ALL digging each others eyes out and cut-throating as   
   well?? they're only doing what YOU do!? (which coincidentally, not, is   
   exactly what al capone also claimed too hehe...)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)