From: slider@anashram.com
On Sat, 18 Sep 2021 01:58:30 +0100, o'Mahoney
wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Sep 2021 13:50:56 +0100, slider
> wrote:
>
>> ### - 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...)
>>
[continued in next message]
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
