{"id":27252,"date":"2015-05-19T00:31:32","date_gmt":"2015-05-18T22:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/?p=27252"},"modified":"2015-05-20T22:15:25","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T20:15:25","slug":"27252","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/27252\/","title":{"rendered":"France’s Tough Stand Against Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"
Josh Gelernter writes: \u00a0Early last year Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, and ginned up a separatist movement in Ukraine\u2019s east. Ever since, it has supported those separatists financially, with arms, and, sometimes, in battle.<\/div>\n
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When Russia started violating \u201c21st-century norms,\u201d the West responded with 1930s-style anti-aggression sanctions. As the EU worked out what its sanctions would include, France made sure they excluded two Mistral helicopter carriers that France was building, for which Russia had already paid nearly a billion dollars.<\/p>\n

The deadline for the carriers\u2019 delivery to Russia was last September. As the deadline approached, France suffered a stroke of conscience and announced that it wouldn\u2019t deliver the ships until there was a ceasefire, and movement toward a political settlement, in East Ukraine. The September deadline came and went. Russia demanded the ships; France wouldn\u2019t budge. Russia gave the French a new, December 1 deadline to turn the Mistrals over. That deadline came and went as well.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the big deal about helicopter carriers?\u00a0Like Ukraine, each of the three Baltic countries \u2014 Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia \u2014 has a large ethnic-Russian population. NATO, and any number of geopoliticos in the U.S. and Europe, believe that after East Ukraine joins Crimea and northern Georgia in Russia\u2019s new empire, Putin plans a pivot to the Baltics. Last September, Russia held an enormous war game along the Latvian and Lithuanian borders. About the same time, Russian spies crossed into Estonia, kidnapped an Estonian intelligence officer, and tossed him in prison. (Where he remains. Free Eston Kohver!)<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s threat to the Baltics is backed up by its Baltic fleet, which is based in Kaliningrad, the Russian Baltic-coast enclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland. Kaliningrad is the focus of new military investment.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the kicker: According to the wiki-leaked Stratfor analysis, if the Mistrals join Russia\u2019s Baltic fleet, they will \u201c[cut] deployment time [of Russian forces] to anywhere in the Baltic states from five days to 24 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

So give the French credit; they\u2019re taking a big financial hit in order to do the right thing. They will, evidently, repay Moscow\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the Russians \u2014 who have lost two carriers and, according to the Moscow Times<\/em>, are stuck with \u201ca special batch of Ka-52 attack helicopters\u201d specially designed \u201cto fill them\u201d \u2014 have responded to France\u2019s hard line with conciliation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sad day when the U.S. gets lessons in courage from France.<\/p>\n

\"Mistral<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Josh Gelernter writes: \u00a0Early last year Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, and ginned up a separatist movement in Ukraine\u2019s east. Ever since, it has supported those separatists financially, with arms, and, sometimes, in battle. When Russia started violating \u201c21st-century norms,\u201d … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t