How many DFI members believe that the whole " Mistral saga" had/has a bigger role to play in the European politics and US hegemony, then just another military deal. I personally believe that this whole politics started post 9/11, when the US decided to invade Iraq over a false pretense of WMD's, and France, Germany and Russia protested against the US and paved a dangerous way for Russia to lead the way in the Geo politics of the European region.
If the Mistral deal would have gone through, it would have paved the way for a new era of cooperation between the European powers and the Russian federation, cutting out the US eventually. Russia would have eventually been a part of EU, and there would finally be peace in Europe after centuries of War or Cold War's. Bad news for the US military and Industrial complex!. The only reason the US is still in the picture of European politics, is the scare of the evil commies will invade! rhetoric. Well we see now that the US policy on Europe (and also on the rest of the world ) has NOTHING to do with communism, since Russia is no longer a communist country!. They are just playing the game to stay in the game, and to keep alive a scare, else Europe will unite, and will no longer need to buy expensive American weapons or to cater to the American foreign policy.
Both France and Germany again tried to block the sanctions imposed on Russia, but buckled against US pressure. the whole Isolation of Russia, is just to keep US in Europe. The lease on Crimea was till 2017, Russia had no reason to worry, and the Mistral's would have been well within Russian hands by then, the key was to make Russia invade Crimea before that, by coaxing Ukrainian politics. Once that was done, the stage was set and everyone played their part, and the US watched
May i ask why you came to this wonderful logically great conclusion?
