The Obama administration was never much bothered by the fact that a NATO ally, France, is selling offensive weapons to a NATO adversary, Russia. Never mind that Russia remains in clear violation of the French-brokered cease-fire to the 2008 war in Georgia – after all, if that doesn’t bother the French, why should it bother us? This administration has made clear that Georgia, and America’s other allies in Eastern Europe (the Czechs and the Poles in particular), will be sacrificed on the altar of ‘reset’ if necessary. Still, as the Obama administration has learned over the last year, dealing with the Russians is a tricky business – you never have a deal until you have a deal, and even then you may not have a deal.
AFP reports that after reaching an agreement with France on the sale of four amphibious assault ships – two to be constructed in France and two more in St. Petersburg – the Russians are throwing a wrench in the works:
