Comments by "peabase" (@peabase) on "France mulls refund of Mistral warship contract with Russia" video.

  1. ***** You're misrepresenting facts. India just agreed to procure 36 French-made Rafale jets, twice as many as the 18 agreed on earlier. India might scale back the number of Rafales it will assemble in India, but all the same it's clear that they're committed to the Rafale.
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  2. ***** There you go again, misrepresenting facts. Comparing apples to apples, the Indian off-the-shelf order just doubled, from 18 to 36 Rafales. There's still the matter of manufacturing the remainder in India, which is admittedly beset by problems, but that has more to do with the Indian license-manufacturer, HAL, than the French. Rumour has it that the Indian government is about to take charge of the negotiations. Even if India abandons plans to manufacture the Rafale locally, a follow-up order of French-built Rafales is in the cards.
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  3. GhostHawk1776 The honourable thing for France is not to supply weapons to an aggressor. By their own admission, Russia used military power to annex the Crimea. It's a clear-cut case.
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  4. KarlVyt It certainly was a rude awakening for Europe that Russia turned out to be incapable of transforming itself into a modern democracy as we had hoped. Most former Soviet client states made the transformation, so it does beg the question why Russia can't. 
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  5. GhostHawk1776 I only see Putin taking away the rights of ordinary Russians at an alarming rate. In your assessment of democracy you seem to have Winston Churchill on your side. He said: "democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." Oh, there's a caveat there.
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  6. KarlVyt In my view the former client states picked the right role models whereas Russia did not. Instead they turned inward and are now harking back to an idealised Russia that never was nor ever will be. Just another great disappointment in the works. And sure enough, we'll have to help them to pick up the pieces. But what I personally find most troubling is Russia's long history of disregard for the wrongs they inflict on others. The crisis in Ukraine proves that they're still at it.
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  7. GhostHawk1776 Putin's Russia stable? It's said he's desperate to stave off a colour revolution, his worst nightmare ever since he witnessed the GDR implode in a matter of days. It's also telling that Putin came out publicly that Russia won't revert to totalitarianism, which is tantamount to  admitting that that's the general direction Russia is heading for. It's funny how you keep quoting the Founding Fathers. They seemed pretty committed to their fledgling democracy, which survives to this day. Love it or hate it, it has outlasted two evil empires, the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. You're not making a very convincing case.
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  8. GhostHawk1776 You're not getting it. Having a republican form of government underpinned by a constitution doesn't rule out being a democracy, too. In fact, the majority of the world's nations that are considered democracies are constitutional republics, too. Definitions may vary, but you're in the minority with yours.
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  9. GhostHawk1776 You bet I'm not American. The Founding Fathers had their place in history, but their word is not religion. I live in a republic and a democracy, a top-class one too if internationally recognised surveys are to be believed. How exactly would you propose to take away my rights? The only way I can envision is by force of arms, but there's the matter of a well regulated militia, too.
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  10. Ackreti I bet our ghosthawk insists he's gay when he's happy, too. Romantics...
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