The (Ex) Washington Realist

My thoughts, along with Damon Wilson, Pavel Baev, Richard Weitz and David Kramer, among others, on the Franco-Russian Mistral deal and on France's diplomatic efforts to get Russian buy-in for new sanctions on Iran. Reported by Alexander Grigoriev (VOA News). [Note: the text is in Russian. On sanctions, I note that the French approach has been to hone in on sanctions directly affecting the nuclear program, rather than more general punitive sanctions. On the Mistral deal, I point out that this is part of overall trends in military reform in Russia--to move toward light, mobile, agile forces--and the desire to have a platform "now" rather than wait for developing an indingeous capability, and also my thoughts that the Mistral purchase would not fundamentally shake up the balance of power.]