Still Free

Yeah, Mr. Smiley. Made it through the entire Trump presidency without being enslaved. Imagine that.

Thursday, September 04, 2014

Russia Is Again An Example Of What Happens When You Depend Upon Others

France has decided to suspend it's contractual obligation to supply two warships to Russia.
France’s decision to suspend the delivery of the first of two Mistral helicopter carrier ships to Russia shows Paris’ obedience of American diplomacy, said National Front leader Marine Le Pen. Russia still believes that France will fulfill the contract...

The situation is serious. Russia’s recent actions in the east of Ukraine contravene the fundamental principles of European security,” said a statement from the office of President Francois Hollande. [Italics original]

While Le Pen is absolutely correct in that the action is clearly a sign of obedience to the US, it also underscores why Russia and any other sane nation, would be wise to not depend on "western" companies for anything that is in the national interest.

This was shown with the payment processor suspension early in the Ukraine crisis.

China is very aware of the problems this poses in the technology field and is actively trying to create it's own standards and the like and using it's huge population to push adoption. I think China will prevail in the long run primarily on demographics. If you need to sell to a billion people and the cost of doing so is adopting the national standards, I don't see businesses NOT doing business. This is particularly true if the markets in the "West" continue to either stagnate or decline. There are far more people outside of the US and Europe than there are IN these places. As the fortunes of those persons outside the "West" rise, they will be less catered to than in the past. The fact that carmakers make special China editions of their vehicles simply because the Chinese like large back seat spaces, is indicative of this.

As the US and Europe continue to meddle in the financial systems of other countries, they will increasingly figure out that being beholden to these entities is not a tenable situation.

As for France, it would be in the best interest of France to seriously reconsider following the NATO line on this. Russia is not the threat to be worried about. ISIS and the french citizens who will be returning from there (as well as the ones already IN France) is an actual concern.