Did They Think We Wouldn't React?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-58582573
.....and as an added bonus, it's annoyed the French!

[Gromit]

Usual sh/te from ToraBora.

Yaaaaaawwwwwn.

[DTCwordfan]

Douglas - that's precisely what M&S have announced today as I understand it - closure of (13?) stores toute-suite.....

[DTCwordfan]

en la belle France....

[sevenOP]

jno : "you seriously think this has nothing to do with the South China Sea?"

And hegemony, with USA (and coat tails,"the West") top dog.

Their chauvinistic glee at it all belies their short-sightedness.

They can't use nukes against nuke possessors and so non-nuclear warfare, with its shameful waste of Public money, to potentially fuel any military conflict.

Give peace a chance? aye, NO CHANCE.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_ZPFrGXEAE-yf-?format=jpg&name=small

[fender62]

i guess new zealand is not on board pun.. with this or not invited
maybe not a big enough country ? and what about canada, english speaking countries, i wonder whats really going on here.

[jno]

NZ is much less interested than Britain is in following Washington into the cannon's mouth. They mostly gave the Iraq war a miss.

Britain stayed out of Vietnam, very wisely. But Wilson's the only PM I can think of who didn't jump when the White House whistled.

[youngmafbog]

It would appear that some ABers were quite happy for the French to build the Aussies some DIESEL subs but because they failed to deliver and the US/UK have offered nuclear (which are much better as a sub) suddenly the left on here see us as warmongers.

Just what is the difference, or is it simply the usual anti British rhetoric we get from some on here?

[youngmafbog]

//NZ is much less interested than Britain is in following Washington into the cannon's mouth. //

NZ is nearly a commie country and the way that woman is going it will be a province if China soon.

[youngmafbog]

//why do you feel happy that the French aren't happy? //

There are plenty of News articles around on why they are not happy. Google is your friend, find the site you like and read it.

//What have you got against the French? //

Are you British? It's never been the same since Agincourt me old China :-) BTW, the feeling is mutual, they dont like us either.

[New Judge]

//NZ is nearly a commie country and the way that woman is going it will be a province if China soon.//

Only if the relationship can be conducted remotely. NZ has largely locked itself away from the rest of the world for the last eighteen months and seems to have no plan to unlock the door unless there is "Zero Covid" in the world.

[sevenOP]

jno,
as is clear from UK Ministry of Defence 'Integrated Operating
Concept' dated August 2021,

"The central idea of the Integrated Operating Concept is to drive the conditions and tempo of strategic activity, rather than responding to the actions of others from a static, home-based posture of contingent response.
This means employing the military instrument to compete below the threshold of war, gaining advantage through offering a wider breadth of political choice and credible military options that can be threatened or used to break the will of our rivals.

The old distinction between foreign and domestic defence is ncreasingly irrelevant.
When ‘fake news’ appears to originate not abroad but at home, it
gains credibility and reach, stoking confusion, disagreement, division and doubt in our societies. This has been particularly evident with the significant uptick in disinformation and misinformation during the coronavirus crisis.
‘Home’ is no longer a secure sanctuary whence we may choose to launch interventions unhindered. ‘Away’ is no longer a regional horizon but a global one, involving space and the electromagnetic spectrum."

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1014659/Integrated_Operating_Concept_2025.pdf

Peace is War.
"Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”

[Togo]

Is it not illustrative that at the very moment that Merkel is hailing the "win win" EUSSR/CHIcom trade deal that France is squealing that Australia is cancelling a deal for outdated submarines from France. Submarines that are badly needed to counter the threat(you're ahead of me here now I bet) of aggressive action by China against the Australians. They never get it do they? Just their own needs and benefits matter. We are part of a deal worth 80billion quid or so, and we have another thread running about a few shops selling M&S sandwiches(and subs) closing. Perhaps the frogs will build the submarines anyway and see whether they can detect a few illegal boat trips with them ...but I doubt it.

[AZardoz]

NZ has had a nuclear-free policy for a long time.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/16/aukus-submarines-banned-as-pact-exposes-divide-between-new-zealand-and-western-allies

[ichkeria]

The reason France us cross is be s’use they were consulted at any stage, which beggars belief, especially as France has major interests in the region: more so than the UK in fact: 7000 military and 2,000,000 nationals.
It’s very poor diplomacy at best

[ichkeria]

“They weren’t consulted at any stage”

[Togo]

//Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday he had raised the possibility that Australia might scrap a 2016 submarine deal with a French company in talks with the French president in June, rejecting French criticism that it had not been warned, but France denied that.//

Now who to believe ... Micron or Morrison.