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| Axis of Evil |
| Supporters at UN turn against Baghdad |
| 2002-12-23 |
| France and Russia, the two United Nations Security Council members which have led resistance to America's moves to attack Iraq, have modified their attitude in the past few days and seem to have accepted the probability of war early next year. France, which persuaded the United States to seek UN approval before trying to overthrow Saddam Hussein, has postponed a refit for the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which could sail from Toulon to the Gulf in late January. Even money says it'll break down again before it even gets close to the action. In the meantime, after a big oil contract was cancelled, Russia has praised "very balanced" UN weapons inspectors' reports that may provide an excuse for war and is no longer insisting that the conflict can be settled only by diplomacy. Told ya they were pissed about the oil Both countries seem nervous about the economic consequences if the US and Britain go it alone and then do a deal on oil with a new regime. And well they should The French President, Jacques Chirac, is coming under increasing pressure from business and military leaders and the army, navy and air force have been told to review their capabilities. Such as they are On the Russian side, a marked hardening of attitudes by Moscow in the past two weeks is believed to have contributed to an Iraqi decision to cancel a $US3.7 billion ($6.5 billion) drilling contract with the Moscow company Lukoil. The Iraqi ambassador in Moscow, Abbas Khalif, claimed the deal had been broken off for purely economic reasons, but Lukoil's chairman, Vagit Alekperov, said it was a political decision. Iraqi leaders were reported to be angry that Lukoil representatives had met opposition officials in exile to discuss post-Saddam contracts. Coming back to bite them in the ass. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 The problems with the charles de gaulle are legendary here is a small sample of info on its problems: (click here) I also know that at one time the ship suffered severe navigation problems, due the fact that the ships laundry was directly under the CCC, the effect of the dryers kept causing the GPS navigation system to fail. If ever there was a cursed ship,its the charles de gaulle. |
| Posted by: Frank Martin 2002-12-23 13:51:06 |
| #1 I "read" someplace that they built this carrier, only to discover that the planes that they wanted to fly from it were too big to launch. Perhaps they can open a cafe, where weary troops can rest and be |
| Posted by: Chuck 2002-12-23 12:41:36 |