Israel Matzav: French arms sale to Russia has Congress up in arms

French arms sale to Russia has Congress up in arms

France wants to sell an amphibious assault ship called the Mistral to Russia, which Russia says that it will use against its neighbors if it feels the need to do so. That has the US Congress up in arms over the fear that the Europeans will start a race to sell arms to Russia.

Russian Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotskiy said in September that "In the conflict in August last year [against Georgia], a ship like that would have allowed [Russia's] Black Sea Fleet to accomplish its mission in 40 minutes, not 26 hours which is how long it took us [to land the troops ashore]."

This is just one of the concerns that prompted Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-FL, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, to introduce a bill late Thursday that would express the sense of Congress that "France and other member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union should decline to sell major weapons systems or offensive military equipment to the Russian Federation."

The resolution alleges that Russia remains in violation of the French-brokered ceasefire that followed the Georgia invasion. Also, Russia is expanding its military presence in a way that threatens Georgia, and has made a number of aggressive moves toward several countries in the region, according to the text. The sale of the Mistral to Russia "would enhance that country's ability to potentially wage aggression against its neighbors," the resolution states.

Ros-Lehtinen is calling on President Obama, as well as Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to urge France not to sell major offensive weapons systems to Russia until Russia completely withdraws from Georgian territory and makes broad reforms in areas ranging from rule of law to human rights.

Good luck with that. The Obama administration has already shown that it could care less about human rights, promoting democracy or the Republic of Georgia.

And here's a thought for fellow Israelis: Could you see Russia allowing Iran to use this ship or using it in support of Iran? What could go wrong?

Israel Matzav: French arms sale to Russia has Congress up in arms