Posted on 12/13/2019 10:21:59 AM PST by NorseViking
Germany on Thursday (12 December) warned Washington to mind its own business after US lawmakers gave initial approval to a bill that would sanction contractors working on a Russian pipeline to Germany. The EU also opposed sanctions against ‘companies doing legitimate business’.
“European energy policy is decided in Europe, not in the US,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter.
“We reject external interference,” he said.
The €9.5 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline will run under the Baltic Sea and is set to double shipments of Russian natural gas to Germany.
The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce (AHK) said the pipeline was important for the energy security of Europe as a whole and called for retaliatory sanctions against the United States if the bill passes.
“Europe should respond to sanctions that damage Europe with counter-sanctions,” said AHK chief Matthias Schepp.
Supporters of the 1,230-kilometre pipeline say it will be a reliable source of cheap energy but critics warn it could end up vastly increasing Russia’s political influence in Europe.
EU opposes sanctions
The EU joined in criticising proposed US action.
EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said Brussels “opposes the imposition of sanctions against any EU companies conducting legitimate business”.
“The (European) Commission objective has always been to ensure that Nord Stream operates in a very transparent and in a non-discriminatory way with the appropriate degree of oversight,” he said.
Germany’s Schepp said the sanctions would end up affecting European companies more than Russia.
Half of the project is financed by Russian gas giant Gazprom, with the rest covered by its European partners: Germany’s Wintershall and Uniper, Anglo-Dutch Shell, France’s Engie and Austria’s OMV.
Despite its own diplomatic tensions with Russia, including over the murder of a former Chechen rebel in Berlin earlier this year, Germany has repeatedly defended the long-running project.
(Excerpt) Read more at euractiv.com ...
“We reject external interference,”
Except when you are looking for money from Uncle Sugar.
The pipeline is Germany’s and Russia’s business and not ours. The same goes for pipelines between Canada and the US... they are our business and nobody else’s.
Yes...and Germany’s defense budget should be nobody’s business except theirs.
EU stands for idiots. What is NATO all about? It’s about protecting our alleged European allies from primarily Russian aggression. Here they are inviting the Russians to have a tool for manipulating the EU at will.
With Brexit perhaps the dominoes will begin to fall, and the EU perhaps will become a footnote in history.
The morons who passed it are only hurting American businesses. Do they really think the Germans and EU will enforce their third party sanctions against Russia?
Dream on. Germans are grateful to Russia for consenting to German reunification. There’s lots of goodwill towards Russia in Germany.
Yes...and Germany’s defense budget should be nobody’s business except theirs.
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Apples & oranges and you should be smart enough to know that. All members of NATO have a right to be and should be concerned that all other members commit to their treaty agreements.
NATO was founded as a treaty to protect Western Europe from USSR.
The mission expired around 1991 with the dissolution of USSR and reunification of Germany.
It is useless ever since.
The only military action NATO took part in is to assist Muslims in oppressing Christians in Yugoslavia.
“The pipeline is Germany’s and Russia’s business and not ours. The same goes for pipelines between Canada and the US... they are our business and nobody else’s.”
I find myself agreeing. Energy security is a national concern for every country and the more alternatives sources of energy a country has the more secure it is. We are not in a shooting war with Russia and we should but out.
This is their pipeline.
We need to stay out of this.
Time to bring the troops home from Europe. After all they can take care of themselves.
The more people disappointed with the ridiculous practice of mixing business and politics and extending US jurisdiction by courts and Congress way outside US borders the worse it is for US influence.
That’s Roman Empire at this point.
It took for the rest of the World quite some time to destroy the Roman Empire.
At modern age US won’t survive a decade if it would continue this way.
I agree. We should be out of Europe completely. Bring our troops home and let Europeans figure Europe out.
The fact is that the support for such an action growing in Europe itself.
Not our business unless it runs through our military bases.
Good.
A natural gas filled balloon is lighter than air and floats, as well as having plenty of fuel onboard if needed. Has anyone recently looked into floating robots to deliver natural gas cheap? When burned, natural gas turns into water and plant food which offers a valuable secondary use.
I think orthodox transport methods are more viable.. :)
“We reject external interference”
Except when the Russians come at you en masse...FU, fight your own wars.
President Trump: “I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time.
“Much more than the European countries are doing and they should be helping you more than they are.
“Germany does almost nothing for you. All they do is talk and I think it’s something that you should really ask them about. When I was speaking to Angela Merkel she talks Ukraine, but she doesn’t do anything.
“A lot of the European countries are the same way so I
think it’s something you want to look at....”
President Zelensky:
“Yes you are absolutely right, not only 100%, but actually 1000% and I can tell you the following:
I did talk to Angela Merkel and I did meet with her. I also met and talked with Macron and I told them that they are not doing quite as much as they need to be doing on the issues with the sanctions.
“They are not enforcing the sanctions. They are not working as much as they should work for Ukraine. It turns out
that even though logically, the European Union should be our
biggest partner but technically the United States is a much
bigger partner than the European Union and- I’m very grateful to you for that because the United States is doing quite a lot for Ukraine. Much more than the European Union especially when we are talking about sanctions against the Russian Federation.”
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