“” “” Again, the spirit of Molotov-Ribbentrop needs to be looked at here. Ukraine may be yet another cessation to that under the Nord Stream project; after all, they were just fine with letting Crimea go. Perhaps the Baltic States too. Now Poland would be a bridge too far, so keep eyes on that.”” “”
Molotov-Ribbentrop is not there. German tanks aren’t driving towards Poland and France and Russian tanks aren’t driving to Germany.
Germany doesn’t have a military and no will to have one and even if it had it would take decades to build up from current state.
Russia is not what it is told it is. It doesn’t have the military to speak of too disproportionately focusing on strategic component to avoid possible Yugoslav or Iraqi treatment.
Pipelines are there for trade. Cheap energy is as important for Western Europe as it is for US. And you want to have it for yourself and don’t want them to have it. What should be their reaction? Should they say okay and give up on 1% of GDP each year so you would feel good?
Ukraine, Baltic states are chips in this scheme. They aren’t the endgame and all their troubles are coming from the fact that for whatever reason which is certainly not noble they decided to be obstacles and not the bridges in this trade.
Nobody in Europe believes in ‘Russian energy weapons’. Nobody in Russia views it this way too. The Euros get gas and the Russians get paid for it. Everyone wants to continue this way.
For every involved party it is a lucrative business with enormous profit. It is another reason why there won’t be war in Europe given things would continue this way. Russia is still struggling economically after Soviet collapse. It needs this money to stay stable and without money it might turn back to socialism and bacome unstable.
Another important thing is if some American companies and their bought Congressmen want a part of this market they should alter their strategy mostly focusing on making their schemes attractive and profitable under existing market conditions.
Nobody said they can’t participate but they are doing it wrong way. Today for Europeans it looks as for you if some Chinese outhouse company would be breaking into US plumbing market banning indoor plumbing and threatening American Standard with sanctions and airstrikes and their executives with prison terms telling Americans that outhouse it the freedom and the future and the current ways are decadent and a road to tyranny and they would demand a premium price for the privilege to use their product. Would you buy into it and surrender?
And by the way New York rumored has shortages of gas. Why not start there before?
Germany has had a military since the 1950s. One cannot pretend the Bundeswehr, Luftwaffe and Deutsche Marine does not exist. Nor can one deny the existence of the industry that makes Germany the second-largest arms exporter on the globe.
It may be that Russia is overstating its capabilities, but whatever capabilities they do possess they are not shy about using.
Pipelines are not just for trade, but to wage economic war. Forgot about Russia turning off the gas for several countries that used to be in its sphere? Nord Stream 2 allows Russia to bypass all of them and just go straight to Germany, which puts those countries even more at Moscow’s mercy (and guess who’s helping them).
International relations are not just about trade but about ideology. The USA wants nothing to do with a social market economy (what the EU has), and its dealings with Red China (thanks to left-leaning politicians) have left the country weakened in that sphere, whereas Trump has been battling to turn things around.
I apologize, but I cannot understand the rest of your post.