Free Republic

President Joe Biden will waive some American economic sanctions on Russia in order to streamline construction on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany, according to Axios. Citing “two sources briefed on the decision,” Axios reporter Jonathan Swan reports the State Department will include the Nord Stream 2 pipeline Russian company and CEO on its list of Russians who deserve sanctions, but the Biden administration will waive them, citing American interests.

UKRAINE is like "a tinderbox waiting to explode", a Tory MP has warned amid reports that more than 100,000 Russian troops are massed along the country's eastern border and in Ukraine in what he described as "increasingly destabilised situation". And Daniel Kawczynski has said Germany’s decision to press ahead with its controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline deal amounts to “pouring petrol” on the region – while revealing he had written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging him to “take the lead”. Mr Kawczynski, the MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, was speaking at a time of high tensions, with Ukraine’s defence...

Europe has set a clear goal for full decarbonization by 2050, with renewables-based electricity set to become the dominant energy carrier, and that means fossil gas will have “only a marginal role” in the long run, EU climate chief Frans Timmermans said on Thursday (25 March). By 2050, Europe’s energy system will be changed fundamentally, with ten times more solar and onshore wind power than today, said Timmermans, the European Commission’s executive vice-president in charge of the Green Deal. And “at the end of that road, there will be no more space for coal, very little room for oil, and...

A participant on the sidelines of talks in Berlin between Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Richard Holbrooke, a would-be secretary of state in a John Kerry presidency, told a story about the meeting and the theme of how a Kerry-friendly Europe would leap to America's aid in bringing stability to Iraq. (Or maybe hide under the bed.) "Schröder," the American said, "asked Holbrooke what Kerry would do if he were elected. Holbrooke replied one of the first things would be to get on the phone and invite him and President Jacques Chirac to the White House. The chancellor laughed out loud....

A 3,300-year-old treasure trove of gold found in northern Germany has stumped German archeologists. One theory suggests that traders transported it thousands of miles from a mine in Central Asia, but other experts are skeptical. Archeologists in Germany have an unlikely new hero: former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. They have nothing but praise for the cigar-smoking veteran Social Democratic politician. Why? Because it was Schröder who, together with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, pushed through a plan to pump Russian natural gas to Western Europe. For that purpose, an embankment 440 kilometers (275 miles) long and up to 30 meters (100 feet)...

Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has criticized Georgia for the war over South Ossetia, calling Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili a gambler, and warning against allowing the country to join NATO. In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine due out on Monday, Schröder said he thought Georgia’s chances of joining the transatlantic alliance had moved “even further into the distance,” following the fighting with Russian forces. Schröder’s comments are sure to be scrutinized due to his close personal and political friendship with former president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, as well as his acceptance of a Gazprom job immediately after leaving...

“Put him in a body bag.” Did that really happen at a Biden State Department press conference? Did the media push back on an attempt by this administration to take credit for a Trump-era policy? Yes, it happened. And the spokesperson was not too pleased for being called out for this attempted gaslighting of Trump’s Russia policy. The Associated Press’s Matt Lee was not going to allow Biden State Department spokesperson Ned Price to take credit for it, as it was clearly outlined and executed under the Trump administration. Lee is aggressive noting that this is a bit disingenuous, as...

The Polish government wants to start producing nuclear energy in 2033 and has agreed to deals with the US and France. But Germany is increasingly alarmed by its neighbor’s energy plans. […] The EU member has to find new sources of energy in order to meet the bloc’s climate, energy and environmental targets. Poland currently depends on coal for 70% of its energy and is thus one of the most polluting EU states. But Poland’s energy transition is not driven by external pressure alone. Brown coal mining in central Poland, which currently supplies 20% of the country’s energy, is set...

Late News: Syrian government media reporting air defenses in operation tonight... White House Deputy Press Secretary T.J. Ducklo resigning this weekend. The resignation one day after he received a one week suspension for threatening a reporter... Responding to his acquittal at the second impeachment trial, President Trump said: "Our movement has only just begun"... ..Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Trump was: "practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day" regarding the incident at the US Capitol... President Joe Biden said in a statement: "the substance of the charge is not in dispute"... From Ogden, Utah the...

The strict lockdown in Israel easing today with home confinement ending for millions of people... "So for your health I ask you-do not come tomorrow" Those words in a video from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking his supporters to stay away from the court hearing tomorrow as his corruption trial moves into its key phase... Iran and the United States staking out positions on the nuclear issue... More than 100 people missing and at least seven dead in the wake of a torrent of water unleashed by the bursting of a glacier... The pipe-laying for the Nord Stream 2...

President Trump is planning to leave Washington DC next Wednesday morning... Federal prosecutors are now claiming their belief that people who entered the US Capitol on January 6th intended to capture and kill... Was Qanon really linked to the FBI?... Up to 25-thousand troops now authorized to be in Washington DC for Joe Biden's inauguration next Wednesday... Virginia officials already closing some bridge access to Washington DC with all bridges into Washington DC from Virginia closing for 48 hours... Joe Biden planning to spend 1.9 trillion dollars more to deal with the coronavirus... Governors and local officials in the US...

"isolate, demonize and destroy" Ammon Bundy of People's Rights speaking live on You Tube at 1015 pm Eastern time tonight discussing what is being done to people when their social media accounts are shut down... The long knife of social media censorship operating far and wide tonight...' Rush Limbaugh making a move against Twitter tonight... An ultimatum from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to President Trump. He must resign immediately or she will initiate impeachment proceedings... Speaker Pelosi saying in a letter to House Democrats that she has spoken to Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley... North Carolina now under a...

A Norwegian firm that was meant to have provided technical and safety certificates for Russia’s gas pipeline to Germany has abandoned the project due to US sanctions. “DNV GL will cease all verification activities for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline system in line with sanctions and while sanctions are in place,” it said in a statement sent to EUobserver on Monday (4 January). “We are implementing a plan to wind down our verification support to the project. As the situation currently stands, DNV GL cannot issue a certificate upon the completion of the pipeline,” it added. A spokesman for the...

Protest in Utah next Monday morning when Republican Governor Spencer Cox takes office. Cox endorsing the coronavirus restrictions of outgoing Republican Governor Gary Herbert that included a ban on social gatherings of more than 10 people... "Initial examination does not show a link between the unfortunate incident and the vaccination" That's part of the statement from Israel's Health Ministry following the death of a 75-year man two hours after he had received the Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccine... Why did the World Health Organization change its views on masks earlier this year from being against the mask to supporting it?... South...

A full weekend of protest in Bainbridge Island, Washington. A round the clock demonstration at the home of Democrat Governor Jay Inslee who's imposed coronavirus restrictions and controls... Four people stabbed two police officers hurt following ANITFA attacks on supporters of President Trump Saturday evening in Washington... One person shot and four police officers hurt as ANTIFA attacked pro-Trump demonstrators in Olympia, Washington yesterday... The Proud Boys supporter of President Trump arrested and accused of shooting an ANTIFA member yesterday in Olympia, Washington identified as Forest Machala, a federal government employee... "Achtung" Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel pushing for a new...

"All trends are going in the wrong direction" The premier of Canada's most populous province speaking today announcing tightened restrictions in three areas (Toronto, Ottawa, Peel). Doug Ford warning of "an alarming rate" of growth in COVID-19 cases..... "The data speak for themselves, we had a superspreader event in the White House, and it was a situation where people were crowded together and not wearing masks" That's what Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS News...... The commission on those presidential debates cancelling next Wednesday's planned debate amid disagreement..... The President taking his campaign for re-election onto The Rush Limbaugh Show.... Twitter...

Russian energy giant Gazprom pledged to appeal what they described as an “unprecedented” fine after the Polish anti-monopoly watchdog UOKiK ordered them to pay some $7.61 billion (€6,47 billion) over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The Polish regulator said that building the pipeline would increase Gazprom’s dominance on the Polish market. The project, which would allow Germany to double its gas imports from Russia, is “tantamount to breaking the rules of law and of fair competition” and the current situation may trigger “serious consequences for Poland’s and the EU’s economy,” they added. Gazprom is spearheading the Baltic Sea construction effort...

Thanks to the Kremlin, U.S. President Donald Trump may soon see one of his dearest wishes come true. Nord Stream 2, a nearly completed project that would pipe natural gas from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany, has thus far withstood major diplomatic assaults from the United States. But now, with the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, there is growing pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to kill the $11 billion scheme. Construction on Nord Stream 2 began in 2018, after Germany granted planning permission for its end point in the northeastern German town of Lubmin. It...

Israel's military on increased alert in the northern psrt of the country tonight.... This evening Israeli helicopters attacked Syrian army targets in response to earlier fire from Syria..... Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley visting Israel today.... At the White House today President Trump signing four executive orders designed to lower prescription drug prices..... A federal judge ruling that documents in a 2015 defamation suit by Virginia Roberts Guiffre against Ghislaine Maxwell can be released..... Iranian media reports say that two US warplanes acted in an aggressive manner near an Iranian airliner.... In Portland today...

“Nothing will stop” Nord Stream 2, Russia has said, after new US sanctions on a pipeline that is seeing the EU side with Russia against its transatlantic ally. “Our view remains the same: nothing will stop the finalization of Nord Stream 2 [NS2]. And we leave to Germany and other EU member states to pass judgment on such US measures,” Russia’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told EUobserver on Monday (29 June). The Russian-owned firm building the pipe from Russia to Germany, the Nord Stream 2 consortium in Switzerland, was equally bullish. “Our shareholder and the five financial investors...