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On December 17th, the US Senate approved sanctions on companies and governments working on the Germany-Russia Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Companies providing services such as pipe-laying are being targeted, as Washington tries to halt the completion of the $10.5 billion (€9.6 billion) pipeline, which would transport gas under the Baltic Sea.
The sanctions are expected to be signed into law by US President Donald Trump when he signs the defense spending bill. The bill also includes sanctions targeting companies and governments involved in the Turk Stream project.
The Trump administration would then have 60 days to identify companies and individuals providing services on the pipeline. The sanctions would revoke US visas and block the property of these individuals. Those targeted by the sanctions would then have 30 days to wind down their operations.
In response, Germany has criticized Washington’s actions, saying that it is meddling into European energy policy.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, criticized the US Senate’s vote.
“We think this is unacceptable, because it is ultimately a move to influence autonomous decisions that are made in Europe.”
“European energy policy is decided in Europe, not in the US,” Maas tweeted.
Die europäische Energiepolitik wird in Europa entschieden, nicht in den USA. Eingriffe von außen und Sanktionen mit extraterritorialer Wirkung lehnen wir grundsätzlich ab. https://t.co/vx9teDdh6l
— Heiko Maas ?? (@HeikoMaas) December 12, 2019
The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce said that the pipeline is essential for European energy security and called for retaliatory sanctions on the US.
German Bundestag member Andreas Nick told DW that sanctions over Nord Stream 2 would unite Germany behind the project.
“It’s an issue of national sovereignty, and it is potentially a liability for trans-Atlantic relations,” said Nick.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also criticized the US move, but said Germany would not impose any counter sanctions on the US.
“I see no other option but to talk [to the US and make it clear that] we do not approve of this practice of extraterritorial sanctions,” she said.
The Premier of Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania, Manuela Schwesig, said that Germany and Europe needed a secure energy supply. The Baltic Sea pipeline is set to enter German territory at the coastal city of Greifswald in the northern German state.
“[The Americans] are attempting to bring American gas, obtained by fracking, to the market,” she added.
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the sanctions would not stop Nord Stream 2 from being finished.
“We expect that this project would be completed,” he said.
He accused the US of “violating international law” and trying to “expand its artificial dominance of the European market”.
“Moscow does not like such measures, and neither do other European capitals such as Berlin and Paris,” he said.
The sanction regime that the US attempts to impose on the rest of the world is apparently starting to show cracks and is proving rather ineffective in many of its implementations.
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I Love Sanctions…Sanction the Entire World U.S….the sooner your Empire will be completely isolated….
Freedom never comes cheap, and this is the price Germany have to pay for choosing to be a vassal state to the U.S instead of being an independent state. Who knows maybe this is the beginning of something good for Germany and Europe, to really see who her friends are and who the real enemy is.
It’s good for the world to weaponize US dollar. Merkel’s de-dollarisation of world trade will survive & spread faster after her.
Freedom huh? Russia can deliver gas to Germany at half the price of US LNG. Russia and Germany make a commercial deal based on price and security of supply.
The USA response is to go psyco bitch on them and does everything in the USA’s power to bankrupt and ruin every bank, contractor and politician who touched this project.
And this YOU call freedom.
Telling someone who they can and can’t do business with and threaten to ruin anyone involved if they don’t buy your product is known as a shakedown. You’ve somehow, in your mind, perverted this shakedown to “freedom”.
When the mafia breaks a business owners legs and burns down their store for not using their dumpsters for garbage collection it’s not called ‘freedom’ and neither are your sanctions on Germany and Russia for using Russian gas.
This is extreme stupidity. Backfire is not the expression that will properly encompass how much damage this thinking is going to generate.
Watch when Germany & Russia de-dollarize their transactions by alternative system to the SWIFT transaction monopoly of the US. Trump will be the milestone in US history that decline of dollar in world trade started, after EU, China, Iran, Turkey & many others join the de-dollarization of their trade transactions.
I agree, this is very possible. A short time ago, it would have been unthinkable. Russia already has that system up and running so, there is not much distance to go for that to become real.
royaldutch shell has a vast operation in the unhinged states of A and is thus susceptible to the sanctions. I can’t say to what extent the french, austrian or german companies are operating over there. but if germany finds a way around it, expect some heavy duties on german cars and poggenpohl and such like companies.
What about if EU sanction US companies operating in Germany, France, Italy..etc…
yeah that is one way but the eu is sort of opposed to the northstream 2 (france) so it’s unlikely that the eu would support germany over something germany has railroaded into the union and mostly suites it own needs and leave the criminal ukraine high and dry.
The sanctions are way too late to stop Nord stream 2 now maybe in the first few months yes it would be effective but the project is more than 50% complete, Gazprom has already stated it would complete on its own if necessary. US as we know are using sanctions just to bolster their own LPG industry.
US politicians have no idea how badly this will backfire-they are playing straight into the hands of the Rothschild banksters who want the Dollar destroyed-when the dollar collapses-every country they’re sanctioned will laugh as America dies.
This is a smoke and mirrors effort, although not sure why. Maybe that the Trump administration was using it as a bargaining chip with the recent Normandy Format talks. The sanctions mean little as by the time any actions are supposed to take place it will be built.
See: “…The Trump administration would then have 60 days to identify companies and individuals providing services on the pipeline. The sanctions would revoke US visas and block the property of these individuals. Those targeted by the sanctions would then have 30 days to wind down their operations.”
The Dutch-Swiss company Allseas should be finished within the next 30 – 60 days. This is why Germany has stated they will not retaliate for these new sanctions.
The Normandy talks did produce a number of results. Russia wanted a one year contract, Ukraine wanted another 10 year contract and Russia proposed a three year deal the day after the talks. All that is required is to set the price. All to be done this month.