According to a report from Politico, the Biden administration is preparing new sanctions that target the Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline project that will run from Russia to Germany. The Biden administration is under pressure from Congress to stop the project, which is about 90 percent complete but has slowed down in recent years due to threats and sanctions from the US.
The report didn’t say what exactly the sanctions would target. “We are continuing to look at entities that may be involved in sanctionable activities and will take necessary follow-on steps from there,” an administration official told Politico. Earlier reports said President Biden is expected to avoid sanctioning German entities. The administration clearly has no issues with escalating tensions with Moscow, as it recently slapped sanctions on Russian officials over the jailing of opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
The Biden administration is required by law to submit a report to Congress of entities involved in the project that will then be targeted with sanctions. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) co-authored an amendment in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that requires Nord Stream 2 sanctions and has been delaying Biden nominees from being confirmed over the issue.
“If the Biden administration dithers, if they defy the law, they will have turned a major foreign policy victory for America into a major foreign policy loss and a gift of billions of dollars in perpetuity to Vladimir Putin,” Cruz said, according to Politico.
“I told Secretary Blinken, I would be thrilled to lift the holds on the State Department nominees today if they would only follow the law and issue an interim report identifying all of the companies subject to mandatory sanctions,” Cruz added.
The original Nord Stream consists of two lines that run from Vyborg, Russia, to Lubmin, Germany, near Greifswald. The new project would add two more lines, doubling the amount of natural gas Russia could export to Germany.
Somehow, the US framed Russia’s desire to trade more with Germany as a threat to Europe’s security. An unnamed administration official told Politico that Biden views the pipeline “as a clear example of Russia’s aggressive action in the region.”
One reason the US opposes the pipeline is due to the billions of dollars Ukraine would lose in gas transport fees if the project was completed. In 2017, Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz hired a lobbying firm to fight the pipeline in Washington.
The audacity to say, “….if they would only follow the law….” Yes, follow the law that I have written! Anyone with any sense of self awareness would be ashamed to say that in public. Nothing to see here. Move on sheeple.
Yeah, that same NDAA that makes it “law” to keep Israel’s qualitive military edge in the ME.
When Israel has the bomb…………………..
One of our allies Germany wants that pipeline. Why are we punishing Germany?
Because we want to run a pipeline to Germany? Under the Atlantic Ocean?
Germany can trade with whoever they want.
“Somehow, the US framed Russia’s desire to trade more with Germany”
The amount of gas sold will likely be the same plus or minus. Nord Stream allows Russian and Germany to trade directly without involving or paying taxes to Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and other nations.
Is Ted Cruz linked to Ukraine banker and privateer Igor Kolomoisky? Charles Schumer might consider this a worthy Senate investigation.
He won’t.
And these vulgar people witter on about interference in American affairs…?
“Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) co-authored an amendment in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that requires Nord Stream 2 sanctions and has been delaying Biden nominees from being confirmed over the issue.”
This is to be expected from any Texas senator.
This has two purposes, and Germany is important only to serve those two purposes. It gets the same amounts of Russian gas either way.
The first purpose is to maintain the huge subsidy from Russia to the US-backed Ukraine regime. Ukraine gets paid for passage of gas to Germany via pipelines across Ukraine, and Ukraine also get cheap gas on a discounted price because it hosts the pipelines. Without this subsidy, Ukraine cannot afford to heat itself in the winter, much less to pay for the war against Russia. We saw that when Russia threatened to make Ukraine pay full price, and cut supplies until paid back due for past delivery.
The second purpose is to seek a market for US liquified natural gas obtained by fracking, which is much more expensive to liquify and then ship across the Atlantic compared to pipeline delivery a shorter distance from Russia.
Neocon adventurers join with fracking industry marketeers. That is out pipeline foreign policy.
Cheer up Antiwar, you are witnessing the last days of the empire. But I fear, the giant wont go out without destroying some villages first.