BLINKEN THREATENS GERMANY WITH SANCTIONS
By Dave DeCamp, AntiWar.com.
March 26, 2021 | EDUCATE!
Above photo: Antony Blinken (left) and NATO Secretary-General Jens
Stoltenberg.
Over Nord Stream 2.
The US is hoping to stop the Russia to Germany natural gas pipeline.
While meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on
Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated the US's opposition to
the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will connect Russia to Germany and warned
Berlin about possible sanctions over the project.
"President Biden has been very clear in saying that he believes the pipeline
is a bad idea; it's bad for Europe, bad for the United States," Blinken
said. "Ultimately, it's in contradiction to the EU's own energy security
goals. It has the potential to undermine the interests of Ukraine, Poland,
a number of other close partners or allies."
Blinken said he would bring it up in a conversation with German Foreign
Minister Heiko Maas, who he spoke with later in the day. Blinken said he
would remind Maas that the US is required by a law passed by Congress to
"sanction companies participating in the efforts to complete the pipeline."
In a readout of the call between Maas and Blinken, State Department
spokesman Ned Price said Blinken "emphasized US opposition to the Nord
Stream 2 pipeline."
Recent reports have said President Biden is preparing new sanctions over the
Nord Stream 2, and Blinken indicated that was the case in a statement last
week. He said the State Department is "tracking efforts to complete the Nord
Stream 2 pipeline and is evaluating information regarding entities that
appear to be involved." He warned that "any entity involved in the Nord
Stream 2 pipeline risks US sanctions.
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.
The Nord Stream 2 is believed to be about 95 percent complete. But the
threat of US sanctions has slowed down the project. Somehow, the US frames
Russia's desire to trade more with Germany as a threat to Europe's security,
but realistically, an expanded trade relationship between the two country's
would reduce tensions in the region.