Washington, DC. It finally took the full stupidity of the Ukrainian owned US senate to show Europe how stupid sanctions are. The Americans finally reached out and grabbed something of importance to Europe; pipelines.
“Europe’s energy supply is a matter of Europe, not the United States of America!,” said the statement. “We can not accept . . . the threat of illegal extraterritorial sanctions against European companies that participate in the development of European energy supply!”
At long last Germany and Austria hit back at US lawmakers Thursday, one day after the Senate passed new provisions that could open the door to sanctions on European companies that do energy business with Russia via pipelines.
America’s Senate amendment, which passed overwhelmingly but which still needs to clear the House, would ramp up America’s ability to harm Russia. Specifically, under the new legislation, the White House would have the authority to extend sanctions to any firm that invests money to help build Russian energy projects. Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Russian President Vladimir Putin weighed in, threatening retaliation if the new measures become law.
That takes square aim at Nord Stream 2, a pipeline that would deliver natural gas from Russia directly to Germany, bypassing Ukraine. Naturally, screwing the Germans out of billions of euros went over like a sour sausage in naziland.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said in a joint statement the sanctions, if implemented, could threaten Russian gas supplies to Europe. They called the bill a “new and very negative quality in the European-American relations”. Not to mention a hole the size of Texas in German & Austrian bank accounts.
Many Western European countries, especially Germany, back Nord stream 2, arguing that a new pipeline will increase supplies and lower energy prices in Europe. American neocon officials in the Obama and Trump administrations have opposed the pipeline, saying it could undermine European energy security.
If the legislation passes the House and survives any veto threats from President Donald Trump, it could be used against companies like Shell, Uniper, Wintershall, Engie, and OMV, which are teaming up with Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy behemoth, to build the $10.6 billion pipe.
At the same time, Gabriel and Kern allege the United States was acting in the interest of domestic suppliers, which in recent years have begun to export natural gas and even crude oil, including to Europe.The goal is to secure jobs in the oil and gas industry in the USA is the Germanic position.