Washington and Berlin on a Collision Course

Escobar, Pepe
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/05/washington-and-berlin-on-a-collision-course/
Date Written:  2017-07-05
Publisher:  Counterpunch
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21132

The Russia sanctions bill that passed the US Senate on June 15, 2017 directly demonizes the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, under the Baltic Sea, which is bound to double Gazprom's energy capacity to supply gas to Europe.

Abstract: 
-

Excerpt:

In a joint statement, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern stressed that, "Europe's energy supply is a matter for Europe, not the United States of America"; "instruments for political sanctions should not be tied to economic interests"; and the whole thing heralds a "new and very negative quality in European-American relations".

An oil trader in the Gulf bluntly told me, "the new sanctions against Russia basically amount to telling the EU to buy expensive US gas instead of cheap Russian gas. So the Germans and the Austrians basically told the Americans to buzz off."

A top US intel source, Middle East-based and a dissident to the Beltway consensus, stresses how, "the United States Senate by a nearly unanimous vote have decided to declare war on Russia (sanctions are war) and Germany has threatened retaliation against the United States if it initiates sanctions.
Insert T_CxShareButtonsHorizontal.html here