THE RUSSIA SANCTIONS: GERMANY SAYS “THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN”
Most regular readers to this website are aware that I do not share the anti-Russia hysteria that seems to be sweeping the West, and entrenching itself in political parties on both ends of the spectrum. The case in point: the US Senate's recent vote - 98 to 2 - to impose stiffer sanctions and to hand-tie the Trump administration from taking action. The Republithug majority, whom I like to call the "Fake opposition party", voted with the Demorats to impose tougher sanctions, with Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Bernie Sanders (D-VT) opposed to the bill. It's a measure of the insanity of politics in the Swamp that a more-or-less Libertarian-Conservative senator should be aligned with a more-or-less socialist senator, but there you are. All the rest have swallowed the blue pill and continue to believe their own propaganda and sleepwalking in continued anti-Russian stupor.
Indeed, in last Thursday's News and Views from the Nefarium I had some angry words against a bill being introduced in the US Senate by Joseph Kennedy wanting to create yet another new intelligence agency to deal with continued Russian "interference" with American institutions, thus committing the usual power-grab to create another deep state apparatus as a sneaky way to establish control over elections in this country, to pack it with their own people, and to "blame Russia" when things don't go their own way. In short, by my lights, this is a deadly development, one not only ensuring the dominance of that party in American domestic affairs (and what a stellar success they've had!) but also to lock American foreign policy into a more or less permanent anti-Russian position, which is the height of diplomatic insanity, and a violation of Farrell's Three Diplomatic Axioms: (1) Creating permanent enemies is a bad idea; (2) creating permanent enemies of powerful countries is a worse idea; and (3) creating a permanent enemy of Russia is not only the worst idea, but colossally stupid to boot.
And yes, I just called the author of that bill, and its supporters, stupid.
Oh, but while we're at it, why not make an enemy of Germany too? This article was spotted by Mr. G.B. and many others:
"That Must Not Happen": Germany Threatens US With Retaliation Over New Russia Sanctions
I'm reminded of the old Tom Lehrer song, "The MLF Lullaby": "We taught them a lesson in 1918, and they've hardly bothered us since then."
Satire and laughter aside, Merkel's government, as are many governments in Europe, are taking stock of the political insanity gripping Washington, but the real target is, as the Zero Hedge analysis argues, is not only Russia, but rather, the European nations dependent on secure energies supplies: France, and Germany, particularly. And ask yourself, if you needed energy, and were a major country in central Europe, where would you rather get it from? The (out)house of Saud? Turkey? Iraq? Iran?
Or Russia?
We know the answer already:
One day after the Senate almost unanimously passed a bill to impose new sanctions on Russia, an unexpected outcry against the US decision emerged from two of America's closest allies, Germany and Austria, who yesterday slammed the new sanctions and accused the U.S. of having ulterior motives in seeking to enforce the energy blockade, which they said is trying to help American natural gas suppliers at the expense of their Russian rivals. And they warned the threat of fining European companies participating in the Nord Stream 2 project "introduces a completely new, very negative dimension into European-American relations."
Today's the unexpected fallout from the latest round of US sanctions has escalated, and according to Reuters, Germany has threatened to retaliate against the United States if the new US sanctions on Russia end up penalizing German firms, which they almost will as it foresees punitive measures against entities that provide material support to Russia in building energy export pipelines. Such as Germany, Austria and host of other European nations. Berlin is concerned that if passed in the House, the sanctions will pave way for fines against German and European firms involved in Nord Stream 2, a project to build a pipeline carrying Russian gas across the Baltic.
And it's not jet the Germans who are sweating: among the European companies involved in the project are German oil and gas giant Wintershall, German energy trading firm Uniper, Royal Dutch Shell, Austria’s OMV and France’s Engie. In other words, if the Senate proposed sanctions pass, the US will have to fine virtually every energy giant in Europe.
Quoted by Reuters, Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert described the Senate bill, which must be approved by the House of Representatives and signed by Trump before it becomes law, as "a peculiar move". He said it was "strange" that sanctions intended to punish Russia for alleged interference in the U.S. elections could also trigger penalties against European companies. "That must not happen," said Seibert.
Confirming the seriousness of Germany's resolve, in an interview with Reuters, German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said "Berlin would have to think about counter-measures" if Trump backed the plan. "If he does, we'll have to consider what we are going to do against it."
Trump has not helped matters either, with his rhetoric. But the reality is, It is not Trump, and thus whether or not he vetos or signs the measure is, in the long run, immaterial. The reality is, it is years of growing polarity in domestic American politics, and an increasingly violent, and polarizing, and destabilizing uni-polar foreign policy, "Brzezinski's Folly" as we've been calling it here. It is a phenomenon that has been growing and developing since 9/11. America is out of control; everyone can see it and feel it, and the federal government grows and grows, with no signs of stopping, living in a world of financial and geopolitical make-believe. If one looks behind the rhetoric coming out of Berlin (and Paris and Vienna), what they're really saying is that the "anti-Russian" sanctions are really anti-German, anti-French, and anti-European sanctions. Berlin is coming as close as I've ever seen it come to agreeing with my hypothesis that there is an economic war taking place between the US and Germany, and the goal of that covert warfare, as far as the US is concerned, is to prevent that merger of German industry and Russian resources that became the nightmare of Angl0-American geopolitics since the turn of the last century. The sanctions bill, so far is Berlin is concerned, is as much about keeping Europe permanently under the American thumb, nothing else, with Russia providing the convenient excuse.
In short, Berlin's rhetoric is not simply the airing of national interest in a passing diplomatic crisis. Rather, Berlin's response must be viewed as the acknowledgement of a paradigm change that will become a more or less permanent feature in the years and decades to come. In point of fact: Zero Hedge understands this, and voices what has probably already become the quietly agreed-upon conclusion of the French and German intelligence analysts are they contemplate the USA:
Back to Zypries who continued to lash out at the US saying "I regret that the joint approach of Europe and the United States on Russia and sanctions has been undermined and abandoned in this way."
What she may not understand is that in the US - at least for the vast majority of the media - the only thing that matters now is the anti-Russia narrative, and Congress will do anything to perpetuate that. If that means hurting the income statement of a handful of "ally" corporations, so be it: there are newspapers to sell, after all.
Unlike our friends at Zero Hedge, I do not for a moment think the German economics minister is oblivious to the fact that the only thing that matters to the US is "the anti-Russia narrative" and that "Congress will do anything to perpetuate that" to the point, as I indicated in last Thursday's News and Views, of wanting to create an entirely new agency of intelligence locking American foreign policy into permanent (and suicidal) anti-Russia mode. It's the thoroughly bi-partisan nature of the agreement on that "anti-Russia narrative" among Demorats and Republithugs that is the heart of the problem. To allow a narrative of such enormity, with so little real backing or evidence, to hold sway over a foreign policy to the point of driving friendly and powerful nations away, is only going to convince analysts in Paris and Berlin that the USA is no longer a reliable ally, and perhaps not even an ally at all, for American foreign policy has committed itself to a course of action designed to prevent the inevitable.
See you on the flip side...
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“In other words, if the Senate proposed sanctions pass, the US will have to fine virtually every energy giant in Europe.”
Can someone explain how the U.S. would have the right to fine a sovereign nation like Germany over their business dealings with Russia.?
Nemesis is hubris.
The rape of Iceland had no moral pretext. The empire bully just did it, because it was able to, justified by “might is right”.
The rape of Iceland has been justified as “blessing in disguise”, forcing victim to embrace rapist in Stockholm syndrome.
The rape of Iceland is a knife in the back, and today the rapist is trying to run away from the fact, by blaming everybody else.
The rape of Iceland by kinsmen occupying kinsmen is a path of self-destruction. It is cursed beyond repair.
The rape of Iceland spells doom to the rapist, because all Europeans are “Icelanders” today, watching the empire bully going down.
The rape of Iceland is a thorn in the flesh of Christ, and Holy Russia is resurrection of Europe.
https://www.lpthe.jussieu.fr/~roehner/oci.pdf
dude yer STUCK on Iceland Lol WTF ? were ALL b’ing a** …raped damn man LOL bet yer “thera~rap~ist” is gettin tired of …hearing IT 🙂 ( Lol I have a very dark sense of humor )
I’ll repeat the exquisite ‘summary’ from the Benjamin Fulford June 19, 2017, blog:
(and yeah, I know…)
“What is really going on here is that Qatar reached a deal with Iran to export gas from its massive gas fields – not West in exchange for worthless Euros or US dollars, but rather East to places like India and China in exchange for their currencies.
The US … House of Representatives. reacted to this development by passing new sanctions against Russia that basically amounted to telling Europe to buy expensive American gas instead of cheap Russian gas. The Germans and Austrian reacted by telling the Americans to buzz off.”
The 98-2 vote shows that the PTB is triumphant, having gained full control over the lawmakers. So, what is the REAL reason behind this blatant move? Simple profit? Control? Distraction from pedo investigations? Meeting minimum loosh-production quotas? It certainly ain’t for the good of American citizens…
how does the bis not rule all central banks?
including russia and china?
This whole anti-Russian narrative is directly related to the desire of the London banksters to bring Russia to heel under the Rothschild thumb. Sure Russia (and China) have central banks but they do whatever they want to. The Rothschilds do not control Russia or China, so the New World Order must be put on hold. Crimp Russia economically until they succumb. Taint gonna happen.
True, although the Rothschild central bank in Russia is doing a lot of economic harm to Russian citizens. I am curious whether Putin – after their 2018 election – will move to kick-out the Rothschilds. This may be a dominant reason why the PTB are so frantically demonizing Putin – and Russia in general…
This reminds me of TTIP. If one country (the USSA) passes a law that prevents another country’s companies from maximizing their business deals, then TTIP kicks in and nullifies the offending country’s obnoxious law. Here Germany, Austria, France et all have the right to tell the USSA to go pound salt. Even without the TTIP me thinks the Euro’s will do just that.
Also, where’s Brussels take on all this? They haven’t said much yet.
Finally, there are a lot of typos in this article. Not used to seeing that on Giza Death Star.
TTIP/TPP/TISA: all wet dreams of the transnationals and their fascist ways. Back to feudalism is their beckoning call.
Milton Friedman is their show pony that’s trotted around working hocus-pocus economics upon the world stage with his noble prize[1976] hanging from around equine neck. Just three years after Kissinger’s Noble peace prize. Both, instrumental in Chile’s fall into abyss of tyranny 1976.
Chicago Boys practicing straight-jacketed economics.
The lying press
http://stephenlendman.org/2017/06/trump-shifts-view-nonexistent-us-election-meddling/
http://stephenlendman.org/2017/06/trump-shifts-view-nonexistent-russian-us-election-meddling/
Are we sure the Dulles brothers are really dead? Are they still making dead-head decisions beyond the grave? (Fans of the Grateful Dead, please do not be offended at this. I did not have you mind when I used that adjective.) It sure seems their intellectually progeny are. These upstarts are just as anthropophagous as the first lot. Have we become the ZSA? (Zombie States of America?)
Led worldwide by Zombie Banks.
Speaking of which, I just got tricked into watching a Zombie show. Epidemic these days. (Sorry!) It was a “Legends of Tomorrow” episode which was concerned with correcting a timeline where, all of a sudden, the South won the Civil War and successfully seceded. WHY they manhandled Zombies into that episode, I just don’t know…
Gheez! That’s almost as bad as the movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Except in that movie the south was infested with vampires and it was up to the good president to rid the region of this infestation. Talk about social engineering!
Now its coming down to
the U.S. national interests
or our own national interests?
Eventually, it will come down to
National interests
or the living Earth’s existence?
Countdown To Shutdown.
Rearranging the deck chairs as the SS Europa prepares to crash and sink on the iceberg of history. The dysfunctional automation that is the USSA begins it’s final death spiral into oblivion the sooner the better. Those who survive this Gotterdammerung will be sing songs that they are still among the living when this nightmare of stupid insanity is over.
But ZeroHedge always misses the known, like it’s easy to make gold from mercury–in industrial quantities. A common, world wide, household…
And if Rand Paul is libertarian, why is he so intent on inflicting his “understanding” of religion on others?
Various policy types in both Russia and Germany (and the US, and China, Norway) understand that natural gas isn’t the wave of the future and burning, or bashing things, to generate “energy” is going to have to go. Given that Bernie Sanders has clearly read Wilhelm Reich, he’d be aware of this too.
In short: ZH always seems like a simplified distraction–which is typical I guess. After all the screaming of “Russian meddling”, or some weeks it’s “hacking” are meant as misdirects, from war, gifts to bankers (a favorite of Rand’s), and more excuses for corporatizing people as cogs in a machine.
Well, if the EU get any funny ideas the USSA can start their proxy war. We are still importing any Jihadi found on the world map.
The common binding between USSA and EU is a love for the most “anti-human” behavior possible.
As basta stated, EU will comply with anything the USSA says it must comply to.
The only deep state that will do its own bidding and always have are the Brits.
“We are still importing any Jihadi found on the world map.”
Where? And when?
There be plenty of Muricans, born here to families who’ve been on the continent for 200 years, who are perfectly happy to inflict their extremism on the USA and the rest of the world.
Everyone in the USA who supported the Iraq invasion is some type of extremist.
Things are getting bad when even Merkel looks sweet and reasonable compared to those 98 bought-and-paid-for senators,
LOL!
Reminds me of one of their favorite tropes about communism: with nearly 100% approval of all votes caste.
I think much of the lamentations and gnashing of teeth coming from Germany of late has very little to do with some fundamental reappraisal of the US — after all the exceptional Empire has always been abusive, feckless and exploitative to its so-called allies, nothing’s changed there — but rather it is simply the Internationalist arm of the neo-Bolshevik “resistance” to Trump.
That’s it, full stop. Merkel and Obama, peas int he Open Society pod, had a marvelous time wrecking their respective nations while professing the greatest esteem for one another. The US abused Germany in myriad ways all through those eight years, from VW the shakedown to NSA taps to several rounds of sanctions on major trading partners, and Germany said nary a peep. Nada, zilch, punkt, zero, naught, nothing.
Trump, the uncouth and dangerous interloper, crashes the party and all of a sudden the US is dangerous and unhinged. This is simply propaganda, and Merkel is playing her part in the Deep State game to de-legitimize and unseat Trump.
“VW the shakedown”?
Really, some how BMW managed to ship diesels cars not running on a tissue of lies.
Ever been in a city with diesel buses sans pollution control? I have, several western European capitals in the 1980s.
Boo hoo, the USA has higher air quality standards than the EU. Diesel trucks, world wide are much cleaner than 25 years ago–trucks use the basic technology BMW uses. VW thought they were special. They also decided it was acceptable to lie to many of their customers, ones who care about air pollution.