America Declares Economic War Against Europe

America Declares Economic War Against Europe

 

by Eric Zuesse

Ex: http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org

On Friday night, July 28, US President Donald Trump said that he would sign into law the increased economic sanctions (passed by 98-2 in the Senate and 419-3 in the House) against any business that is declared to have "knowingly provided goods or services... for construction, modernisation, or repair of Russia’s energy export pipelines."

Russia is the largest energy-supplier to the world’s largest energy-market, which is Europe, or the EU. The biggest proportion of that trade is in Europe’s main source of energy, which is gas, which is pipelined into Europe from Russia. So: those pipelines are vitally important not only to Russia’s economy but to Europe’s.

President Trump had gotten Congress to agree to limit the application of this provision only to "The President, in coordination with allies of the United States, may impose five or more of the sanctions described in section 235 with respect to a person if the President determines that the person knowingly, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, makes an investment described in subsection (b) or sells, leases, or provides to the Russian Federation, for the construction of Russian energy export pipelines, goods, services, technology, information, or support."

But the new law still does include "SEC. 232. SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF PIPELINES IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION." That Section punishes "Goods, services, technology, information, or support described in this subsection are goods, services, technology, information, or support that could directly and significantly facilitate the maintenance or expansion of the construction, modernization, or repair of energy export pipelines by the Russian Federation." That includes the crucial Nord Stream pipeline, which is maintained by Russian and German companies to transport gas from Russia to the EU.

US firms have thus now gotten their stooges in Congress to punish European and Russian companies that will be determined by "The President, in coordination with allies of the United States," to be working together in these ways, to get Russia’s gas to Europe’s markets.

North Stream, or Nord Stream, as Wikipedia says:

has an annual capacity of 55 billion cubic metres (1.9 trillion cubic feet), but its capacity is planned to be doubled to 110 billion cubic metres (3.9 trillion cubic feet) by 2019, by laying two additional lines.[5] Due to EU restrictions on Gazprom, only 22.5 billion cubic metres (790 billion cubic feet) of its capacity is actually used.[6] The name occasionally has a wider meaning, including the feeding onshore pipeline in the Russian Federation, and further connections in Western Europe.

So, already, the US oligarchs have greatly reduced the effectiveness of this enormous European and Russian investment, and this is already war by the US oligarchs (and their congressional agents) against both Europe and Russia; but, the new sanctions aim to go even further to absolutely cripple Europe and Russia.

President Trump is to be credited for having weakened this provision to such an extent that it will be virtually meaningless; but, the intention of the oligarchs who control the US, to force Europe to buy from them, and from their allied Saudi, UAE, Kuwaiti, and the other royal fundamentalist Sunni Arab families, is clear.

Other highlights from this new US law are well summarized in the July 28 article from Zero Hedge, "Trump Confirms He Will Sign Russia Sanctions Bill." The biggest concession that Trump made was to allow that this new law, "H.R.3364 - Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act," "Codifies existing US sanctions on Russia and requires Congressional review before they are lifted." This is an Executive-Legislative agreement (an agreement between the President and Congress), but the US Constitution doesn’t include any provision allowing an Executive-Legislative agreement to violate the Constitution; and there are a number of provisions in the US Constitution that H.R.3364 might be determined by courts to be violating. This is presuming, of course, that key judges cannot be bought-off.

When a country is being ruled by its oligarchs, anything that the nation’s Constitution says, can be viewed as little more than an impediment, not any outright ban, because the actual Constitution, in any such country, is whatever they want it to be. Just how bad the US government has become, can’t yet be determined, but might become clear fairly soon.

Reprinted with permission from the Strategic Culture Foundation.

Poland Slams Second Russia-Germany Pipeline

Ex: http://www.therussophile.org

Did we say pipeline avoids Polish territory?

September 8 (AFP) – Poland’s conservative president on Tuesday slammed a deal between Russia’s Gazprom energy giant and several leading Western firms to build a second gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, saying it ignores Polish interests.

“Considering that an agreement was concluded on building Nord Stream-2, which completely ignores Polish interests, one must seriously question unity” in the 28-member European Union, President Andrzej Duda told delegates to an economic forum in the southern Polish mountain resort of Krynica, dubbed Central Europe’s “Davos”.

In June, Gazprom agreed with Anglo-Dutch Shell, Germany’s E.ON and Austria’s OMV to build the new gas pipeline – dubbed Nord Stream-2 – to Germany, bypassing conflict-torn Ukraine but also EU neighbour Poland.

The route under the Baltic Sea from Russia would have a capacity of 55 billion cubic metres per year and would double the flow of the existing Nord Stream pipeline currently linking the two countries.

No timeframe was given for the deal that will boost Germany as a distribution hub for Russian gas in Western Europe but undermines Poland’s role as a transit state.

Polish politicians from across the political spectrum have long opposed Nord Stream, claiming it undermines Poland’s energy security stemming from its role as a transit country for Russian gas via the Yamal-Europe pipeline.

The Nord Stream-2 announcement comes as Moscow seeks more gas delivery routes to the EU that bypass Ukraine, despite the EU’s insistence that it wants to cut its dependence on Russia.

Russia and the West are locked in a bitter standoff over the Kremlin’s role in Ukraine and a gas dispute between Kiev and Moscow has threatened energy supplies to the EU.

Russie et Danemark: coopération énergétique

Andrea PERRONE:

Russie et Danemark: coopération énergétique

 

Medevedev en visite officielle à Copenhague: renforcement du partenariat stratégique et énergétique entre la Russie et le Danemark

 

Le Président russe Dmitri Medvedev a entamé un voyage en Europe du Nord dans le but de souder un partenariat énergétique, de renforcer les relations bilatérales et multilatérales dans la zone arctique et la coopération en matières de haute technologie et d’énergies renouvelables.

 

Mercredi 28 avril 2010, Medvedev se trouvait au Danemark. Le chef du Kremlin y a atterri et y a été accueilli par la Reine Margarete II et par le Premier Ministre Lars Lokke Rasmussen. Le thème privilégié de cette rencontre au sommet, qui doit sceller la coopération russo-danoise, a été l’énergie, plus particulièrement la construction du gazoduc North Stream.

 

Le Président russe, en participant à un sommet d’affaires russo-danois, a souligné qu’il s’avère surtout nécessaire “de créer un critère général et des réglementations pour la coopération énergétique du futur”. Ensuite: “Il s’avère nécessaire de mettre à l’ordre du jour des normes et des réglementations internationales pour la coopération énergétique”, a poursuivi le chef du Kremlin, “parmi lesquelles une nouvelle version de la Charte de l’énergie”. La Russie a déjà présenté à ses interlocuteurs un document de ce type, dans l’espoir que les Danois feront de même, de leur côté. Medvedev a ensuite rappelé que le secteur énergétique représente un secteur clef de la coopération entre la Russie et le Danemark. Moscou et Copenhague, a souligné le Président russe, ont désormais visibilisé leur contribution à la sécurité énergétique en Europe et leur souhait de voir se diversifier les routes d’acheminement du gaz, dont le gazoduc North Stream. Il a ensuite adressé ses meilleurs compliments au Danemark, premier pays à avoir participé à la construction du gazoduc et à avoir permis son passage à travers sa propre zone économique. La réalisation du gazoduc North Stream, a poursuivi Medvedev, rendra possible, non seulement la satisfaction des besoins en gaz du Danemark, mais aussi son rôle d’exportateur de gaz vers les autres pays européens, tandis que les contrats à long terme dans les secteurs du pétrole et du gaz naturel pourront garantir le partenariat énergétique russo-danois pour les trente prochaines années. Medvedev a également mis en exergue la participation des entreprises danoises dans les programmes de mise à jour et de rentabilisation des implantations énergétiques dans diverses régions de Russie. Le premier ministre danois et le chef du Kremlin ont ensuite signé, au terme de la rencontre, une série d’accords portant pour titre “partenariat au nom de la modernisation” et visant la coopération dans le secteur de la haute technologie et le développement de l’économie russe dans certaines régions de la Fédération de Russie, comme le Tatarstan.

 

Andrea PERRONE,

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(article paru dans “Rinascita”, Rome, 29 avril 2010; trad. franç.: Robert Steuckers; http://www.rinascita.eu ).