Germany enslaved by Russia and China on gas and tlc. Word of Munchau
The contradictions of Germany on Nord Stream 2 and the analysis of Munchau in the in-depth analysis by Federico Punzi, director of Atlantico Quotidiano,
Finally someone has noticed. The Navalny case has turned the spotlight on the gigantic contradiction that makes Berlin's harsh reaction to Moscow hardly credible: Nord Stream 2.
A contradiction that has been evident for years, like the stolen letter from the famous story by Edgar Allan Poe, but that the many Angela Merkel cheerleaders in the newsrooms of our mainstream media did not want to see.
But the political debate on the gas pipeline in Germany has resumed and even some of us have noticed it (or had to notice it).
The ambiguity of Berlin in its relations with Moscow had been blatantly unmasked by President Trump himself already at the NATO summit in July 2018 (but you know, taking the questions posed by Trump seriously is not journalistically correct …):
“Germany is Russia's prisoner of energy and should we protect it from Russia? Explain it to us ”. “Very sad that Germany concludes a massive gas deal with Russia, paying them billions upon billions of dollars a year, when we are supposed to protect it from Russia. It does not make sense".
A point for years at the top of Washington's (bipartisan) grievances towards Berlin, to which the American president has returned even more recently: you pay billions of dollars to Russia and we should defend yourself from Russia? How does it work?
“We are supposed to protect Germany from Russia. But Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for energy coming from a brand-new pipeline, so they pay the country we are supposed to protect them from billions of dollars. How does that work? "
At the recent Marshall Fund forum, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tried to explain that "having a significant share of one's energy tied to Russia in such a profound and fundamental way gives Putin the ability to inflict real costs on Germany, if he decides or if threatens to do so ". “We – added Pompeo – consider Russia a serious threat. Spending 1 per cent of GDP on defense, as Germany does, means that it is not such a serious threat to them ”.
The former NATO secretary general Rasmussen commented on Twitter these days:
“Germany is calling for European and NATO solidarity in response to Navalny's vile poisoning. They will have it, but an honest response from Putin is unlikely. The time has come for Germany to stop the construction of Nord Stream 2, before it's too late ”.
Therefore, the harsh statements of Angela Merkel last week, announcing the outcome of the analyzes on Navalny, which the usual cheerleaders of the "statesman" among Italian politicians and journalists hastened to celebrate on social media, risk remaining chatter, an exercise in hypocritical rhetoric, as long as a project with a geopolitical significance like Nord Stream 2 remains standing.
Will there be a tightening of EU sanctions? Maybe, but Putin would probably not trade the lifting of sanctions with the renunciation of the gas pipeline thanks to which, even before it comes into operation, he is dividing Europe and making Washington and Berlin quarrel.
Last week, when there was still no discussion of a stop on the gas pipeline in relation to the Navalny case, we commented on Merkel's words on poisoning ("a crime against the values and fundamental rights we defend"), followed by those of the president by the European Commission Von der Leyen ("despicable and cowardly act"): don't worry, nothing that could put Nord Stream 2 at risk …
And we made fun of the statements of the German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, who asked for an "adequate reaction" … From the European Union, of course. German hypocrisy with the EU is the same as that reported by President Trump towards the US and NATO: the EU is supposed to react harshly, perhaps by tightening sanctions against Moscow, while Germany continues to cultivate its partnership undisturbed energy (and strategic?) with Russia.
When Putin has to be displeased, Berlin becomes the EU's shield: partly to demonstrate its political leadership in the old continent, partly to hide his hand between 27 … Suffice it to remember that between March and September 2014 the 'The EU has adopted a series of sanctions, including economic ones – which German companies have no difficulty in circumventing – in response to the annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of Ukraine by Russia. This did not prevent, from 2015 and in subsequent years, the development of the Nord Stream 2 project with all the blessings and authorizations of the German government.
Why, this time, does not Berlin begin to give up something that is close to its heart to sanction Moscow?
Yesterday an interview with the Foreign Minister Heiko Maas that someone too hastily interpreted as a "threat to stop Nord Stream 2", while the Republic made him say "ready to block the pipeline". Well, to a specific question, here's how he answered:
“In any case, I do not hope that the Russians will force us to change our attitude towards Nord Stream 2. And anyone who requests it must be aware of the consequences. More than 100 companies from twelve European countries are involved in Nord Stream 2, about half of which are German… Limiting the debate to Nord Stream 2 alone does not do justice to the case (Navalny, ed.) ”.
I don't know about you, but it doesn't sound like a threat to me, much less an ultimatum. If anything, as a timid attempt to ease the pressure on the government exerted in recent days by sectors of the same majority, the opposition and some voices in the press.
In fact, it should be noted that Minister Maas was speaking to Bild , that is the newspaper that in recent days had launched the request to suspend the construction of the work to put pressure on Moscow on the Navalny case.
And it is not the first time that prominent members of the CDU, the Chancellor's party itself, such as Norbert Röttgen, president of the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, or the Greens, now the main opposition party, have asked to stop the project. The first as an atlantist, worried about the tensions he is causing between Berlin and Washington, the second first of all moved by their environmentalist creed. Clearly, the Navalny case, and Merkel's harsh reaction, provided all critics of the pipeline in Germany with an opportunity to return to the charge.
But Angela Merkel has always shown herself to be very determined to bring the work to completion. His statements to this effect, even in open defiance of Washington's discontent, are wasted. The latest of which came right in the middle of the Navalny case, the day before the Novichok poisoning was confirmed: “The Navalny case and the murder of a Chechen rebel in Berlin must keep separate from Nord Stream 2, which is a private economic project and as such it must be carried out ”, were the words of the Chancellor, already reported on Atlantico by Enzo Reale. And he reiterated that Berlin considers US extraterritorial sanctions "illegal", criticizing the threat of further sanctions.
The Germans are pushing for an EU-wide response and in July the High Representative Josep Borrell anticipated that the European Commission "is preparing the ground" for counter-sanctions. It would be yet another act of German arrogance: why should the EU open a sanctions dispute with the US, which would damage all member states, to defend Berlin's energy policy choice? Why should other countries suffer the repercussions of their tensions with Washington?
If completed, Nord Stream 2 will be a monument to Berlin's hypocrisy. The Germans perceive their European politics as a model of responsible and disinterested Europeanism, in the face of the selfishness and national vices of others, while they are always ready to blame Washington for the tensions in transatlantic relations. Yet this project, so divisive in intra-European relations and transatlantic relations, shows how nationalist German politics really is.
Berlin strongly wanted Nord Stream 2 challenging not only the United States, but also the opposition of the countries of Visegrad (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary), the Baltics, Ukraine, and also the Juncker Commission, which tried to block it and modify it by imposing EU regulations on it as well. Failed attempt, as we reported on Atlantico.
While in Germany requests to stop the work for the Navalny case are resuming, what few people know is that in fact the pipeline is already suspended, the laying of the pipes has stopped a few kilometers after its completion due to the US sanctions that they affect the companies involved even indirectly in the project. So, for the time being, a threat of suspension from the German government would not change the reality on the Baltic seabed.
A suggestive hypothesis is that the Navalny case could be used by Berlin as a pretext to get out of the impasse and avoid a break with the United States by saving face: "if Nord Stream 2 has not been made, it is not because of US pressure, but because of Putin's crimes and lack of collaboration… ”. The fact remains that, in this case, President Trump will easily be able to present the abortion of the pipeline in extremis as an extraordinary diplomatic and economic success less than two months before the elections. Is it possible that Merkel wants to give him this gift?
We frankly consider it unlikely that the political decision to abandon the pipeline will occur. A possible outcome could therefore be the tightening of EU sanctions against Moscow: diplomatic, personal, economic – anything but Nord Stream 2.
Instead of wondering if the pipeline could end up on the negotiating table in the Navalny case, we would ask ourselves if the Navalny case has not become a weapon of pressure on Moscow for Berlin to obtain more …
"It is the pinnacle of an energy policy that at this point gives no alternative to Germany," Wolfgang Munchau observed. "A withdrawal from Nord Stream 2 should be accompanied by the decision to extend the life of the remaining nuclear and coal plants." Or, we add, to buy liquefied gas from the US … According to the analyst, the obstacles to the completion of the pipeline remain "formidable". Germany and Russia can circumvent the existing sanctions, "but in doing so Berlin would risk a break with the United States", whoever should be in the White House in two months – even if with Trump the US pressure would become "intolerable".
The Nord Stream 2 case, concludes Munchau, “demonstrates what happens when one becomes excessively dependent on another country, and when economic interests are raised to a single political objective”. And we will see a repeat of the same script in the fall, when Berlin makes its decision on Huawei's access to its 5G network. “Germany has made itself dependent on Russia for energy and China for telecommunications. This is what drives German foreign policy today. Don't be fooled by the changing rhetoric… ”.
(Extract from an article from Atlantico Quotidiano)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/germania-schiava-di-russia-e-cina-su-gas-e-tlc-parola-di-munchau/ on Sun, 13 Sep 2020 07:06:14 +0000.