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Europe

The Timing Of The Pipeline Attack

September 29, 2022 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , , ,
President Joe Biden, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz by his side, promised a White House press conference in early February that the U.S. was “able” to shut down the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea if Russia invaded Ukraine. A reporter asked Biden, “But how will you do that, exactly, since…the project is in Germany’s control?” Biden said: “I promise you, we will be able to do that.” When Russia indeed invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Washington was able to get Berlin to suspend the pipeline project that was about to go online, even though it wasn’t in Germany’s interests. The pipeline has remained closed ever since. Why then did someone attack the pipeline on Monday, releasing the gas it contained into the Baltic Sea?

Facts Related To The Sabotage Attack On The Nord Stream Pipelines

September 29, 2022 Moon of Alabama. , , , , , ,
For decades the U.S. opposed European projects to receive energy from Russia. It wants Europe to buy more expensive U.S. oil and gas. Europe's, and especially Germany's industry, depends on cheap energy from Russia. Without it Europe will be de-industrialized and go broke. The U.S. had threatened to disable the pipelines connecting Europe to Russia. Currently the U.S. is winning its war on Europe's, mainly Germany's, industries and people. Yesterday's sabotage attack on the Nord Stream I and II pipelines, which are supposed to bring Russian natural gas to Germany, mean that the the war on Germany has entered its hot phase. A question remains: Whodunnit? Russia has no motive to destroy the pipelines it owns. These are valuable, long term assets and the gas that escaped from them yesterday was on its own worth some $600 to $800 million.

The War On Germany Just Entered Its Hot Phase

September 28, 2022 Moon of Alabama. , , , , ,
Just yesterday I laid out how the U.S. is winning its war on Europe's industries and people. That war, hidden behind the U.S. created Ukraine crisis, is designed to destroy Europe's manufacturing advantage compared to the U.S. It is more likely though to strengthen the economic position of China and other Asian economies. I have argued that Germany must open the Nord Stream II pipeline which can bring Russian natural gas to Germany without crossing other countries' territory. It must also allow Siemens to repair the defect Nord Stream I compressors. It is in fact inevitable if German's industry is to survive. Others have come to similar conclusion and decided to sabotage the pipelines to make their re-opening impossible: Three offshore lines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline system have sustained "unprecedented" damage in one day, Nord Stream AG, the operator of the network, said on Tuesday in what one German official has suggested is a "targeted attack”.

Britain In Strike Fever After Queen’s State Funeral

September 28, 2022 Dan Kedem and Tim Jonat, Left Voice. , , ,
After the state funeral of the Queen, class struggle has returned to the forefront in Britain. In a treacherous act by the union leaderships, class struggle had been effectively paused for almost two weeks during the period of “national mourning.” After several suspended strikes and the TUC postponing its annual congress, however, momentum is returning. Those on the side of British capital are leaving nothing to chance: Liz Truss, the new prime minister and Boris Johnson’s successor, prepared a series of neoliberal measures which were presented in Parliament last Friday. On the same day the Queen died, Liz Truss had already announced the first measures to “ease the burden” of rising costs of living and soaring inflation. A so-called “energy price guarantee” will be introduced on October 1, which will cap the cost of energy at around 80 percent of current levels.

Europe’s Real-Time Experiment In Energy Contraction

September 19, 2022 Kurt Cobb, Resilience. , , ,
European society is currently undergoing a real-time experiment in energy contraction. Sanctions imposed on Russia in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict have led to a dramatic reduction in imports of Russian oil and natural gas. The Europeans are still receiving some Russian oil via pipeline though that flow was reduced last month. The reasons for the decline in natural gas deliveries from Russia—deliveries not prevented by Western sanctions—are disputed with each side accusing the other of being the cause. Those of us who have been warning about the coming energy stringency believed that it would result from the rising cost of extracting hydrocarbons—and the inability to bring new production online faster than production is declining from existing wells. In Europe, we are getting an early preview of what such a future looks like when a society is unprepared for a sudden decline in the availability of oil and natural gas.

The Specter Of Germany Is Rising

September 13, 2022 Diana Johnstone, Consortium News. , , ,
The European Union is girding for a long war against Russia that appears clearly contrary to European economic interests and social stability. A war that is apparently irrational – as many are – has deep emotional roots and claims ideological justification. Such wars are hard to end because they extend outside the range of rationality. For decades after the Soviet Union entered Berlin and decisively defeated the Third Reich, Soviet leaders worried about the threat of “German revanchism.” Since World War II could be seen as German revenge for being deprived of victory in World War I, couldn’t aggressive German Drang nach Osten be **revived, especially if it enjoyed Anglo-American support?

From Coast To Coast: Open Letter By Anarchist Prisoner Toby Shone

September 6, 2022 It's Going Down. , , , ,
I’m in favor of strengthening our international networks in the face of an increased technocratic authoritarianism. To remain locked up in our local areas without considering the struggles elsewhere is self-defeating, as repressive operations seek to confine us and stem our anarchic contagion specifically to promote sterility. Can we renew an Atlantic bridge that connects our tendencies, that connects the uprisings in the North American metropolises to those in Europe, Latin America and Asia? Can we join together the struggles of the long-term COINTELPRO prisoners with those elsewhere in the global prison industrial complex?

Europe Faces ‘Winter Of Discontent’ As US Profits From Energy Crisis

September 5, 2022 James Smith, Global Times. , , , , ,
The European Union has collectively committed itself to a long proxy conflict against Russia in Ukraine, despite being critically energy dependent on oil and gas imports from Russia. If however, you listened to the words of their top bureaucrats, such as Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, one might never believe there is any problem. They talk about reducing energy dependency on Moscow as a quick and painless process, and vowed multiple times to "cripple Putin's war machine," determined no matter what to return a "European path" to Ukraine. But things haven't been going to plan.

Africans Strategize In Washington Against Western-Backed Leaders

August 16, 2022 Julie Varughese, Toward Freedom. , , , ,
Silver Spring, Maryland - The United States and its European allies only care about human-rights violations when it benefits them. That’s what a few dozen members of the Horn of Africa and East Africa diaspora agreed upon as they gathered August 13 outside Washington, D.C. A regional conference of the National Unity Platform, a political party in Uganda, brought together members of the country’s diaspora from the New York City and Washington metro areas to strategize on how to tackle U.S. meddling that props up leaders. “The West wants to change regimes for itself, not for Africans—we remember Libya,” said Dr. Berhanu T. Taye, chair of the Global Ethiopian Advocacy Nexus (GLEAN) and member of the Ethiopian American Public Affairs Committee (AEPAC). He was referring to the 2011 U.S./NATO invasion that turned the most prosperous African country into a war zone that hosts slave markets.

Rift Emerges Between The US And EU Over Fate Of Iran Nuclear Deal

August 1, 2022 People's Dispatch. , , , ,
When Iran is reportedly considering the draft proposal for the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the Iran nuclear deal is officially known, that Josep Borrell, European Union’s high representative of foreign affairs and security policy, submitted earlier this week, Brett McGurk, US President Joe Biden’s advisor on the Middle East, asserted on Wednesday, July 27, that revival of the deal is “highly unlikely.” According to a report in Axios on Wednesday, McGurk blamed Iran for stalling the finalization of the deal by asking the US to “add something to the pot” before accepting it. Without clarifying what he meant, he said that the US is not going to do such a thing and instead is planning to impose more sanctions on Iran in order to ensure its “diplomatic isolation.”

All That I Ask Is That You Fight For Peace Today

July 29, 2022 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , , , ,
The fragility of Europe’s energy supply has once again been on display in recent months. Gas shipments through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs from Russia to Germany, were reduced to 40% of capacity in June, a cut that Moscow said was due to delays in the servicing of a turbine by the German firm Siemens. Shortly thereafter, on 11 July, the pipeline was taken offline for ten days for annual routine maintenance. Despite receiving assurances from Moscow that the supply would resume as scheduled, European leaders expressed fears that the shutdown would continue indefinitely in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. On 21 July, the flow of Russian gas into Europe resumed.

Africans Decry Europe’s Energy Hypocrisy

July 24, 2022 Nosmot Gbadamosi, Foreign Policy. , , , ,
Europe, one of the largest consumers of Russian gas, is scrambling to find African alternatives as Russia threatens to permanently turn off the taps. Russia’s gas supply to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline was halted for routine maintenance last week, and there are concerns that Russia may not restart it. Moscow has already cut natural gas supplies to Poland, Finland, and Bulgaria, which refused Russia’s demand to pay in rubles. The Bavarian Industry Association forecasts that Germany could lose almost 13 percent of its economic performance in the latter half of this year if Russian gas stops flowing. Facing an energy crisis, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz went to Senegal in May to pursue the development of a gas field that’s expected to open next year.

Europe Facing Major Economic Crisis From Sanctions Against Russia

July 19, 2022 Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com. , , ,
The US-led sanctions campaign against Russia has done nothing to stop the war in Ukraine or hurt Vladimir Putin, but the toll continues to mount on Western economies and there are increasing signs that Europe is facing a major economic crisis. The euro has reached a 20-year low against the dollar, inflation is at a record-high 8.6%, and economists are predicting a recession if the EU is cut off from Russian gas. Russia has already stopped supplying some EU members for their refusal to pay in rubles, something Putin required in retaliation for sanctions that targeted Russia’s use of the dollar and euro. The Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline that connects Russia and Germany is currently shut down for routine maintenance, but there are growing fears that the pipeline might not come back into service.

Europeans Have Far More Reproductive Freedom Than Americans

June 30, 2022 Ryan Cooper, The American Prospect. , , ,
Since the end of Roe v. Wade, numerous European political leaders have lamented the decision. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson labeled the Dobbs decision a “big step backwards,” and French President Emmanuel Macron said abortion “must be protected,” as his country prepared to place a nationwide right to abortion in its constitution. In response, conservatives have cried hypocrisy, both to deflect criticism and to cast doubt on European institutions in general. “Many of the leaders who criticized the United States for the decision have laws that are either comparable to the Mississippi law at the center of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which outlawed abortion past the 15th week of pregnancy,” Charles Hilu writes at National Review. “Americans should be very skeptical of the opinions of leaders across the pond.”

Biden Says US Will Beef Up Military Presence In Europe

June 29, 2022 Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com. , , , ,
President Biden kicked off his three-day visit to a NATO summit in Madrid by announcing that the US plans to increase its military presence in Europe. Speaking with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Biden said the US will increase the number of US Navy Destroyers stationed at a naval base in Rota, Spain, from four to six. The president said that this was the first of multiple announcements the US and NATO will make at the summit on increasing their forces in Europe, steps being taken in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “And as I said before the war started: If Putin attacked Ukraine, United States would enhance our force posture Europe and respond to the reality of a new European security environment,” Biden told reporters.
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