Trump Gives Merkel An Ultimatum: Drop Russian Gas Pipeline Or Trade War Begins

Zero Hedge

It became clear just how important it is to the US for Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project to fail two months ago when, as we described in "US Threatens Sanctions For European Firms Participating In Russian Gas Pipeline Project", the U.S. State Department warned European corporations that they will likely face penalties and sanctions if they participate in the construction of Russia's Nord Stream 2 on the grounds that "the project undermines energy security in Europe", when in reality Russia has for decades been a quasi-monopolist on European energy supplies and thus has unprecedented leverage over European politics, at least behind the scenes.

“As many people know, we oppose the Nord Stream 2 project, the US government does,” State Department spokeswoman, Heather Nauert said during a late March press briefing adding that "the Nord Stream 2 project would undermine Europe's overall energy security and stability. It would provide Russia [with] another tool to pressure European countries, especially countries such as Ukraine." And speaking of Ukraine, recall that in 2014, shortly after the US State Department facilitated the presidential coup in Ukraine, Joe Biden's son Hunter joined the board of directors of Burisma, Ukraine's largest oil and gas company. Surely that was merely a coincidence.

Nauert also said that Washington may introduce punitive measures against participants in the pipeline project - which could be implemented using a provision in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Fast forward to today, when the dreadfully named CAATSA act just made a repeat appearance; around the time Europe made it clear it would openly defy Trump's Iran sanctions, the WSJ reported that Trump told Merkel that if she wants to avoid a trans-Atlantic trade war, the price would be to pull the break on Nord Stream 2, according to German, U.S. and European sources.

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Syria - Russia Issues Third Warning Against U.S. Cooperation With Terrorists

Moon Of Alabama

The Syrian Army was on its way across the Euphrates river to liberate the oil- and gas-fields east of Deir Ezzor city. The U.S. countered the move. It sent a small forces of Arab tribal mercenaries who were earlier allied with the Islamic State (ISIS). These proxy forces came from a northern direction and moved through Islamic State held areas without fighting and casualties up to the walls of Deir Ezzor city.

The Syrian army was about to win the race when it started to cross the Euphrates. But it suddenly was surprised by a large al-Qaeda attack in southern Idleb province. That area had been quiet for months. 29 Russian troops who were supervising a deescalation zone there were nearly encircled by al-Qaeda forces. They only escape after an emergency relief operation had cut through al-Qaeda lines. The Russian Ministry of Defense accused the U.S. of having communicated the position of the Russian platoon to al-Qaeda.

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Russia, China: Predictable Relationship

Strategic Culture

Russian President Putin is going to China. The news is like a gulp of fresh air in the suffocating atmosphere of Kiev with its burnt tires and repressions against dissidents. The tour is a positive step forward with bright prospects for future built on solid basis.

This is a turning point in history. Russia is being dragged by the West into another cold war and is subject to unprecedented pressure with clear intentions to subvert it. It’s not just a collision of interests – the system of values is undermined, the very right of people and states for self-determination is scorned…

The policy of Moscow is getting more support internationally among the countries who oppose the US claims for global hegemony. The interest towards forums and organizations led by Russia and China is growing, for instance BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) which have their summits slated for July and September.

The 4^th Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Summit will be held in Shanghai, China from May 20 to 21. The theme of this year’s summit will be «increasing dialogue, mutual trust and collaboration to build a new Asia that is peaceful, stable and cooperative». It’s important to reach multilateral understanding of the fact that the emerging spread of nationalism around the world is a natural reaction to the collapse of westernization and a dangerous global challenge which is probably planned by the ideologists of the «clash of civilizations». The support of narrow minded Ukrainian particularism by cosmopolitan Europe fits well with this trend. Philosophers would call it cognitive dissonance, or an absurdity fatal for Europe itself.

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The Great Decoupling: How the West is Engineering its Own Downfall

James Corbett 
Activist Post

Reports out of Moscow indicate that Russia is on the verge of signing the “holy grail” of gas deals with China. The deal between Russian state-owned gas firm Gazprom and Beijing would see as much as 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year flowing through the first proposed Russia-China pipeline by 2018. The agreement has apparently been in the works for years, but recent events on Moscow’s western flank (read: the Ukrainian situation) has moved the timetable on the plan up dramatically, with the last sticking point being the price. If the deal is signed next month during Putin’s state visit to China, as many analysts are speculating will happen, it will be a significant event not only economically, but geopolitically.

Given the fact that Russia, the world’s largest gas producer, and China, the world’s largest gas consumer, are neighbors it would be logical to assume that a gas pipeline between the two countries already exists. 

But logic and geopolitics seldom mix, and tensions between the two formerly communist countries (however one characterizes China’s current political and economic system) have remained ever since border disputes brought Moscow and Beijing to the brink of war in the 1960s. Establishing a gas link would thus be a very powerful signal of the growing understanding between the Russian bear and the Chinese dragon that their future lies more with each other than it does with a NATO-backed alliance that is increasingly encircling and isolating them.

Speaking of logic, this latest deal, if it is signed after all, would only be the logical extension of all of the moves toward cooperation between Russia, China and their ex-Soviet satellites that we’ve been seeing in recent years.

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