A sanction too far
I pointed out last week that Asia was not going to respect the new sanctions that Washington was imposing on Iran, and there was a danger that Europe wasn't going to play ball either.
That danger has become a reality.
The European Commission will launch the process of activating a law that bans European companies and courts from complying with US sanctions against Iran, after Washington pulled out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
Jean Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, said on Thursday the commission has a "duty to protect European companies" from American sanctions.
...
The EU wants to salvage the nuclear deal and its blocking statute is the most powerful tool at its immediate disposal, as it means EU companies won't have to comply with US sanctions.
It also does not recognise any court rulings that enforce American penalties.
The Blocking law will not protect the investments of multi-national corporations in the U.S., so it's effect is limited. European companies including Total, Maersk and Allianz have already moved to exit Iran.
But the political step is still significant because of the existing Russian sanctions.
The Nord Stream 2 project will double the amount of natural gas Russia can funnel directly to the heart of Europe from newly tapped reserves in Siberia, intentionally skirting Eastern European nations like Poland and Ukraine. It also promises much-needed jobs in this poor German backwater, some three hours' drive north of Berlin.
... With Merkel heading to Sochi on Friday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a senior U.S. diplomat warned that proceeding with the project could result in sanctions for those involved.
"We would be delighted if the project did not take place," U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Sandra Oudkirk, an energy policy expert in the State Department, told reporters in Berlin on Thursday.
Germany and most of Europe doesn't have a choice. They have to have Russian gas.
That's why Europe continues to ignore the Russian sanctions in this one, specific case.
Washington is pressing hard on Nord Stream 2, and if they force sanctions in this case it will cause Europe to make a difficult choice.
Meanwhile, Italy appears to be making that choice already.
Italy's anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and Euroskeptic party Lega Nord pushed for the removal of anti-Russian sanctions in their draft coalition agreement, an M5S representative confirmed to RT.
A draft of a joint program of the two parties was leaked and published by Italian media on Thursday. The 40-page document reportedly calls for end to treating Russia as a threat and refers to it as a partner, calling for more openness towards it.
Italy has no small amount of leverage in Europe.
If Europe has already split with the U.S. on Iran sanctions, then forcing Europe to chose between Russian gas or following Washington's lead will probably cause a mutiny in the western world.
Comments
We need parts of the 5 Star in more countries.
Better than the likes of Trump, Obama, May, and Macron.
Sounds like Italy has had it up to here. Three cheers for my homeland.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
5 Star is OK, but Lega Nord is awful
I know.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Which is why
we're in Syria in the first place, to secure a gas pipeline route from Qatar to Europe to give them a natural gas alternative which is more palatable to US interests. Hard to argue with the guy who can shut off your heat in the middle of winter until you make it back to the negotiating table.
Which all goes back to depletion in the North Sea.
It all took too long. Now we're just fighting because we're fighting and we'll keep fighting until we "win" which we can't seem to do any more.
So, here you go. Controlling the source of petro-energy (and the world standard currency that goes along with it) isn't enough, you need to control the distribution as well, which means controlling everything. And that's why the plan could never work.
Russia gets geopolitical leverage and hard foreign currency. The US gets another money-sucking boondoggle that costs hundreds of thousands of lives.
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
Excellent summary!
I think the papers of the Project on the New American Century were supposed to explain to us why all of this death, cruelty, and destruction were a good idea. Sad that most of us haven't had the time to read and digest them. Instead, all we can do is throw up.
If the Powers That Be really thought climate change was real,
they’d be moving off fossil fuels rather than building foreign policy around them, no?
Decades and generations ago, they’d have told the literal kings of fossil fuels, their Saudi and Gulf emir friends, along with the Sultan of Brunei, to get with the program.
Instead all the pressure to make historic changes seems to focus on the bottom 99% (“consumers”), folks with little individual wealth or power.
They know it's real
but they still think they have time. They think their money and power can fix anything, and fossil fuels give them money and power. They're wrong. Being a ruthless psychopath makes you effective, but it doesn't make you smart.
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
Actually, sanctions should be levied on those EU nations
...that were so stupid and cowardly that they expelled Russian diplomats because they fell for the Nerve Agent Hoax in the UK.
Carry a burning candle and share the light.
.