Washington prepares to sanction Europe

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 2:45pm

The media is obsessed with our standoff with China, but just as important is Washington's aggressive and hostile policy against our European allies, like Germany.

The EU, meanwhile, has warned the US not to impose sanctions and instead discuss the issue as allies. Kramp-Karrenbauer echoed that sentiment in an interview with DW on Wednesday.

"Nord Stream 2 is a project that is also being debated among European Union, as well as NATO member states," she said. "There is concern that Germany could become too dependent on Russian gas, a concern we were able to defuse. But it's also about the concerns and the legitimate interests of Ukraine and Poland, which have to be negotiated into the contracts."

The legitimate interests of Ukrainian and Poland are strictly monetary. They stand to lose a lot of money in transport fees. Russia, on the other hand, would prefer not to pay money to governments that are extremely hostile to Russia, like Ukraine and Poland.
It isn't just Germany, nor is it just Nord Stream. Washington is also threatening to sanction Turkstream. That means sanctioning Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.
Needless to say the entire EU is up in arms.

"We have witnessed this developing trend in the cases of Iran, Cuba, the International Criminal Court and most recently the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream projects," Borrell said in a statement on Friday, Xinhua reported.

Emphasizing that "European policies should be determined in Europe not by third countries," Borrell said the EU opposes the use of sanctions by third countries on European companies carrying out legitimate business, and the bloc "considers the extraterritorial application of sanctions to be contrary to international law."

He said the EU is always open to dialogue, but "this cannot take place against the threat of sanctions."

It is simply unlikely that the EU will back down. It is also unlikely that Washington will back down, at least the first. That means that Washington will sanction our European allies, and Europe will sanction Washington in retaliation.
All of this threatens to weaken NATO. Normally Britain would rally Europe to America's side, but - whoops! - Brexit means Britain has very little influence in the EU.

Tags: 
sanctions
europe
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Comments

Submitted by Azazello on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 3:41pm
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It turns out Russia was behind Brexit. Obviously, removing the UK from the EU would be in Russia's interest. All roads lead to Putin.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjBmGdvsrbE&t=449s width:500 height:300]

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Submitted by MrWebster on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 5:24pm

@Azazello

As one pundit said, when making accusations about the Russians, facts and evidence are not necessary.

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Submitted by edg on Thu, 07/23/2020 - 12:36pm
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@Azazello

He's a monster. His evil machinations cleverly designed to thwart American hegemony, er, "democracy", must not stand.

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Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 3:51pm
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So if you disagree, please do. I admit to being very weak on foreign policy other than I am anti-war.

I am going out on a long limb here, but maybe the EU standing up against the United States and basically shutting us off might be the best thing for beginning to dismantle the American empire. We have relied on our European lap dogs to support us in our misadventures around the world and now maybe we will see that we can no longer keep invading and making war on the world. The EU would be doing the American people a big favor by turning their backs on the US especially with all the saber rattling against Russia. That is way too close to their doorstep.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 4:01pm

@gulfgal98

I am going out on a long limb here, but maybe the EU standing up against the United States and basically shutting us off might be the best thing for beginning to dismantle the American empire.

Ding! Ding! Ding!
You win a new car!

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Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 6:56pm
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@gjohnsit PEACE!!!

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 8:32pm

@gulfgal98

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by polkageist on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 6:22pm
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@gulfgal98
The sooner we break them of the habit of trying to strong-arm every country on the planet the better.

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-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

Submitted by MrWebster on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 4:46pm

Looks like DNC will use Russiagate to bash Trump until the election. Trump will have to do something to show the Germans and Russians what-for.

Biden certainly plans to sanction Russia directly once he gets into office.

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Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 5:35pm

@MrWebster

Biden certainly plans to sanction Russia directly once he gets into office.

He'll be hard-pressed to find something Russian that isn't already sanctioned.
And if it isn't already sanctioned it probably isn't important.

If the EU finally says "eff you" then our sanctions won't matter.

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Submitted by MrWebster on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 6:44pm

@gjohnsit The US could try to kick Russia out of SWIFT. But from I read, I think both Russia and China have looked at creating something outside SWIFT.

Russia To Retaliate If Bank's Given SWIFT Kick

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Submitted by Linda Wood on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 4:57pm

a Ukrainian fascist support group:

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/07/22/influential-dc-based-ukrainian-thi...

... Influential DC-Based Ukrainian Think Tank Hosts Neo-Nazi Activist Convicted for Racist Violence – Consortiumnews

Moss Robeson
July 22, 2020

... Through its Friends Of Ukraine Network (FOUN), the USUF has recruited some of the most hardline anti-Russia foreign policy hands in the Beltway. The Canary UK reported last year that the USUF and FOUN are “pushing a frightening escalation of the armed conflict in Ukraine” through their annual policy recommendations to the U.S. government, and that the FOUN has described itself as “the largest, highest level and most politically diverse group of Americans to call for arming Ukraine with American weapons.”

FOUN’s membership roll lists several fellows of the NATO-backed Atlantic Council, including Anders Aslund; former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst; and Michael Carpenter, executive director of the Penn-Biden Center and a top adviser to Democratic presidential nominee Joseph Biden. As The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal reported, Carpenter helped host Andriy Parubiy, the far-right Ukrainian legislator and founder of the neo-fascist Social-National Party, when he visited Washington in 2018...

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Submitted by mimi on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 5:16pm
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as it echoes into the forest, so it echoes out again

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by Linda Wood on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 5:37pm

in support of facsism:

https://thegrayzone.com/2019/10/13/dcs-atlantic-council-raked-in-funding...

UKRAINE October 13, 2019

DC’s Atlantic Council raked in funding from Hunter Biden’s corruption-stained employer while courting his VP father

The shady arrangement between the Atlantic Council and Burisma – the gas company at the center of the ‘Ukrainegate’ scandal – is just one dubious deal out of many at a DC think tank that has become a clearinghouse for legal corruption.

By Max Blumenthal

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Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 9:17pm

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Submitted by mimi on Thu, 07/23/2020 - 2:11am
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@gjohnsit
..."there is no hope in the Democratic Party"...

Chapeau to Jimmy Dore, so courageous. Basically Barack Obama was a bad constitutional lawyer, amirite? And Bill Clinton was a slimey all the way back.

Sigh, how much were we all mislead and how long it took to understand it. Few of us have a memory that remembers and understood what was happening in the nineties. It started back then, the same time the internet started to manipulate us all without us understanding the power of the www.

Thanks for that video, gjohnsit.

PS To those, who can't stand me commenting here as a German, I like to say, I am tired of being categorized and put into the drawer of 'kid of former Nazis, my daddy had fought and risked his life for'. It doesn't help to carry the past sufferings of our parent gemeration into next one, imo. Just saying. YMMV. Thanks to this site, letting me talk my mind.

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Thu, 07/23/2020 - 7:54am

@mimi
and those of us North and South whose ancestors came here in the 20th & 21st centuries being tired of having the slavery albatross tied around our necks with demands for reparations and talk of "white privilege". Yeah, lots of privilege for dagoes and hunkies and polaks.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Thu, 07/23/2020 - 5:21am
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@gjohnsit

The road to fasscism is paved by neoliberal Democrats.

And that is it in a nutshell. And yes, this is one of Jimmy's best videos ever.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy