Nord Stream 2: How Germany Betrayed Europe for Russian gas.

Nord Stream two is not just a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, in the eyes of many people in Europe and in the US, it is seen as Germany's betrayal of European solidarity and values and backstabbing its NATO and EU allies for the price of cheap Russian gas. Germany’s maritime authority on Tuesday approved the Nord Stream 2 project, making Germany the first country to have issued all the necessary permits for the pipeline to be built within its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone, Poland’s PAP news agency has reported. The Nord Stream project transports gas directly from Russia to Germany bypassing Central and Eastern Europe, thereby enabling Moscow to further entrench its energy leverage over the Continent. The Nord stream 2 is meant to expand the current Nord Stream pipes which connect Russia with Germany, and in effect will have to potential to treble the amount of Gas that is pumped from Russia, to Europe, via Germany.

Nord Stream is but the most blatant example of how German foreign policy forsakes its own Northern, Central and Eastern European EU and NATO allies to the benefit of Russia, a Russia which many in Europe see as a direct threat to European countries security and stability And while the world media obsessively focused on any Russian policy that Washington might propose, they are completely ignoring the very real and dangerous massive collusion that goes on between Berlin and Moscow and the fact that the whole mainstream political establishment of Germany is in bed with the Kremlin over this issue. The former Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schröder, was a strong advocate of the pipeline project during the time in office and he was the one who signed the agreement in 2005 to build the pipeline. Soon after leaving the post of Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schröder became the head of Nord Stream AG, the corporation that was formed to build and operate the Nord Stream project and which is mostly owned by the Russian state gas corporation, Gazprom. This was a blatant case of conflict of interests and not to mention outright bribery and corruption at the highest echelons of German government, and yet the subsequent German Chancellor Angela Merkel, not only did not criticize or denounce it, but gave it and the Nord Stream project her utmost support.

Gerhard Schröder and Vladimir Putin.

Many European countries are concerned that a long-term plan of the Kremlin, with the help of their German allies, is to attempt to exert political influence on them by threatening their gas supply without affecting supplies to Western Europe. This is not without precedent, as Russia has a long history of weaponising its gas supplies into Europe (which was set up in the days of the cold war, again between Germany and the USSR). A Swedish Defence Research Agency study counted over 55 incidents since 1991, where gas supplies by Russia were used as a political tool to further the Kremlin's goals and agendas in Europe. The project is considered to violate the long-term declared strategy of the EU to diversify its gas supplies and has been condemned by the EU and by many EU member states and even by the US. A letter, signed by the leaders of nine EU countries, has been sent to the European Commission in March 2016, warning that the Nord Stream 2 project contradicts the European energy policy and most not be allowed to proceed. In January 2018, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the U.S. "oppose" the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as “the project would undermine Europe’s energy security and stability”. Swedish military experts and several politicians, including former Minister for Defence Mikael Odenberg, have stated that the pipeline can cause a security problem for Sweden. The Polish foreign minister has went as far as to suggest that the Nord Stream project is the modern equivalent of the infamous Ribbertrv Molotov pact between Nazi Germany and soviet Russia in 1939.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin. But all of that does not matter to the German government, and chancellor Angela Merkel. They vowed to press on with this project despite the protests and damage that will be caused to Germany's friends and allies both in the EU and NATO. One has to wonder if this is the German version of “European solidarity”.