PressTV... The United States is pressuring Germany to cancel a multi-billion dollar pipeline project with Russia so that Washington can keep controlling “world commerce,” says a political analyst.
E Michael Jones, the current editor of Culture Wars magazine, made the comments in an interview when asked about US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Germany as part of a four-nation European trip.
“The Trump administrator, under (US National Security Adviser John Bolton) John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, is now pressuring Germany to cancel a multi-billion dollar pipeline with Russia that would supply gas to the Western Europe,” Jones told Press TV on Friday.
“The United States wants Germany to basically sacrifice its own self-interest to the United States by buying liquefied natural gas from places like Qatar by ship instead of by pipeline. This would make Germany completely dependent on the United States for its energy supplies and completely dependent on the world’s sea lanes which is the way the United States and the former British empire control world commerce.”
The analyst, however, added that Pompeo “is going to fail, he has failed in everything he has done, the Trump administration does not understand diplomacy anymore,” noting, “they make threats, and then when things do not go their way, they do not know what to do, because what are you going to do after you make the threat and nobody follows you.”
Washington has long taken issue with Germany’s plans to import Russian natural gas through the $11 billion pipeline project, which runs straight under the Baltic Sea.
The pipeline has also been criticized for depriving Ukraine, a staunch US ally, of lucrative gas transit fees.
In April, US Vice President Mike Pence criticized Berlin for its insistence on completing the project. Pence says Germany's reliance on Russian energy and its failure to meet NATO spending commitments is hurting Europe's security.
"Germany must do more. And we cannot ensure the defense of the West if our allies grow dependent on Russia," Pence told NATO's 70th anniversary gathering in Washington, DC, on April 4.
Poster Comment:
US just acting in interests of Israel which wants Russia given the gears for scuttling the Greater Israel plan in Syria. Pipeline could actually be in US interests if US company came in with low bid for a section.