Posted on 06/16/2017 3:08:51 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
“Unacceptable” new anti-Russian sanctions approved by the US Senate violate international law, affect European companies and have a real aim of benefitting the US oil and gas sector, Berlin and Vienna said in an angry joint statement.
The new anti-Russian sanctions are outlined in an amendment to a bill imposing sanctions against Iran. It was approved by the US Senate on Thursday by a majority of 98 to 2, but still needs to pass the House of Representatives and be signed by the US president to become law.
The anti-Russian measures in the amendment involve imposing penalties on enterprises that cooperate with Russian oil and gas companies. A number of European companies are doing just that, participating for example in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.
“Europe's energy supply is a matter for Europe, and not the United States of America!” said the joint statement by German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern, published on Thursday. “We cannot accept threatening European companies that contribute to the development of the European energy supply [system] with extraterritorial sanctions that violate the international law.”
“Sanctions as a political instrument should not be linked to economic interests,” the statement says. It adds that “threatening German, Austrian and other European enterprises, which take part in the gas supply projects such as the Nord Stream II together with Russia or finance them, with penalties on the US market would add an absolutely new and highly negative aspect in relations between the US and Europe.”
The statement went on to say that Washington’s intention to impose new sanctions against Russia is guided not by some political or humanitarian reasons but rather by economic interest.
“This issue is all about the sales of the US condensed gas [to Europe] and pressing the Russian energy supply companies from the European market. The actual goal [of such sanctions] is to provide jobs for the US gas and oil industry,” the statement says, citing the US bill on the new sanctions.
Gabriel and Kern also expressed their concerns over the fact that the US is actually trying to boost its own competitiveness at the expense of its European allies that the new measures would eventually negatively affect “competitive positions of our [European] energy intensive industries and thousands of jobs.”
They also accused the US of attempts to interfere in Europe’s internal affairs and impose its will on its allies by undermining the principle of “open and fair market competition.”
“It would be not only highly regrettable but also detrimental to the effectiveness of our position in the context of the Ukrainian conflict, if some unrelated issues such the US economic interests in exporting gas gain the upper hand in this matter,” the statement warns. The two politicians then urged the US authorities to back away from these plans and said that they “very much support” the efforts of the US Department of State aimed at changing the bill concerning the sanctions.
US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert refused to comment on the criticism voiced by Austria and Germany that the bill’s real beneficiary is the US energy sector. Instead she said that Washington “welcomes” the first US shipment of the liquefied natural gas to Poland (LNG) that arrived in the Polish port of Swinoujscie last week.
She argued that such shipments provide an alternative to the Russian gas supplies as they come from the countries “that are perhaps more stable.” “Russia has the ability to turn off the natural gas and it puts the Polish people in a very difficult situation,” Nauert said.
The amendment on anti-Russian sanctions stipulates “broad new sanctions on key sectors of Russia’s economy, including mining, metals, shipping and railways”. The bill also prohibits lifting any executive sanctions imposed on Russia by the Obama administration without congressional review.
The amendment states that the goal of US policy in this particular case is to “oppose the Nord Stream II pipeline given its detrimental impacts on the European Union's energy security… and energy reforms in Ukraine.” According to the amendment, the US president can impose sanctions against entities and individuals that either make an investment “that directly and significantly contributes to the enhancement of the ability of the Russian Federation to construct energy export pipelines” or provides Russia with “goods, services, technology, information, or support that could directly and significantly facilitate the maintenance or expansion of the construction, modernization, or repair of [its] energy pipelines.”
The White House, meanwhile, said it is still looking at the Senate’s proposal to slap Russia with new sanctions, with deputy spokesman James S. Brady saying that the amendment first “needs to go through the House” for Trump to weigh in.
Brady, however, added that the US administration views the existing sanctions against Moscow “the best tool for compelling Russia” to comply with the Minsk agreements. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that Russia has been historically living under some form of sanctions from the West, which are used as a tool of economic competition as well as a means of containment. “If there were no situation with Crimea and other problems, they would have invented something else to contain Russia,” he said.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for a more “flexible approach” to the issue of anti-Russian sanctions. He particularly said that he would not like to see Washington “handcuffed” to the progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements as Moscow and Kiev could eventually find some other way to resolve the crisis in eastern Ukraine.
Earlier, Tillerson also said that virtually all US partners and allies were calling on Washington to improve its relations with Russia and warned that a new set of restrictive measures against Moscow might further worsen relations with Russia.
The Nord Stream II project will give Russia’s Gazprom additional capacity in supplying Europe with gas through a pipeline that would go under the Baltic Sea to Germany. The project is operated by the Nord Stream II company, which is fully owned by Gazprom. However, half of the project’s cost, amounting to €9.5 billion, is financed by several European energy as well as oil and gas companies, including Shell, Uniper, Wintershall, Engie and OMV, which thus can be affected by the new US sanctions.
Some of these companies already suffered from the US Senate’s decision to approve the sanctions bill as the shares of the OMV fell 3.7 percent Thursday, while Engie was down 1.3 percent, Shell 1.1 percent and Uniper 0.9 percent, according to the Financial Times.
Agreed. The Deep State continues to oppose the election results.
Two rotten parties, one rotten ideology: Globalism.
I’m soooo confused. I thought Russia was baaaadddd. Now we find out they are good and we shouldn’t have put sanctions on them?? I wish the globalist would make up their minds.
The anti-Russia idiocy is a sight to behold.
But, if Saudi Arabia gets itself into a real war, there will be some serious money to be made in the oil market.
It appalls me to have to agree with Germany and Austria here.
Our (as if) team is way out of bounds on this one.
And with the full support of the Democrats to boot.
What a great uniparty system we have.
“Putin’s Puppet” imposes new Russia sanctions, and is blasted by the European left. It just gets weirder.
This bill will tie the president’s hands on sanctions with Russia.
Or give him an excuse to keep them. Europe needs more Russian gas like they need a hole in the head. Nordstream 2 is a disaster for every country in Europe outside of Germany.
It appalls me to have to agree with Germany and Austria here.
Our (as if) team is way out of bounds on this one.
Germany and Russia are busy assembling another Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Support that if you wish. Nothing good will come from it.
By signing on to the issue they have, in the manner they have, the Republicans have agreed that Russia did in fact affect the outcome of our election.
That is what the sanctions are for. It’s a penalty for the Russian interference.
Those boneheads in the U.S. Senate just confirmed all he Democrat subterfuge was the gospel truth.
You tell me, is that a plus for us, for Trump?
No, it absolutely agrees that Russia should be penalized, and leaves Trump hanging because if the Russians did this, there is a remote possibility he could have been involved.
If the Republicans had refused to join this effort, Russia would have been recognized not to have been interfering.
Oh but they were, according to the Republicans at this point.
Talk about handing your attacker a hammer to hit you with...
The Democrats had already accepted that Russian interference was a dead issue, and they were moving on to Obstruction.
The Republicans just told them to get back to Russian interference.
It boggles the mind how inept or devious our team is.
Even the Germans see that Russia is a fake enemy — or at least fake enough not to warrant the GOPe sanctions.
If you were the leader of one of the Baltic states would you like to depend on Russia for your supply of energy? I think not. Other US shipments recently have gone to Spain and Portugal; again, two other nations absolutely dependent on outsiders for their energy. Can they depend on the US to supply their needs? You bet your ass. The LNG world market is being metamorphosed overnight, and both Qatar and Russia will be the losers.
Then come up with a reasonable reason, and run with it.
This is not acceptable.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3561624/posts?page=11#11
I think anything to keep the attention away from their high crimes and traitorous actions. This is just a huge smoke screen.
You are day dreaming. Nord Stream 2 has been an issue for years. Anything that prevents a budding Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact 2.0 is a good thing and in the national interest of the United States. That the feckless Germans are hoping mad about this is all you need to know.
I think it is great for the US to export natural gas to Europe. It will keep both Russia and Qatar in check. But I don't think we should use sanctions to deform the market. I think Europe, in their own self interest, would want to import from a variety of sources. This bill is an attempt to stop them from doing that.
Meanwhile the Islamic invasion continues.
The Republicans are unwittingly or in some instances willfully validating sanctions based in part on Russian interference in our elections last November.
The Russians did not interfere with our elections last year. None the less... here's what the Republicans signed onto, "Validating the claims of a bipartisan agreement in part on Russian meddling with our election last November..."
We are trying very hard to rebut that every way possible, and yet here are the Republicans almost universally (in the U.S. Senate), confirming it.
Reuters: The measure is intended to punish Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election... (with other reasons also listed) LINK
NBC: The sanctions are in response to a trio of Russian actions, including their interference in the 2016 election... LINK
CNN: The measure is widely seen as a rebuke to Trump, as it hits Russia with new sanctions to punish Moscow for its interference in US elections... LINK
USA Today: Senate Approves Sanctions Against Russia for Meddling In Presidential Election, other Abuses LINK
Politico: Corker, "I have no idea" if the White House is adequately concerned about Russian intervention in last year's election... LINK
Politico: Schumer, "These additional sanctions will also send a powerful, bipartisan statement that Russia and any other nation who might try to interfere with our elections will be punished." LINK
The Russia hoax is a two-fer.
It shackles Trump; and, it maintains the globalist/neocon/leftist/atheist agenda.
Orwell: “Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia.”
They CANNOT let nationalist Christian Russia, nationalist Christian America and some nationalist Mideast countries join forces against globalist Eurabia.
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