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Merkel's Legacy as Russian Invasion Lays Up to the final hours before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, former chancellor Angela Merkel had been touted as the person favored by Germans to try to talk President Vladimir Putin out of the conflict. But as Russian bombs fell on Ukrainian cities, a shadow has fallen on Merkel's 16 years in office, with some observers now questioning if her detente policies with Putin had in fact left Germany, and Europe, vulnerable. Once hailed as the leader of the free world, the veteran center-right leader has been accused by some of increasing Europe's...

Berlin (AFP) – Up to the final hours before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, former chancellor Angela Merkel had been touted as the person favoured by Germans to try to talk President Vladimir Putin out of the conflict. But as Russian bombs fell on Ukrainian cities, a shadow has fallen on Merkel's 16 years in office, with some observers now questioning if her detente policies with Putin had in fact left Germany, and Europe, vulnerable. Once hailed as the leader of the free world, the veteran centre-right leader has been accused by some of increasing Europe's reliance on Russian...

At a time when US officials are saying virtually every day that the US is in “active discussions” to ban Russian oil imports, Germany’s economy minister said that while he regrets the country is still dependent on imports from Moscow, he warned against a comprehensive ban on energy imports from Russia. As Dutesche Welle reports, “Germany is currently still dependent on Russian fossil fuels”, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday; he spoke out against a ban on energy imports from Russia in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I would not advocate an embargo on Russian imports of...

VIDEORemember how the liberal media kept screeching that President Trump was Putin's puppet? Well, the reality was quite the opposite because President Trump OPPOSED the one thing most important to Vladimir Putin, namely the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. A project that President Trump knew would make Western Europe dependent on Russian energy which is why he imposed sanctions upon it.Oh, and does anybody out there really think Russia would have invaded Ukraine if President Trump were still in the White House? But, hey, at least we no longer have mean tweets.

BERLIN–German oil and gas company Wintershall Dea AG, one of the investors in the now frozen Nord Stream 2 pipeline, said it would write off its 1 billion euro, or $1.1 billion, financing in the project and won't pursue new energy ventures in Russia. Germany last week halted the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 project that would have doubled the capacity of an existing pipeline traveling along a similar route and linking Russian gas fields directly to Germany. The project was backed by a number of Western energy players, including Shell PLC, which said on Monday that it would end...

Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), a Democrat who has consistently opposed measures to make America energy independent again, took thousands in donations from a lobbyist for the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Gas prices surged 22 percent in the last two weeks to hit the most expensive ever recorded, $4.43 per gallon, which exceeded the record from July 2008, the prior all-time high, by 32 cents per gallon. So the discovery of Malinowski accepting thousands in donations from a Russian pipeline lobbyist could have severe repercussions for the vulnerable Democrat, who has opposed American energy independence. As Breitbart News reported in...

The circumstances of the death of the Deputy General Director of the Unified Settlement Center of Gazprom for Corporate Security, whose body was found in the prestigious village of Leninskoye in the Vyborg District of the Leningrad Region, are being established. A note was found nearby, law enforcement officials told 47news. A month earlier, in the same village, the body of a top manager of another division from Gazprom's orbit was found. Both of the now deceased previously worked at Gazprom Transgaz. As it became known to 47news, in the early morning of February 25, the police received a message...

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.), who has accused Republicans of enabling Russia, took maximum campaign donations from a top lobbyist for Nord Stream 2 AG, the company behind an oil transportation project dubbed "Putin’s pipeline." Swalwell, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, received $2,900 last year from Vincent Roberti Sr., the chairman of lobbying powerhouse Roberti Global. Roberti gave $5,400 to Swalwell’s campaign in 2018. Roberti Global received $2.4 million in 2021 from Nord Stream 2 AG, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of Russian oil giant Gazprom. Critics of the 761-mile pipeline have long said it would allow Vladimir Putin to...

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Friday on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” that former President Donald Trump was “despicable” for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Schumer said, “Putin will come to regret this. Look, he is a bully. He is a thug. He has a monomaniacal desire to restore the Soviet Empire. But he will ultimately fail.”

@SenSchumer: "There's universal view in our caucus that we need to get something done [on voting rights]. What these Republican legislators are doing on a very partisan basis is really ruining, destroying, and undermining our democracy." Clip...

So is every top Democrat who accused President Trump of Russian collusion. “A single, ominous question now hangs over the White House: What could possibly cause President Trump to put the interests of Russia over those of the United States?” Senator Schumer insinuated in 2018. Why is Schumer putting Russia’s interests ahead of those of the United States by blocking Nord Stream 2 sanctions on Putin’s pet pipeline into Europe? Schumer, along with a number of other top Democrats, is a beneficiary of campaign contributions from top Democrat fundraiser Vincent Roberti whose lobbying firm was paid over $8.5 million by...

The day after Hillary Clinton testified in front of the House Select Committee on Benghazi last October, John Podesta, the Democrat’s campaign chairman, met for dinner with a small group of well-connected friends, including Peter Kadzik, a top official at the Justice Department. The dinner arrangement, revealed in hacked Podesta emails released by WikiLeaks, is just the latest example of an apparent conflict of interest between the Clinton campaign and the federal agency charged with investigating the former secretary of state’s email practices. Podesta and Kadzik, the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, were in frequent contact, other emails show....