Free Republic

A series of unusual leaks on two natural gas pipelines running from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany triggered concerns about sabotage Tuesday, overshadowing the inauguration of a long-awaited pipeline that will bring Norwegian gas to Poland to bolster Europe’s energy independence from Moscow. Seismic stations Sweden, Norway and Finland registered two explosions Monday near the leaks. Bjorn Lund, a seismologist with Uppsala University who is part of Sweden’s national seismic network, said the first explosion was recorded in the early hours southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm. The latter and stronger blast that night was northeast of...

Poland and Norway opened a new gas pipeline via Denmark on Tuesday, hailed as a much-needed alternative to Russian-controlled routes. At a ceremony in Poland, Norway’s Energy Minister Terje Aasland said the opening of Baltic Pipe was “a milestone on the important path towards European independence”... Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said it “marks a crucial geopolitical step for all of us.” “Putin uses Russian energy as a weapon to destabilise Europe, to divide us. He cannot be allowed to succeed,” Ms Frederiksen said, referring to the Russian president. Poland, one of the fiercest advocates in Europe of isolating Moscow,...

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says her ambition is for Denmark not to offer asylum to any refugees at all. The PM said that she wanted to reduce asylum applications in Denmark to zero during comments in parliament. “That’s what our target is. Of course, we can’t promise it,” she said. “We can’t promise zero asylum seekers but we can create a vision, like we did before the election, that we want a new asylum system and then do what we can to implement it,” she continued. 2020 saw a total of 1,547 asylum seekers registered in Denmark, the lowest number...

Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time.... ....The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!