see url:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/20/us-ukraine-russia-pipeline-500334
see full story...The Ukraine might be important to the USG, for the
political and strategic purposes of undermining and containing Russia
and continuing to drag away their previous "colonies", but not important
enough to be allowed to destroy USG German relations...so, it will get
sold down the river. The Ukraine had a monopoly on the pipeline from
Russia to Europe and charged (blackmailed) accordingly, getting very
cheap subsidised fuel in exchange for allowing the rest through to Europe.
The USG wanted to sell Germany their energy derived from shale, which is
very expensive in comparison to Russian energy, in return for closing
the Nord 2 pipeline, so introduced sanctions against all companies
involved in the project to try and prevent the pipeline from being
completed; but Germany wasn't prepared to allow that...and...I don't
think that the rest of the EU wanted to be held to ransom by the
Ukranians or the USG either, apart from Poland...who get plenty of US
dosh and host US missiles and armed forces. Some enemies can be good
friends and some friends can be even better enemies...
Quote<<<
In the midst of tense negotiations with Berlin over a controversial
Russia-to-Germany pipeline, the Biden administration is asking a
friendly country to stay quiet about its vociferous opposition. And
Ukraine is not happy.
U.S. officials have signaled that they’ve given up on stopping the
project, known as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and are now scrambling to
contain the damage by striking a grand bargain with Germany.
At the same time, administration officials have quietly urged their
Ukrainian counterparts to withhold criticism of a forthcoming agreement
with Germany involving the pipeline, according to four people with
knowledge of the conversations.
The U.S. officials have indicated that going public with opposition to
the forthcoming agreement could damage the Washington-Kyiv bilateral
relationship, those sources said. The officials have also urged the
Ukrainians not to discuss the U.S. and Germany’s potential plans with
Congress. A senior administration official disputed this reporting,
noting that the situation is more nuanced than that, but declined to
share further details on U.S. officials’ talks with their Ukrainian
counterparts.
American negotiators and diplomats have signaled that they have given up
on blocking completion of the pipeline, known as Nord Stream 2, which
will ship cheap natural gas from Russia to Germany and stands to be a
boon for Moscow.
>>>End of Quote
