Putin critic Alexei Navalny was “unequivocally” poisoned with Novichok. The revelation that a Russian opposition leader was exposed to the same nerve agent used in the Salisbury poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal has put even more pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to “pull the plug” on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.
The Nord Stream 2 project has been controversial since inception: Russian gas is to flow directly to Germany via a pipeline through the Baltic Sea. Critics fear this will reinforce dependency on the Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, and thus also on the Russian government. Should Nord Stream 2 be cancelled?
Gas from Russia is currently piped through Ukraine, and the Nord Stream 2 project would result in Kiev losing $2 billion in annual transit costs. Several Central and Eastern European countries have also called for a rethink of the project, and the US government has been lobbying against it (and has increasingly been supplying Europe with natural gas itself). Roughly 9.5 billion euros have been invested in the project and the pipes themselves have almost been completely laid. Is it too late to stop Nord Stream 2?
Should Europe cancel its gas pipeline project with Russia? Would it make the EU too dependent on Russian energy? Or, given that billions of euros have now been spent on Nord Stream 2 and construction is almost complete, is it simply too late to cancel? Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactions!
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Cost of cancellation ?
A chilly winter in Germany.
No
No.. Russia is not our enemy.. I feel closer to Russians than Americans.. We don t have any lesson of democracy to deliver
Russia may not be your enemy, but it is the enemy of freedom of thought and and expression as well as democratic opposition.
Its a kleptocracy run by thugs emboldened by the ever timid response of most of the west to its actions…annexing previously democratic states..supporting armed conflict in europe…killing innocent civilians….sanctioning state assassinations…
Putin has only one weapon (cheap energy) which he uses to bolster his increasingly failing state…sooner, rather than later, europe will have to confront his bluff.
Bluff? I’m not so sure about that.
Russia is just Saudi Arabia with trees…strip out it’s energy resource & it has nothing..it’s just a playground bully & like all such needs to be confronted, not appeased.
Don´t forget about Libya…
Germany needs to be investigated for this charade, and their refusal to cooperate with the investigation.
German claim is equal to “He ate a nuke which was in a cake, then the nuke exploded in his stomach, but he survived now and he’s ok”…and they claim to have the evidence for that, but they don’t see the need to share it !? 🤔
😂😂😂😂😂😂
they did share the results with OPCW (of which Russia is a member)
Germany (and its satellite states) needs Russian gas that means Europe is obliged to follow.
There are other sources of energy for heating, sources that don’t worsen global warming, and we should force Germany to use them.
we are not here to force anything. We need to integrate Europe to a country not to a satrapy.
i don’t think we need it.
I think Russia need EU more than EU needs Russia. You remember when the sanctions started and Putin boasted about the pipeline to China?
Moreover, the only language Putin understands is sanctions, so stopping the pipeline might cool him down a touch and at the same time Europe would not seems as toothless
Just do it, if you can!!!!!
What does that pipeline do? Is in Russia’s favor to cancel? No. In Europe’s favor? Seems like not. It is in Europe’s power to make a lower price offer than agreed. Since this pipeline project is entirely disputable, I guess Europe has at least the power to harshly negotiate this gas’ price.
The gas pipeline should be cancelled. Southern Europe should make the cancellation a condition for not deferring debt repayments. 😛
EU should increase invesments in reducing fossil consumtion and after that inflict a full embargo to criminal regims like russia or Turkey. For EU needs should be used Black Sea and Eastern Mediteranean reserves.
Turkey europe ally kill one Novalny per hour, occupy half Cyptus for 46 years, and now threaten to end civilization in Greece, Why you dont worry there? Hypocricity can be hided
Well, Spain’s justice system isn’t any better than Poland’s, but you know how it is. 🙄
Same tired old criminal provocations by Chevron/Blackrock (Leviathan gas fields off Gaza). A pathetic charade to try to throw off Nord Stream 2, dished up my mass murderers (Kagans, Nuland etc.) and swallowed up by imbeciles.
Oh please. The US can’t even walk in a straight line anymore, let alone hatch an elaborate scheme to endanger a pipeline through Central Asia. 😂
Michael And Nuland and Kagans never brokered the 5 billion sweetener either (for Hunter Biden as well) of course 😂
Regardless of what “should ” be done…Germany will do what suits Germany…the others will do the same…the concept of a “European” response to the ongoing threat posed by Russia is a myth.
There wasn’t even a proper British response to Skripal, and they spread poison around a British city and killed two British citizens in the process.
23 diplomats expelled, assets frozen, further sanctions on trade and investment…encouraging other countries to expel a further 130 diplomats…but agree, personally would use all leverage in BoE and govt to isolate and freeze all assets worldwide by all those in office responsible for these cases of aggression to the west….if they want to spend all their ill gotton gains in Russia, so be it… but stop them enjoying any luxurious lifestyle in the west.
No it’s not the Europe interest to cancel the pipeline.
Skripal was much worse. Not only did they poison a dissident, they showed no respect for the sovereignty of other nations, opening up a Pandora’s box. At that point Russia became a rogue state. It should not be tolerated for countries to assassinate people in other countries. Do you have any idea what that implies? Everything that should have been done should have been done then.
No, I don´t see any reason why Europe should cancel its gas pipeline project . There are many european citizens who need gas for a reasonabel price. Let us live together in peace without being in searching for new enemies .
ASAP!
Should never have been started in the first place, including Nordstream 1.
Both have always been anti-European projects of the Kremlin aimed at increasing European dependence on Russian gas as well as exporting corruption, thus increasing the authoritarian Kremlin’s leverage over strategic European questions. Increased imports of Russian gas also mean more money for Russian warmongering in Syria, Ukraine, Libya as well as Russian intelligence assassinations.
Navalny himself probably wouldn’t want to scrap the project. If it is almost done, then let’s see if it is economically viable – it might better the life of millions of people by reducing their gas bill.
Yes
Navalny story happens at the moment where Europe is struggling with Belarus and US elections are coming and US is threataning EU for pipeline which is almost ready.. i don’t believe in that much coincedences. And i don’t think that Navalny is such a threat to Putin few years before next elections, so why to get rid of Navalny now, what is the motive ? 🤷♂️
Russia has parts in Europe…
Cancel billions worth of an almost complete pipeline vs do nothing about EU candidate member Turkey threatening war with EU member countries Greece and Cyprus to steal their natural resources. Hmm.
Germany has always been the greatest friend of the Moscow State for 500 years when they entered into a mutual alliance against Poland and Lithuania.
The exception is a few years (the first half of WW I and the second half of WWII)
Really?,and I suppose the Russians split the German state in half and occupied the eastern part for nearly fifty years because they couldn’t bear to be separated from their wonderful friends.
Should Europe cancel its gas pipeline project with Russia?
And the reason for that would be? …. Could it be to keep the European tax payers without gas and other fuels for the winter cold?
As always Germany will do what benefits Germany.
My mind is not on Russia and it’s affairs.
We can’t!
We left ourselves dependent on Russia for oil – after cancelling nuclear energy decades ago!
We should try replacing our world leaders with shaved apes. They couldln’t do any worse!
“we found out that is dangerous for the people, we found out that we can repair what was broken > and we found out that there’s a lot of hope and a lot of persons fighting for that” utopia”..