Guten Tag: What Merkel Said About the Minsk Agreements

Regarding, my earlier post: MoA, apparently, has an unpopular analysis among independent analysts. Personally, I don’t think it matters what anyone else thinks about it, except for Russia. I’m just presenting a machine translation (my German is limited to guten tag) of everything Merkel said regarding the topic. Thank you, Nicolas Cinquini, for the link (I’ll be posting his analysis, soon)! Merkel’s interview is behind a paywall, so I’m not able to directly link to a translated version (link, below, is to an archived version in German). I copied and pasted the translation from my built-in translator (iPadOS).

“Did you think I was coming with a ponytail?” (Starting from page 3):

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Flashback to 09-2022: Germany (?) Using Novichok As Leverage With Kremlin Over Pipeline (Nordstream 2)

Germany (?) Using Novichok As Leverage With Kremlin Over Pipeline (Nordstream 2):

We want them to buy from us, not the Russians,” said Robert McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, a market research firm, describing Washington’s policy.

From PFYT2’s censored blog.

According to Wikipedia: “During the first term of President George W. Bush, [Bob] McNally served on the White House staff as Special Assistant to the President on the National Economic Council and Senior Director for International Energy on the National Security Council.”

Related:

Who sabotaged the Russia – Germany NordStream2 gas pipeline?

Who sabotaged the Russia – Germany NordStream2 gas pipeline?

Oct 3, 2022 – Smoking gun. There is only one serious suspect for the terrorist sabotage of the Russia – Germany NordStream2 gas pipeline.

Who sabotaged the Russia – Germany NordStream2 gas pipeline? via Hands Off Syria

Related:

True info ~> Russia Presented Hard Facts! Is the destruction of Nord Stream profitable to the United States

UN Security Council to Convene on Nord Stream Attacks at Russia’s Request

The Euro Without German Industry

By Michael Hudson

The reaction to the sabotage of three of the four Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in four places on Monday, September 26, has focused on speculations about who did it and whether NATO will make a serious attempt to discover the answer. Yet instead of panic, there has been a great sigh of diplomatic relief, even calm. Disabling these pipelines ends the uncertainty and worries on the part of US/NATO diplomats that nearly reached a crisis proportion the previous week, when large demonstrations took place in Germany calling for the sanctions to end and to commission Nord Stream 2 to resolve the energy shortage.

The Euro Without German Industry

A Ceasefire Can Ensure Ukrainian Independence

A Ceasefire Can Ensure Ukrainian Independence

There is only one way the West can prevent Ukraine from being defeated on the battlefield over the next several months and avoid a nuclear conflict with Russia: a return to diplomacy. President Joe Biden needs to call for an immediate cease-fire and armistice agreement to save Ukraine, ensure its security, and preserve its political and economic independence with control of at least 81 percent of its territory. It is in the U.S. national security interest to have Russia and Ukraine negotiate a permanent cease-fire as soon as possible and avoid potential nuclear escalation. The Biden administration should offer to not implement new economic sanctions against Russia, stop sending more U.S. troops to Eastern Europe, and suspend lethal military assistance to Ukraine in exchange for an immediate and sustained Russian ceasefire. A relaxation of sanctions following a peace deal would provide economic relief to millions of Americans suffering from a recession triggered by Western sanctions against Russia.

While writing this proposal, one of the provisions of the proposed armistice agreement I included was that Russia would resume natural gas shipments to the European Union via the Nord Stream 1 or Nord Stream 2 pipelines. But on September 27, both of them were severely damaged by acts of sabotage that appear to be retaliation against Russia. It is unclear which country is responsible for damaging the pipelines but reopening them might have saved thousands of Europeans from freezing to death this winter. The day after the pipeline attacks, former President Donald Trump offered to mediate peace talks to end the war in Ukraine out of concern that sabotaging the pipelines might spark “World War III,” particularly if Moscow believed that the United States or another NATO member was responsible.

Hypocrisy(and irony): The man, that the media cried about having his finger on the nuclear button (not to mention his tearing up of nuclear treaties and expanding America’s nuclear arsenal), is the one willing to mediate to prevent WWIII! Meanwhile, Brandon refuses to negotiate and the media cheers on nuclear war?!

Key Russian Black Sea gas pipeline under threat – US state media

Key Russian Black Sea gas pipeline under threat – US state media

If the TurkStream natural gas pipeline is damaged, its operator won’t be able to mount repairs because the Dutch government has revoked a key license due to EU sanctions against Russia, US state-run RFE/RL alleged on Thursday.

The outlet claimed to have obtained a letter from Oleg Aksyutin, CEO of South Stream Transport BV, informing the company’s managers to stop all work and cancel contracts with Western suppliers. The letter is reportedly dated September 14, and says that the Netherlands – where the company is registered – had canceled its operating license, effective September 17.

South Stream Transport operates TurkStream, a pipeline finalized in 2020, which runs under the Black Sea to Türkiye and then on to Serbia and Hungary. It has an annual capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of gas. According to Reuters, SouthStream confirmed on Thursday that the license has been revoked, but said it had requested a resumption and “will continue gas transportation.”

While there are no reports about interruptions in the TurkStream supply, RFE/RL noted that much of the pipeline is at the depth of three kilometers, and needs to be constantly monitored for damage due to “seismic activity.”

Commenting on the reported sabotage on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it would be “in no one’s interest,” but then added that the situation represents “a very significant opportunity” for the EU to “finally end” its dependence on Russian gas and “accelerate the transition to renewables.”*

TurkStream is the last remaining pipeline for Russian natural gas to reach the EU. The Yamal pipeline through Poland was shut off in May, due to Russian counter-sanctions against Warsaw, while Gazprom halted deliveries through Ukraine on September 27.

Verifications:

Secretary Antony J. Blinken And Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly At a Joint Press Availability*

My own sense – and I mentioned this the other day – is, look, there’s a lot of hard work to do to make sure that countries and partners get through the winter. Europe itself has taken very significant steps to both decrease demand but also look at ways to pursue the transition to renewables at the same time. And ultimately this is also a tremendous opportunity. It’s a tremendous opportunity to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy and thus to take away from Vladimir Putin the weaponization of energy as a means of advancing his imperial designs. That’s very significant and that offers tremendous strategic opportunity for the years to come, but meanwhile, we’re determined to do everything we possibly can to make sure that the consequences of all of this are not borne by citizens in our countries or, for that matter, around the world.

TurkStream Pipeline Has License Revoked As New Sanctions Come Into Effect

False flag in…3…2…1?! 🤷🏼‍♀️