Nord Stream 2 Dispute Becoming Ever Shriller

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Nord Stream 2 Dispute Becoming Ever Shriller

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World Trade Organization (copyright by Adobe Stock/tampatra)
World Trade Organization (copyright by Adobe Stock/tampatra)

Despite ever more American sanctions levied against Nord Stream 2 the construction of the subsea gas pipeline from Vyborg to Greifswald continues clandestinely with approximately 160-km left to build. The companies involved in the work have the support of the EU, which declared the sanctions imposed by the United States to be in violation of international law.

Reports of the continued Nord Stream 2 construction have surfaced on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. and Senator Ted Cruz, a vociferous opponent of the the pipeline, has threatened the Sassnitz Harbor in Rügen with financial destruction if such work continues. The American extraterritorial intervention affects not just Russia and Germany, but many countries of the European Union.

How should Germany respond?

Matthias Hochstätter, of Focus Magazine, proposed three options:

1)  A tit for tat reaction, where sanctions from the United States would be met with sanctions from the EU.

2) Exhaust all possible diplomatic options including those codified in Article 96 of the UN Charter, in which the General Assembly or the Security Council may request the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to give an advisory opinion on any legal question. When the ICJ declares the US to be in violation of international law America would be branded an outlaw. Certainly a loss of face for the Trump administration, assuming such embarrassments have any register with the White House occupant.

3) File a situation complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO). This would have a greater chance of success when the US backed up its present threats of sanctions by actually imposing them.  Up to now the mere threat of sanctions has worked to bring most of the pipeline construction work to a halt.

Comments

Submitted by walter Trkla (not verified) on Tue, 08/25/2020 - 10:53 Permalink

The US has become a Rogue Nation. When they can't compete they steal as they have done with Russian Gold, $200 Billion of Libyan assets, Venezuelan gold, and oil company CISCO. THewy create economic migrants all over the world and blame it on the nations that want to opt-out of the petrodollar. They bomb nations into the Stone Age. and then use their corporations to rebuild.

Submitted by Dennis Adams (not verified) on Fri, 08/28/2020 - 21:08 Permalink

Germany and the EU should respond with ALL THREE OPTIONS.

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