by Karl Denninger
Market-Ticker.org
Since when does the US have the right to tell another sovereign nation what it can and cannot do with its natural resources, including selling them to customers that wish to buy them?
Apparently we arrogated that to ourselves some time ago and still think we have this right.
We are approaching the endgame for the Nord Stream II (NS2) natural gas pipeline. Begun in 2018, the pipeline aims to link Ust Luga, Russia, to Greifswald, Germany. Today, it has under one hundred miles remaining to be completed.
Decisions made over the next few weeks will determine whether gas ever flows through NS2. It is time for the United States to finally checkmate the project, which is neither economically necessary nor geopolitically prudent, and which harms transatlantic security.
It’s none of our damned business.
Yes, I certainly understand that NS2 will “checkmate” the flow-through fees that Ukraine currently enjoys. But Ukraine is not entitled to those fees if no gas transits their nation. Whether it makes more sense to transit Ukraine or bypass it is not our issue to litigate just like it is not other nations issue to litigate whether we’d like to run a pipeline through Canada with their consent, or into or out of Mexico.