Nord Stream 2’s Completion has Russiaphobes Seething

On September 10, 2022, Russian state-owned gas titan announced that it finished the construction of Nord Stream 2 pipeline. This pipeline goes from Russia to Germany and has irked the US Deep State so much that the Trump and Biden administrations have levied sanctions against it

“Chairman of the Management Committee Alexei Miller said that this morning at 8.45 Moscow time (05:45 GMT) construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was fully completed,” Gazprom announced on its various accounts on social media..

Tyler Durden pointed out that delusional Russia hawks have blamed the Biden administration for being soft on Russia as far as his approach to Nordstream is concerned. The Biden administration lifted sanctions on the German company in charge of its portion of the project under the guise of trying to preserve positive relations with their German allies. On its end, Germany promised to not let Russia use Nord Stream 2 as a “political weapon”. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his allies in the DC Blob have blamed Russia for going on with this venture in order to punish Ukraine by effectively depriving it of crucial natural gas transit fees that would normally be collected through its territory.

Durden highlighted how determined Russia was in seeing this project through:

It seems that since the project started in 2016, Russia became ever more determined as US sanctions seeking to halt the project grew – at one point even outfitting Gazprom ships to become pipe-laying vessels after a European company bowed out. 

Previously, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov labeled efforts by the US to halt construction through political pressure and sanctions as an exercise in futility. He stated “there is still a full-frontal attack, in spite of everything, on Nord Stream 2,” although “everyone knows the Americans have realized [it will be completed].”

Lavrov stressed earlier in the summer that Russia “has implemented, and will continue to implement, its economic projects regardless of any sanctions.” While the pipeline is now complete, the gas is expected to flow as early as October. 

In all honesty, the construction of Nord Stream 2 was a fait accompli. There was nothing the US could do to stop its completion. This would be the equivalent of Russia or China bemoaning the creation of a pipeline between the US and Mexico or any other Latin American country within its traditional sphere of influence, and subsequently following up with punitive sanctions to prevent its completion.

The US will have to acknowledge that Russia has its own interests in Europe and can’t always micromanage the way countries run foreign policy. When Russia and Germany are on the same page, things get done in Europe, which irks the geopolitical armchair manipulators in London and the UK. Part of Anglo-American grand strategy over the last century has been to prevent any form of alliance between Russia and Germany emerging. 

With how zealous the US has become with its universalist vision, it could potentially lose a strategic partner in Germany and watch it not only fall into the arms of Russia, but also China as well. By not exercising any form of restraint, the US will effectively meme a Russia-China-Germany geopolitical axis into reality, thereby hastening the fall of US supremacy on the world stage.

All told, this is not a bad thing since US domination of world politics has not necessarily translated into increased prosperity for Middle Americans.  But US primacy sure is lucrative for defensive contractors, international relations scholars, and non-profit organization hacks.