{"id":11661,"date":"2019-02-15T15:49:11","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T23:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=11661"},"modified":"2019-02-15T15:49:18","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T23:49:18","slug":"merkel-salvages-nord-stream-but-is-putin-losing-russias-gas-monopoly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/merkel-salvages-nord-stream-but-is-putin-losing-russias-gas-monopoly\/","title":{"rendered":"Merkel Salvages Nord Stream, But Is Putin Losing Russia’s Gas Monopoly?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Please read this piece by my colleague Paul Roderick Gregory in Forbes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union took a first step with its February 8 vote towards turning Russia\u2019s gas monopoly, Gazprom, from an instrument of Russian power politics into a regulated utility<\/a>, deprived of its monopoly power. In an odd twist, Germany, the self-proclaimed guardian of European unity, found itself politically isolated from the rest of Europe, which sided with U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/a> A bitter pill for Germany to swallow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Putin and Germany complained that U.S. intervention was exclusively for its own plans to sell its expensive LNG to Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the European Union (EU) permanent representatives gathered in Brussels on Friday, February 8, to vote on the EU\u2019s Gas Initiative of the\u00a0Third Energy Package<\/a>, Russia\u2019s Nord Stream 2 (NS2) undersea pipeline project was in jeopardy. Even Germany\u2019s reliable ally France had declared its\u00a0intent<\/a>\u00a0to vote against the German-Russian project. Without France, Germany could not block an anti-NS2 vote, and an alarmed Angela Merkel swung into diplomatic overdrive. In hasty negotiations, Merkel and France\u2019s Emmanuel Macron reached a compromise agreement that allows all parties to fight again another day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please read this piece by my colleague Paul Roderick Gregory in Forbes The European Union took a first step with its February 8 vote towards turning Russia\u2019s gas monopoly, Gazprom, from an instrument of Russian power politics into a regulated utility, deprived of its monopoly power. In an odd twist, Germany, the self-proclaimed guardian of European unity, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1135,208,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-325","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12641,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/navalny-poisoning-just-a-bump-in-the-road-for-nord-stream-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":11661,"position":0},"title":"Navalny Poisoning Just A Bump In The Road For Nord Stream 2","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Please read this piece by my colleague Paul Roderick Gregory published\u00a0by\u00a0Forbes Trying to figure whither Nord Stream 2 (hereafter NS2) \u2013 the undersea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany \u2013 is akin to solving five complicated jigsaw puzzles at once. Competing interests, changing legal foundations, and momentum all make it\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11821,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/is-russia-preparing-a-gas-nuclear-option\/","url_meta":{"origin":11661,"position":1},"title":"Is Russia Preparing A Gas Nuclear Option?","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Please read this piece by my colleague Paul Roderick Gregory published\u00a0by\u00a0Forbes Vladimir Putin is noted for taking surprise action, which confronts his victims with a fait accompli. They must then either accept the new unfavorable status quo or react in a way that they would consider too risky. Putin has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Russia"","block_context":{"text":"Russia","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/russia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10934,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/rethinking-the-geography-of-power\/","url_meta":{"origin":11661,"position":2},"title":"Rethinking the Geography of Power","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Where the seats of power are located matters. Given the populist revolt in the United States and Europe against the so-called global elite, it is time to refigure the geography of governmental and transnational power. Take the United Nations. Much of the international body\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "United Nations"","block_context":{"text":"United Nations","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/united-nations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12676,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/armenia-azerbaijan-conflict-adds-to-putins-headaches-wests-worries\/","url_meta":{"origin":11661,"position":3},"title":"Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict adds to Putin’s headaches, West’s worries","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"An article by my Hoover colleague Dr. Paul Gregory in The Hill The last thing\u00a0Vladimir Putin\u00a0needed is another hotspot in Russia\u2019s \u201cnear abroad\u201d \u2014 Russia\u2019s term for the 14 republics that once were part of the old Soviet Union, along with the Russian Republic.\u00a0 In 2014, Putin boasted of an\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8887,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-decline-of-modern-germany\/","url_meta":{"origin":11661,"position":4},"title":"The Decline of Modern Germany","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Tribune Media Services Germany\u2019s political stability and economic sway have until recently earned Chancellor Angela Merkel unprecedented global influence and power. Postwar Germany has become the financial powerhouse of Europe and a model nation. Give credit to German hard work and competency for the country\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/map_Germany_300.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10360,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/lord-ismay-nato-and-the-old-new-world-order\/","url_meta":{"origin":11661,"position":5},"title":"Lord Ismay, NATO, and the Old-New World Order","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review \u00a0 What has become of the prescient post-WWII dictum \u2018Russians out, Americans in, Germans down\u2019? \u00a0 The accomplished and insightful British general Hasting Ismay is remembered today largely because of his famous assessment of NATO, offered when he was the alliance\u2019s first secretary general.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "EU"","block_context":{"text":"EU","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/eu\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11664,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11661\/revisions\/11664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}