This is the mega pipeline under the Baltic Sea supplying Germany and the rest of Europe with natural gas from Russia. The project had been stalled by American sanctions, but now the Biden administration has announced that it will no longer stand in the way of its completion.

President Joe Biden knew well that there was no way of stopping Nord Stream 2 whose 1,230-kilometer construction route from Russia to Germany is over 95 percent complete. Berlin has repeatedly told Washington that it would not cancel the project which will double the flow of clean, economical Russian gas to fuel Germany’s industries and households.

So Biden had enough cop-on to know that the United States would only look pathetically weak when its imperious demands on Berlin were eventually snubbed.

© SPUTNIK / DMITRY LELCHUK

Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Appeals to US Congress to Continue Nord Stream 2 Sanction Policy

Hence the spin this week that Washington had come up with a “deal” with Germany to let Nord Stream 2 proceed. In that supposed compromise, Berlin is obliged to provide financial aid to Ukraine and assure Kiev that Russia will not be allowed to use energy trade as a weapon against Ukraine by reducing an existing overland transit route for gas. This is more misdirection. 

Russia has condemned the politicization of the Nord Stream 2 project as anything other than a commercial transaction that benefits Europe. Moscow rejects the slur that it is weaponizing energy trade to allegedly threaten Ukraine. Such hysteria is just Washington’s propaganda to justify its own egregious interference and bullying in European-Russian affairs.

In any case, the real story behind the Nord Stream 2 “deal” this week is not Russia or Ukraine. It is China.

In announcing Washington’s “concession”, the State Department said the rationale was that the United States did not want to “alienate” Germany.

However, the Americans did not specify what the risk of alienation was about exactly. We can fill in the gap. It is about Washington keeping Germany and the rest of Europe in line for its bigger geopolitical objective of confronting and undermining China.

Russia and China are both fingered as “great power rivals” by numerous American politicians and pundits.

But the Biden administration has signaled that it considers China as the “top long-term threat” to US national security. The “threat” has less to do with military power and more to do with China’s global economic power. Beijing’s increasing global economic integration through its Belt and Road Initiative is perceived by the Washington establishment as the death knell for American dominance. US global power relies on unilateral hegemony. China’s advocacy of multipolar relations, mutual partnerships between nations and people-centered development is the nemesis of American imperial power.

Unlike the boorish Trump, the Biden presidency is more in tune with American imperial planners and the need to work with European allies to form a stronger front for pursuing US imperial objectives. Biden and his aides have been at pains to repair the transatlantic alliance that Trump damaged with his abrupt “America First” vulgarism.

In taking down China as a global rival, Washington knows it has to smooth out relations with Germany and the rest of Europe.

That is why the Biden administration appears to be making a concession over the Nord Stream 2 project. It knows that the gas trade with Russia is inviolable for Germany’s vital interests. So it offers a “concession”. But the real move is to recruit Germany and Europe into taking a tougher stance towards China.

It is no coincidence that this week also saw the US establishment ramping up hostility towards China by labeling the government in Beijing as complicit in global cyber hacking and espionage. The State Department called on “our partners and allies to promote responsible state behavior in cyberspace, counter cybercrime, and oppose digital authoritarianism.” In other words, to join US efforts to demonize China.

Nevertheless, here’s the rub. China has become Germany’s largest trade partner, surpassing the United States. China is far more important than the US for sustaining Germany’s export-led economy. Arguably, maintaining relations with Beijing is as vital to Berlin as the gas from Russia is for Germany’s long-term development.

Washington may think it is able to corral and hoodwink Berlin into an anti-China front. But the arrogant Americans will get hit with reality. Their days of bullying others are over.

The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

A US Space Force lieutenant colonel, who was recently relieved of his command, has claimed he is being “misportrayed” online over his Marxism-related comments.

Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado lost his post late last week following his appearance on a podcast in which he advised members not to comply with diversity training because it is based on critical race theory, “which is rooted in Marxism”.

While Lohmeier hasn’t been discharged from the service, it’s unclear what his present assignment is. He had previously been in charge of a unit tasked with detecting ballistic missile launches.

© AP PHOTO / STAFF SGT. KAYLA WHITE

In this photo released by the U.S. Air Force, Capt. Ryan Vickers stands for a photo to display his new service tapes after taking his oath of office to transfer from the U.S. Air Force to the U.S. Space Force at Al-Udeid Air Base, Qatar, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020.

In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Lohmeier said he doesn’t believe he “was being partisan” and that “it is not politically partisan to expose or attack critical race theory or Marxism”.

“The reason I say that is because Critical Race Theory and Marxism are antithetical to American values. Critical race theory fuels narratives that attack America’s founding documents. I’m being misportrayed online – I don’t criticise any leader, or any person in the DoD [Department of Defence] or any elected officials – but I try to tee up ideas that I think are toxic”, the lieutenant colonel argued.

Critical race theory is an academic movement that emerged in the 1990s that sought to re-emphasise the continuation of racism and racial disparities in US culture and institutions in a direct challenge to the notion of a post-racial society that became popular after the civil rights upheavals of the 1960s and 70s.

Lohmeier’s comments followed him appearing on a podcast called “Information Operation” last week to promote his new self-published book, titled “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military”.

During the podcast, he said that “our diversity, inclusion and equity industry and the trainings we’re receiving in the military via that industry are rooted in critical race theory which is rooted in Marxism”.

Lohmeier also lashed out at US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, saying, “I don’t demonise the man, but I want to make it clear to both him and every service member this [diversity and inclusion] agenda, it will divide us, it will not unify us”.

© AP PHOTO / ANDREW HARNIK

‘It’s Just Hard to Understand’: Head of US Space Force Complains Not Many Realize Its Purpose

The remarks were followed by Lohmeier being removed from his post by Lieutenant General Stephen Whiting, who then initiated an investigation into Lohmeier’s comments. 

A Space Force spokesperson said that Whiting relieved Lohmeier of his post “due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead”, adding that the decision was based “on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast”.

The lieutenant colonel’s ouster was criticised by Republican representative Matt Gaetz, who described the move as evidence of the “wokeification of our military”, and pledged that he would be “seeking action on this in the Armed Services Committee”.

Gaetz was echoed by GOP Senator Ted Cruz, who dubbed the decision to oust Lohmeir a “troubling” development.