Biden is doing more now than just winking and nodding at Putin so he can finish building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. He’s now doing Putin’s bidding and illegally waiving lawful sanctions against the Russian company building the pipeline:
AXIOS – The Biden administration will waive sanctions on the corporate entity and CEO overseeing the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline into Germany, according to two sources briefed on the decision.
The decision indicates the Biden administration is not willing to compromise its relationship with Germany over this pipeline, and underscores the difficulties President Biden faces in matching actions to rhetoric on a tougher approach to Russia.
The State Department will imminently send its mandatory 90-day report to Congress listing entities involved in Nord Stream 2 that deserve sanctions. Sources familiar with the drafting of the report tell Axios the State Department plans to call for sanctions against a handful of Russian ships.
The State Department will also acknowledge the corporate entity in charge of the project — Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO, the Putin crony and former East German intelligence officer Matthias Warnig — are engaged in sanctionable activity.
However, the State Department will waive the applications of those sanctions, citing U.S. national interests.
This planned move seems at odds with Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement, made during his confirmation hearing, that “I am determined to do whatever we can to prevent that completion (of Nord Stream 2).”
Talk about a puppet of Russia! Putin is pushing Biden around left and right, and the media, who was obsessed with Trump’s relationship with Putin and scandalized him over it too many times to count, is barely saying a peep about it. They couldn’t care less.
So why does this Nord Stream 2 pipeline matter? Let me quote Ted Cruz from a letter earlier this year where he condemned Biden for his inaction on this:
Without immediate and strong action, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be completed. Our allies across Europe will be subject to Putin’s blackmail and aggression, NATO’s ability to act will be severely constrained, and billions will flow into the Kremlin’s coffers.
Over the past few years Democrats have been ceaseless in calling for ever-stronger measures sanctioning and cutting off Russia. It is startling to see the Biden administration begin by handing Putin a victory he has been building towards for over a decade.
If Biden’s earlier actions were startling, this must be jaw-dropping. Cruz was right about Biden’s inaction all along.
But what makes this more of a slap in the face to Americans is that one of the first things Biden did was to shutdown efforts to build the Keystone Pipeline, killing thousands of jobs in one fell swoop during a time when our economy is still trying to recover from the pandemic. So we can’t have a pipeline, but Russia can? Tell me how in the hell that makes sense.
Ted Cruz says Biden is shaping up to be the “most pro-Russia administration of the modern era”:
Stunning. In defiance of U.S. law, Biden is actively helping Putin build his pipeline.
Objectively speaking, the Biden administration is shaping up to be the most pro-Russia administration of the modern era. https://t.co/3FwjiIILEc
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 18, 2021