President Joe Biden’s administration is apparently trying to strong-arm the country of Ukraine so that they will stay silent about a deal that it is expected to announce with the country of Germany on Wednesday. This deal will allow Russia to complete the very controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline into Europe.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that “The Biden administration will set aside Washington’s longstanding opposition to the pipeline, Nord Stream 2, in a reversal of U.S. policy, ending years of speculation over the fate of the project, which has come to dominate European energy-sector forecasts.”
The WSJ also noted, “Germany under the agreement will agree to assist Ukraine in energy-related projects and diplomacy.”
Later on that same day the new agency wrote in a separate report that the White House administration is trying to push Ukraine to stay silent about “its vociferous opposition” to the deal.
And then Politico reported this: “The U.S. officials have indicated that going public with opposition to the forthcoming agreement could damage the Washington-Kyiv bilateral relationship.” It seems that officials in Biden’s camp have also urged the Ukrainians not to discuss the U.S. and Germany’s potential plans with Congress, although a senior administration official disputed this reporting. That official noted that the “situation is more nuanced than that, but declined to share further details on U.S. officials’ talks with their Ukrainian counterparts. …”
Politico wrote: “The administration’s position is at odds with much of Congress and with the Ukrainian government and other Eastern European allies, who have long held that U.S. intervention can still block completion of the pipeline, which is nearly completed.”
According to another report a source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky maintained that Ukraine believes Biden could stop the pipeline if he really had the will to stand up to Russia.
Alina Polyakova, the president and CEO of the Center for European Policy Analysis, said that “It’s unbalanced and unfair that Russia gets a huge reward and Ukraine is flogged over criticism.” She also noted that “it’s 100 percent true that if Trump did this” there would be a major meltdown by the media and U.S. politicians.”
In the same vein, Rebeccah Heinrichs, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, commented on social media that Biden bowing to Putin undermined his “democracy over autocracy” rhetoric. She tweeted: ”So how exactly does telling Ukraine to keep quiet to Congress about its vehement opposition to the Russian energy pipeline fit into Biden’s ‘democracy over autocracy’ schtick.”
Heinrichs spoke to The Daily Wire saying that “Biden has framed his foreign policy as democracy versus autocracy. It’s pretty rich. He lumped Poland (Poland!) in with authoritarian governments and he waved sanctions on Nord Stream 2 which helps one of the most brazen and aggressive autocracies, Russia, that threaten representative governments.”
She went further reminding people that our own Congress opposed waiving sanctions, and Ukraine did the same.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz lashed out at Biden because of reports that the United States was going to announce a deal with Germany to allow the pipeline to be finished.
Cruz said, “If the reports and details of a deal are accurate, this will be a generational geopolitical win for Putin and a catastrophe for the United States and our allies.”
“President Biden is defying U.S. law and has utterly surrendered to Putin. Decades from now, Russian dictators will still be reaping billions from Biden’s gift, and Europe will still be subject to Russian energy blackmail,” the Texas senator continued.
“We always knew Biden was in bed with Putin, now they’re spooning,” Cruz said in closing.
