American pressure on Germany, a country that has resisted the escalation against Russia, continued with a threat from the Pentagon spokesman, the US military ministry, in an interview on public radio NPR, echoed by agencies.
In the transcript: “I want to be very clear. If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not go through. And we want to be very clear about that.”
In a recent statement, the German Chancellor or Prime Minister, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, said that the gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany, which is now ready, is a “private sector project” and should be seen “separate” from the crisis in Ukraine.
The White House then announced that Scholz will travel to Washington in two weeks’ time to meet with US President Joe Biden to “discuss their shared commitment to efforts to prevent further Russian aggression.”
At the same time, the New York Times published a long piece in a similar tone, with a four-column photo at the top of the front page and the headline “Germany falters in Ukraine, allies worry”. In one of the online statements, “Germany’s allies began to question even its reliability as an ally.”
The attack was concentrated, including with a photo, on Scholz.
POSSIBLE OUTPUT
Less tied to the Democratic government, the financial Wall Street Journal highlighted the diplomatic efforts of Germans and French to rescue a deal between Russia and Ukraine.
Representatives of the four countries met for eight hours and, in the words of the WSJ, “Negotiations point to a possible way out of the crisis.” The implementation of the agreement had been a promise by the Ukrainian president, “but pressure from public opinion prevented him from fulfilling it”.
Also on the newspaper’s homepage, “China asks the US to calm down in Ukraine”.
BACKPRESSURE
In the background, financier Il Sole 24 Ore covered a videoconference meeting between Italian businessmen and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
And financier Handelsblatt reported that an association of German companies, from giants such as Siemens, VW and Basf, has scheduled a similar meeting with Putin for a month from now.
RASPUTIN
New NYT correspondent in Brazil, Jack Nicas published in the Thursday edition (27) the obituary of Olavo de Carvalho, “Bolsonaro’s far-right guru”, “self-proclaimed philosopher”, “conspiracy theorist who mocked the pandemic” and who ascended with the current Brazilian government “warning about a globalist conspiracy to spread communism around the world”. Also “Rasputin”.
