A US diplomat has denounced the controversial Baltic natural gas pipeline as "a special arrangement between Germany and Russia." His remarks have ruffled feathers in Berlin and highlighted growing US-German tensions over relations with Russia. A gas flare in Russia. Michael Wood, 61, is an athletic man. He has an impressively low golf handicap of 12. The former corporate executive has often gone mountain biking with US President George W. Bush, a connection that may have helped him acquire his current position. Wood has been the US ambassador to Sweden for the past two years. He is not, however, very well versed in the art of diplomacy. At the end of the week before last, the Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet published an op-ed article by the ambassador that set down some unmistakable ground rules. According to Wood, when the Swedish government evaluates the proposed Baltic natural gas pipeline project over the coming months, it should examine more than just environmental aspects. He wrote that the pipeline represents "a special arrangement between Germany and Russia" that "bypasses the Baltic States and Poland," which are "potential customers." Wood calls for the EU to speak "with a single voice to counteract the power of Russia's energy weapon." The article alarmed the German government. Rüdiger von Fritsch, head of economic affairs at the German Foreign Ministry, promptly called up the American embassy in Berlin and demanded an explanation. Von Fritsch said the German government was "annoyed" by this highly "unusual" approach.
A US diplomat has denounced the controversial Baltic natural gas pipeline as "a special arrangement between Germany and Russia." His remarks have ruffled feathers in Berlin and highlighted growing US-German tensions over relations with Russia.
A gas flare in Russia. Michael Wood, 61, is an athletic man. He has an impressively low golf handicap of 12. The former corporate executive has often gone mountain biking with US President George W. Bush, a connection that may have helped him acquire his current position. Wood has been the US ambassador to Sweden for the past two years.
He is not, however, very well versed in the art of diplomacy. At the end of the week before last, the Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet published an op-ed article by the ambassador that set down some unmistakable ground rules. According to Wood, when the Swedish government evaluates the proposed Baltic natural gas pipeline project over the coming months, it should examine more than just environmental aspects. He wrote that the pipeline represents "a special arrangement between Germany and Russia" that "bypasses the Baltic States and Poland," which are "potential customers." Wood calls for the EU to speak "with a single voice to counteract the power of Russia's energy weapon."
The article alarmed the German government. Rüdiger von Fritsch, head of economic affairs at the German Foreign Ministry, promptly called up the American embassy in Berlin and demanded an explanation. Von Fritsch said the German government was "annoyed" by this highly "unusual" approach.
On the other end of the line, Deputy Chief of Mission John Koenig said that he was surprised by the ambassador's statements. He underscored that the US position remains unchanged: Washington will issue no comment on the private pipeline deal. Koenig suggested that the article may have been insufficiently screened in Washington -- a PR mishap, so to speak. The two experienced diplomats agreed to avoid a "public scuffle." However, von Fritsch made one condition: Nothing like the Wood article must be allowed to happen again.
The two experienced diplomats agreed to avoid a "public scuffle." However, von Fritsch made one condition: Nothing like the Wood article must be allowed to happen again.
Huh. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Martin Schulz, the leader of the Social Democrat parliamentary group in the European Parliament, even sees the Wood article as a "helpful" indicator of "what the Americans aim to do, namely destabilize Europe."
Cool! Now let's hear something as strong on the issue of visas and airline passenger lists, too. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
"The Baltic Sea pipeline would not lead to a one-sided dependency on Russia, which would in fact be dangerous," says CDU foreign policy spokesman Eckart von Klaeden. "After all, the enormous Russian investments have to be paid off."
There is an increasingly long list of topics on which Germany is standing firm to the US. Which makes France's position (up Bush's ass) all the more annoying. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
