Poland

angelburst29

The Living Force
News reports from Poland have been increasing lately, due to it's involvement with NATO and other activities on the International scene.

Poland will keep an eye on the forthcoming Russia-Belarus joint military exercise Zapad-2017 ("West-2017"), but will not take any extraordinary measures against the backdrop of the drills, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview.

Poland to Refrain From Extraordinary Measures in Context of Zapad-2017 Drills
https://sputniknews.com/military/201708061056238275-poland-no-extraordinary-zapad-drills/

The joint drills will take place on September 14-20.

"We were looking and monitoring and observing these maneuvers with great concern, because the scenario of the last two maneuvers was a little bit scary for Poland, because part of the scenario was a military strike and a nuclear strike against Poland, against Warsaw. We are preparing ourselves to monitor these military maneuvers in September. We are not going to take any extraordinary measures, of course." Waszczykowski said.

According to the minister, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will arrive in Poland later in August and Polish officials will discuss the issue with him.

"I think that these military maneuvers of [the] Russians and Belarusian forces are unnecessary, because from our part, from NATO part there is absolutely no inclination of any aggressive posture against Russia. All our doctrines, I mean Polish doctrines, military doctrines, NATO doctrines are defensive. You can look at the deployment of our troops, we can look at the exercise manner of our troops — this is a defensive posture and there is no aggressive doctrine in NATO to attack, to intimidate, to threaten Russia," the diplomat added.


The deployment of NATO servicemen in Poland poses no threat to Moscow's interests, but it is a response to the growing Russia's presence in the region, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview.

NATO Troops in Poland Pose No Danger to Russian Interests - Foreign Minister
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056238038-nato-troops-poland-russian-danger/

It’s a symbol, it’s a token of determination to defend our part of Europe. We joined NATO in 1999, 18 years ago. And for 17-18 years we didn’t have a deployment of NATO troops on the territory of Poland, the Baltic countries and other part of the [Alliance's] eastern flank. Since the beginning of this year we have the deployment of troops," Waszczykowski said.

The minister added that the deployment was a symbol of determination that NATO would protect its part of the alliance, if "any kind of incidents, a Crimea-style incidents' took place on the Polish territory.

"We are reacting to the increase of military presence of Russia around Poland. This is not that we are creating the problem, we are reacting. For number of years Russia was improving the military presence around Poland. In Kalinigrad Oblast [Region] it’s a major military base, there are thousands of troops, thousands of assets, thousands of 'Iskander' missiles now. So the deployment of an American brigade and a NATO battalion group is a reaction to the growing military presence of Russian troops around Poland," the Polish diplomat added.

"It’s symbolic troops. This is not an important combat presence, which is going to endanger Russia. This is symbolic troops, just as I said, as a proof, as an evidence that this part of Europe is going to be defended. But this presence is not endangering Russian interests," Waszczykowski added.


Poland will continue its efforts to cancel the decision of the European Commission to grant Russia's energy giant Gazprom more access to the OPAL pipeline, according to Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski.

Poland to Continue Steps to Cancel EU Move to Grant Gazprom More Access to OPAL
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056237973-poland-continue-gazprom-opal-cancel/

Poland will continue its efforts to cancel the decision of the European Commission to grant Russia's energy giant Gazprom more access to the OPAL pipeline, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview.

We [have] already initiated some sort of action and there are cases in the European tribunals," Waszczykowski said.

"We will continue our policy, we will continue to pursue this policy in the international tribunals, in the European tribunals and the German tribunals," the diplomat added.


Warsaw opposes the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and that's why welcomes a new round of the US sanctions targeting Russia that could affect the project, according to Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski.

Poland Welcomes US Anti-Russia Sanctions That Could Affect Nord Stream 2
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056237619-poland-welcomes-sanctions-nord-stream/

Warsaw opposes the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and that's why welcomes a new round of the US sanctions targeting Russia that could affect the project, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview.

We disagree with a number of European politicians – German politicians and others — that this is primarily a business-based project. No, it is a political project. So if there is an American policy to sanction this project we will welcome these sanctions, because this is the policy, which is going to prevent the initiative, which is going to threaten the energy stability and energy security of our part of Europe. We think that the idea to build Nord Stream 2 and Nord Stream 1 – this idea was against the European solidarity and energy security," Waszczykowski said.

"It is an initiative to bypass Central Europe and in the future to create the possibility for Russia to blackmail Central European countries. Not only Poland, but also Ukraine and other countries. So we are against these projects. We were against Nord Stream 1 and now against Nord Stream 2," the minister said.


The decision about imports of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States has not been taken yet, and the LNG price should be competitive to the gas prices from other countries, such as Qatar and Russia, according to Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski

Poland to Buy US LNG If Prices Competitive to Gas From Other States
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056237519-poland-usa-lng-prices/

"It’s not decided yet to import gas from the United States. Couple of months ago we received one or two tankers with liquid gas from the United States, it was a pilot technical project, just to prove that there is a technical possibility to import gas from the United States. It was a successful project, but now we are just waiting for the terms and conditions of the contract, future contract," Waszczykowski said.

We will, we are eager to, we are inclined to import gas from the United States on the condition that there is a price, which is competitive to the gas coming the other sources, like from Qatar or from Russia. So far the gas coming from the United States is more expensive. But if they put on the table the contract, which is competitive to the gas importing from Qatar or from other regions, we can consider this," the diplomat added.


The EU has faced a new crisis concerning difficulties between the core part of the bloc and its new members. According to experts, this may result in a new massive political crisis in Europe.

'Core' EU Members See Poland & Co. as a 'Burden', Want to 'Isolate' Them
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201708061056233568-eu-poland-tensions-crisis/

The European Union is facing difficulties dealing with some of its newcomers, namely Poland and Hungary. When a dozen Eastern European nations joined the bloc in the early 2000s Brussels expected that they would be easily integrated into the European family; but it was wrong.

According to Bloomberg, a new political crisis is currently brewing within the bloc, based on the inability or unwillingness of certain new members to comply with basic integration principles.

"Poland and Hungary form the rebel core because of their political assault on democratic institutions. Other former communist nations such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania have strayed from the mainstream by rejecting refugees or by plans to make it harder for officials to be prosecuted," the article read.

In an interview with Radio Sputnik, Vladimir Olenchneko, a senior research fellow at the Institute of World Economics and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed to a drastic difference between the core EU members and its newbies.

"This region [Eastern Europe] was genetically incompatible with the EU and after 13 years we don’t see any progress in their integration into the bloc. They still fall behind in economy and cannot comply with European political values," the expert said.

At the same time, some new members, first of all Poland, managed to develop their economy during their stay in the EU. Now, they have certain ambitions that cannot be ignored by Brussels.

"The concept of these countries as a barrier between Europe and Russia has changed since then. Some of them, especially Poland, claim for a sovereign and independent role in this game," political analyst Alexei Martynov, director of the International Institute for Modern States, told Sputnik.

According to the expert, Poland sees Germany, not Russia, as its main rival in Europe.

"Everything Warsaw does is directed against Berlin. Poland sees Germany as its main rival and the most serious danger. But Poland will never replace Germany whatever it does," Martynov said.

Hungary is another headache for the European Union. The principal issue behind Budapest-Brussels tensions is the refugee crisis in Europe.

"Hungary was one of the first countries to face the influx of migrants. In response, the government decided to close the border and build a fence despite Brussels’ recommendations," the analyst said.

Moreover, Brussels has accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of building an authoritarian state.

The role of the United States in this crisis is ambiguous. On the one hand, the US continues to watch from the sidelines. On the other hand, Poland relies on support from Washington while confronting Brussels. In particular, in early July, US President Donald Trump attended a summit of the Three Seas Initiative in Warsaw where he reaffirmed full support for the Polish government.

As for the prospects of the crisis within the EU, some experts suggest that the tensions are likely to further evolve since Brussel adheres to a rather hardline approach. In particular, some European politicians have proposed using financial aid as leverage over such countries as Poland and Hungary.
Olenchenko noted that currently there is the trend of isolating new EU members from the core part of the bloc.

"The leaders, namely Germany, France and Italy, understand that such countries as Poland are a burden for the EU. I guess they will seek to isolate them. Moreover, there is the concept of a multispeed European integration, according to which the leaders make decisions and the rest follow them," the expert concluded.


The European Commission has started a legal action against Poland over a judicial reform.

European Commission Announces Start of Infringement Procedures Against Poland
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201707291055989116-eu-commission-infringement-procedures-poland/

The European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland by sending a Letter of Formal Notice, following the publication in the Polish Official Journal of the Law on the Ordinary Courts Organization on Friday 28 July," the European Commission's press service said in a statement.

On Friday, Poland published the country's new law on ordinary courts in its official journal. EU officials, such as European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, have repeatedly warned Poland from the move saying that the new law violates EU legislation in the issues related to the judicial independence as well as gender equality due to different retirement ages for men and women.

The statement added that Poland had one month to respond to the letter.

According to the statement, Timmermans also sent a letter to Warsaw calling on the country's ministers of justice and foreign affairs to relaunch the dialogue on the issue.

The bill on ordinary courts, allowing the country's justice minister to exert influence on the judges through the power of the judges' mandates prolongation, was signed by Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday.

At the same time, the president vetoed two other controversial bills on judicial reform. The first outlined amendments to the law on the National Council of Judiciary, under which members of the Council would have been appointed by the Parliament. The second draft bill aimed to change the system of appointing the Supreme Court judges and to allow for the dismissal of all current judges not appointed by a justice minister himself.

The EU considers this reform as "undermining the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law", according to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.


Poland has no possibility to cooperate with Russian institutions within the framework of the investigation of the case of the deadly 2010 plane crash that killed then-president Lech Kaczynski, according to Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski.

Poland Has No Possibility to Cooperate With Russia in Smolensk Plane Crash Case
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056238439-poland-smolensk-plane-crash-cooperation/

"For seven years we cannot get information from Russia, we cannot get documents, we cannot get the wreckage of the plane, we have no possibility to cooperate with the Russian justice to get information why this crash happened," Waszczykowski said.

According to the minister, this problem damages the bilateral ties between Moscow and Warsaw.


Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview that he hopes to hold a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in September.

Polish FM Hopes for Meeting With Lavrov on Sidelines of UNGA in September
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201708061056238959-waszczykowski-hopes-meeting-lavrov-unga/

"I hope also that there will be a chance to meet personally Mr. Lavrov for instance in September in the UN headquarters in New York, also to continue the discussion, the consultations on the security issues, on the [UN] Security Council issues in New York. So maybe this is a chance to reopen the dialogue between Poland and Moscow on a number of issues, because for the next two years in 2018 and 2019 we are going to be a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council," Waszczykowski said.

According to the diplomat, he hops to discuss a number of UN-related issues and later the bilateral agenda.

Waszczykowski added that when Poland was elected to become a non-permanent member of the UNSC he had received a letter of congratulations from Lavrov that preceded a number of positive consultations between the officials of the two foreign ministries.
 
angelburst29 said:
News reports from Poland have been increasing lately, due to it's involvement with NATO and other activities on the International scene.

It certainly has angelburst29, however, very few of the recent reports about Poland have involved a positive context.

Whilst being a politically and economically weak country, Poland is geographically located between two world superpowers, Russia and the EU. From a historical perspective it would be beneficial for Poland to re-think and improve its relationship building and risk assessment skills as lack of success in these areas repeatedly resulted in political and economic difficulties for Poland in the past. Take the fact that Poland didn't even have its place on a map of Europe for 123 years (1975-1918) as a result of partitions.

Yet Poland has managed to alienate itself from its closest neighbours and has turned towards the failing US empire.


Poland's relations with the European Union:

angelburst29 said:
(...) "The leaders, namely Germany, France and Italy, understand that such countries as Poland are a burden for the EU. I guess they will seek to isolate them. Moreover, there is the concept of a multispeed European integration, according to which the leaders make decisions and the rest follow them," the expert concluded.
The European Commission has started a legal action against Poland over a judicial reform.

European Commission Announces Start of Infringement Procedures Against Poland
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201707291055989116-eu-commission-infringement-procedures-poland/
The European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland by sending a Letter of Formal Notice, following the publication in the Polish Official Journal of the Law on the Ordinary Courts Organization on Friday 28 July," the European Commission's press service said in a statement.

‘EU membership for Poland is rather like a teaser rate on a bad loan’:
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/398788-eu-membership-poland-polexit/

‘Question mark’ hangs over Poland’s EU future amid rows with Brussels – Tusk:
https://www.rt.com/news/398642-poland-eu-future-tusk/



Poland's relations with Russia:

angelburst29 said:
Poland has no possibility to cooperate with Russian institutions within the framework of the investigation of the case of the deadly 2010 plane crash that killed then-president Lech Kaczynski, according to Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski.
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056238439-poland-smolensk-plane-crash-cooperation/

"For seven years we cannot get information from Russia, we cannot get documents, we cannot get the wreckage of the plane, we have no possibility to cooperate with the Russian justice to get information why this crash happened," Waszczykowski said.

Moscow accuses Warsaw of Russophobia for barred access to WWII museum renovation project:
https://www.rt.com/news/398135-warsaw-russophobia-museum-renovation/

Moscow vows asymmetrical retaliation in response to Polish monuments bill:
https://www.rt.com/politics/398063-moscow-promises-asymmetrical-sanctions-in/


Poland's relations with Germany:

angelburst29 said:
According to the expert, Poland sees Germany, not Russia, as its main rival in Europe.

"Everything Warsaw does is directed against Berlin. Poland sees Germany as its main rival and the most serious danger. But Poland will never replace Germany whatever it does," Martynov said.

Also: https://www.rt.com/news/398434-poland-wwii-reparations-germany/
Poland to seek WWII reparations from Germany



Another interesting aspect is the fact that unlike Poland, EU countries condemned the US sanctions against Russia as harmful to European economic interests.

EU Ready to Take 'Retaliatory Countermeasures' Against US Over Russian Sanctions:
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201708011056072453-us-sanctions-germany-trade-war/

German Economy Minister Says Proposed US Anti-Russia Sanctions Violate Int'l Law
https://sputniknews.com/world/201707311056027107-germany-russia-sanctions/

How New US Sanctions are 'Throwing Europe Into Russia's Embrace'
https://sputniknews.com/world/201707311056035453-us-europe-russia-sanctions/

US new anti-Russian sanctions point a dagger at the heart of Europe
https://www.sott.net/article/357872-US-new-anti-Russian-sanctions-point-a-dagger-at-the-heart-of-Europe



Poland on the other hand welcomes the sanctions:


angelburst29 said:
Poland Welcomes US Anti-Russia Sanctions That Could Affect Nord Stream 2
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056237619-poland-welcomes-sanctions-nord-stream/

Warsaw opposes the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and that's why welcomes a new round of the US sanctions targeting Russia that could affect the project, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview.

We disagree with a number of European politicians – German politicians and others — that this is primarily a business-based project. No, it is a political project. So if there is an American policy to sanction this project we will welcome these sanctions, because this is the policy, which is going to prevent the initiative, which is going to threaten the energy stability and energy security of our part of Europe. We think that the idea to build Nord Stream 2 and Nord Stream 1 – this idea was against the European solidarity and energy security," Waszczykowski said.



Is the support for the anti-Russia sanctions a result of Poland seeking closer alliance with the US?


angelburst29 said:
(...) On the other hand, Poland relies on support from Washington while confronting Brussels. In particular, in early July, US President Donald Trump attended a summit of the Three Seas Initiative in Warsaw where he reaffirmed full support for the Polish government.


By acting in support of the US interests, Poland has chosen an ally that is heading for a disaster due to its world dominance ambitions. How can this be a successful and mutually beneficial alliance?

There are no signs of the current trajectory of the world changing, hence Poland will need to turn to a strong ally for support. And who will that be, NATO? :rolleyes:

Or Hungary? ;D

angelburst29 said:
'Core' EU Members See Poland & Co. as a 'Burden', Want to 'Isolate' Them
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201708061056233568-eu-poland-tensions-crisis/

The European Union is facing difficulties dealing with some of its newcomers, namely Poland and Hungary. When a dozen Eastern European nations joined the bloc in the early 2000s Brussels expected that they would be easily integrated into the European family; but it was wrong.

According to Bloomberg, a new political crisis is currently brewing within the bloc, based on the inability or unwillingness of certain new members to comply with basic integration principles.

"Poland and Hungary form the rebel core because of their political assault on democratic institutions. Other former communist nations such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania have strayed from the mainstream by rejecting refugees or by plans to make it harder for officials to be prosecuted," the article read.
 
Ant22 said:

By acting in support of the US interests, Poland has chosen an ally that is heading for a disaster due to its world dominance ambitions. How can this be a successful and mutually beneficial alliance?

There are no signs of the current trajectory of the world changing, hence Poland will need to turn to a strong ally for support. And who will that be, NATO? :rolleyes:

Or Hungary? ;D

"By acting in support of the US interests, " - That's a major concern, especially as you stated Ant22, "Poland is geographically located between two world superpowers, Russia and the EU. "

Saakashvili was in the U.S. when Ukraine recently revoked his passport. Now, there is a report of him landing in Poland? Saakashvill is "bad news" where ever he goes! Why didn't he stay in the U.S. considering he is one of their useful idiots? This can only spell trouble for Poland?

Ex-Georgian president and former governor of Ukraine's Odessa region Mikheil Saakashvili arrived in Poland just weeks after being stripped of Ukrainian citizenship, media reported Friday.

Saakashvili Deprived of Ukrainian Citizenship Arrives in Poland
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708041056187416-saakashvili-arrival-poland/

Poland's Telewizja Republika broadcaster published a video with Saakashvili speaking at a celebration devoted to the 73rd anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, the 63-day operation of the Polish resistance movement to liberate Warsaw from German occupation in 1944.

Polish lawmaker from the ruling party Malgorzata Gosiewska confirmed that Saakashvili was in Warsaw and that he attended the celebration on Thursday.

In late July, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko revoked Saakashvili's Ukrainian citizenship, when it was discovered that ex-governor of Odessa had violated Ukrainian law by providing incorrect information on his citizenship application. Saakashvili was in the United States at the time when Poroshenko made his decision.

In November 2013, Saakashvili left Georgia as Giorgi Margvelashvili became the country's president. Georgian prosecution pressed criminal charges against Saakashvili in absentia, accusing him of embezzling immense sums from the state budget for personal use.

In May 2015, Saakashvili was appointed governor of the Ukraine’s Odessa region on initiative of Poroshenko, and stripped of his Georgian citizenship upon receiving a Ukrainian passport. However, Saakashvili resigned in November 2016, stating that the Ukrainian authorities did not want to fight corruption.


The Georgian Chief Prosecutor's Office told Sputnik on Monday that the Polish side confirmed it had received Tbilisi's request related to the visit and sojourn in the European country of Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and ex-governor of Ukraine's Odessa region.

Georgia Says Poland Confirmed Receiving Request About Saakashvili's Visit
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201708081056267978-polnd-confirmed-georgian-request-saakashvili/

On Friday, Saakashvili arrived in Poland. Following the arrival, the Georgian prosecutors have addressed the Polish side through the international police agency Interpol, as they pressed several criminal charges against the ex-president in 2014.

"On August 4, the Georgian Chief Prosecutor's Office addressed the Polish prosecutors in the context of Mikheil Saakashvili's issue. Later on the same day, the Warsaw bureau of Interpol received the documents sent by the Georgian side that had been confirmed by their side during the phone conversation with a representative of the Tbilisi bureau of Interpol," the Georgian prosecutor's office said.

The Georgian agency said that the relevant legal procedures on the issue were ongoing.

The Georgian prosecutor's office repeatedly called on the Ukraine government to extradite Saakashvili but Kiev rejected the requests at least twice.
 
The Polish government-orchestrated and media-propagated Russophobia seems to be a part of the overall anti-Russian propaganda of the West. The Russophobic attitudes are very much in line with the American "Russians are coming!" scare.

Even the choice of tactics is similar and with the destruction of Red Army monuments Poland has its own equivalent of the recent madness about removing Confederate monuments, which has recently taken place in America.

Not to mention the construction of the US Missile Shield in Poland which has been described as a "provocative move focused on Russia."


https://sputniknews.com/politics/201709021057023527-poland-russia-russophobia-relations-prospects/
Busting the Myth of Poles' 'Naturally Occurring Russophobia'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has blasted the Polish government for inculcating anti-Russian attitudes among the population. Speaking to Sputnik, political observer Eduard Popov said that while Warsaw regularly uses Russophobia for political reasons, there's no evidence to suggest that Poles have a sort of natural hostility toward Russia.
Speaking to students and teachers at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations on Friday, the Russian foreign minister lamented that the Polish public is being "brainwashed" into holding "unequivocally anti-Russian" attitudes.

"I see here an obsession with creating an atmosphere of total resentment by society of anything related to Russia," the diplomat said, answering a question about the reasons behind Warsaw's anti-Russian policy, including the recent decision to demolish hundreds of Soviet-era war monuments.

According to Lavrov, Poland's Russophobia is being whipped up by people who "diligently" rewrite history, who are working to revise Polish nationalism based on ideals of superiority over others, and who would like to "pin the blame for all of Poland's misfortunes on [Russia]."
This includes Warsaw's claim that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was the real reason behind World War II, the diplomat said. In Lavrov's view, by focusing on the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact, Polish leaders seem to forget that "at the time of the Munich Conspiracy, when Czechoslovakia was divided up, Poland quietly took for itself a very tasty morsel."

"The fact that this was a very serious impetus for creating potential for conflict in Europe is something Poland prefers not to speak about, just as it prefers not to mention that long before the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Great Britain and France concluded their own, similar treaty with Nazi Germany," Lavrov emphasized.

Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, far right, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, second from right, and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, third from right, posing after signing the German-Soviet non-aggression pact in Moscow, August 23, 1939.

Ultimately, the senior diplomat noted that in this environment of hostility, even elementary communication and diplomacy is difficult.
Asked to comment on Lavrov's remarks, Eduard Popov, a Moscow-based political analyst whose areas of expertise include Russian-Polish relations, said that the idea of Poles' naturally-occurring anti-Russian sentiment is really only one part of the equation.

"Poland's anti-Russian traditions have a long history," the observer said, speaking to Radio Sputnik. "Here we can recall the three divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth," in which Russia took part, "the subsequent participation of the Poles in aggression against Russia on the side of the Napoleonic armies, and so on and so forth."

"But anti-Russian sentiment in Poland is just one side of the coin. The other side is pro-Russian sentiment. This too shouldn't be discounted," Popov stressed.

The analyst drew attention to Lavrov's choice of words in saying that Poles were being "brainwashed." This was true, he said, noting that to some extent, anti-Russian views really are being artificially inculcated among the Polish public.

"Polish Russophobia, even though it has its historical roots, is something that is sufficiently engineered, something artificially imposed on Polish society. I recently spoke to representatives in the Polish opposition, and was told the following fact: about 70% of Polish media is controlled by German media structures, while the remaining 30% is controlled by Americans. Do we really need any more evidence that Polish public opinion is being formed along a deliberately anti-Russian slant?"

Ultimately, Popov said that he was optimistic, and that it wasn't worth getting hung up exclusively on the negative aspects of Russian-Polish relations.

"We must remember that along with official diplomacy there is unofficial diplomacy – people's diplomacy. Not all Poles adhere to the anti-Russian perspective being imposed on them. This is something that manifests itself in personal communication. According to polls, about 35% of Poles have positive attitudes toward Russia. This is a very important factor on which to build the foundation of future relations between Russia and a Poland that's free and independent of the West, Popov concluded.
 
[quote author= Ant22]The Polish government-orchestrated and media-propagated Russophobia seems to be a part of the overall anti-Russian propaganda of the West. The Russophobic attitudes are very much in line with the American "Russians are coming!" scare. [/quote]

Poland is so out of touch with reality that they are even building gigantic LNG harbors to import American gas and replace it with Russian variant. It's at least twice as more expensive and from the looks of it that are even expecting it to export it all across Europe. I suspect that's pushing it a bit to far, the more the US will try to force this upon the EU, the more the EU will try to find ways to break free from American hegemony. OSIT.

From what I know not even the Netherlands is building the infrastructure to import and export American LNG gas. And that says something because the Netherlands seem to be one of the better 'team players' within the Empire and they are the port of Europe when it comes to shipping.
 
bjorn said:
[quote author= Ant22]The Polish government-orchestrated and media-propagated Russophobia seems to be a part of the overall anti-Russian propaganda of the West. The Russophobic attitudes are very much in line with the American "Russians are coming!" scare.

Poland is so out of touch with reality that they are even building gigantic LNG harbors to import American gas and replace it with Russian variant. It's at least twice as more expensive and from the looks of it that are even expecting it to export it all across Europe. I suspect that's pushing it a bit to far, the more the US will try to force this upon the EU, the more the EU will try to find ways to break free from American hegemony. OSIT.
[/quote]

Yup, precisely bjorn! There's already been a clash between the EU and the US empire regarding the US sanctions on Russia. A number of EU countries condemned them as unbeneficial to their economic interests, Poland on the other hand supported these sanctions.


[quote author=bjorn]From what I know not even the Netherlands is building the infrastructure to import and export American LNG gas. And that says something because the Netherlands seem to be one of the better 'team players' within the Empire and they are the port of Europe when it comes to shipping. [/quote]

Well, maybe despite being good team players, the Netherlands has a bit more common sense. Poland is not much of a team player within the EU but certainly a dedicated 'Murica' pleaser. It would make some sense if this relationship was beneficial to both sides but it doesn't seem to be so. Take the LNG harbors you mentioned as an example: as reported by Sputnik, "Poland's Hopes for Special Discounts for US LNG are 'Absolute Nonsense'"

https://sputniknews.com/business/201708111056388555-poland-lng-discounts-nonsense/

The issue of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from the United States to Poland has been vividly discussed across Europe over the last couple of months. In an interview with Radio Sputnik, political expert Andrey Suzdaltsev noted that Warsaw hopes to become a hub of American gas in Europe and expects discounts from Washington for its loyalty.

However, according to Suzdaltsev, such a scenario is quite unlikely.
"Poland suddenly declared Russian gas — which it has purchased for decades — to be of poor quality. This is difficult to understand because Germany is happy with everything, but the Poles suddenly don't like the gas for some reasons. But the pipeline gas will always be the cheapest," the expert said.

"In this case they [the Poles] apparently want to become a hub of American gas and demonstrate to Europe that they are the closest to 'God.' The attitude of Eastern European and Central European elites indeed resembles a kind of enthusiastic, religious cult. They view any US actions as a solution to all their problems, and the Poles traditionally think that their exalted devotion will give them certain discounts — that they will receive gas at a lower price and then happily resell it. But, all this is absolute nonsense," Suzdaltsev added.

Earlier, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said in an interview with RIA Novosti that a decision regarding LNG imports from the United States has not been taken yet, and the LNG price should be competitive to the gas prices from other countries, such as Qatar and Russia.
"It's not decided yet to import gas from the United States. A couple of months ago we received one or two tankers with liquid gas from the United States, it was a pilot technical project, just to prove that there is a technical possibility to import gas from the United States. It was a successful project, but now we are just waiting for the terms and conditions of the contract, future contract," Waszczykowski said.

At the same time, Polish President Andrzej Duda declared that the country could become a hub through which American LNG would enter Central and Eastern Europe. According to him, this issue was raised at the talks with US President Donald Trump in early July.



Speaking of team playing skills, Sputnik also reported that Poland overestimated its own value by calling Nord Stream a "blackmail tool".

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708071056241198-poland-overestimates-nord-stream-blackmail/

Warsaw overestimates own importance by saying that Russia is interested in implementation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project in order to blackmail Poland and other European states, member of the upper house of the Russian parliament Alexey Pushkov said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Saturday, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview that the Nord Stream 2 is a "political project," which is necessary for Russia to "blackmail Central European countries" in the future.
"According to the Polish foreign minister, Russia needs the Nord Stream 2 in order to 'blackmail Poland'. Warsaw highly overestimates its own importance," Pushkov said on Twitter.

The Nord Stream 2 project outlines the construction of two gas pipelines with a combined annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas. The new pipeline will be laid alongside the existing Nord Stream pipeline route, and will run from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea on to a hub in Germany, bypassing Ukraine.

Meanwhile, eight EU member states, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania, have voiced their objections of the infrastructure project. The nations even sent a letter to the European Commission president in March 2016, demanding that the construction of the pipeline be blocked over energy security concerns.
 
[quote author= Ant22]It would make some sense if this relationship was beneficial to both sides but it doesn't seem to be so. Take the LNG harbors you mentioned as an example: as reported by Sputnik, "Poland's Hopes for Special Discounts for US LNG are 'Absolute Nonsense'"[/quote]

Great article! They could just as well build an amusement park on the moon. Because nobody is ever going to use it.

However powerfull the PTB are, in the end they can't beat simple economics. Nobody is going to keep buying something that is at least twice as expensive.


[quote author= article Ant22]"It's not decided yet to import gas from the United States. A couple of months ago we received one or two tankers with liquid gas from the United States, it was a pilot technical project, just to prove that there is a technical possibility to import gas from the United States. It was a successful project, but now we are just waiting for the terms and conditions of the contract, future contract," Waszczykowski said.[/quote]

Wait, so they first build the ports, and now they are going to talk about the terms of conditions. Shouldn't that have been the other way around? Like, we will only build the ports if we get a special discount in order for us to be competitive to the Russian gas market. You gotta decide on those terms beforehand, not after. Logic really doesn't seem to apply here :huh:


It seems the US is really expecting that this move will counter Russian gas market to the EU. It's like playing chess with someone who doesn't understand the rules of the game yet is convinced that he is going to win. :rolleyes:
 
Yes, the stupidity of the Polish government is beyond the imagination, and the Polish government is also actively supporting the Ukrainian regime whose hero is Stephan Bandera, whose fraction of OUN (OUN-B) collaborated with Nazi Germans. Bandera was recruited by the Abwehra in the 1930′s for espionage, counter-espionage and sabotage (nickname Consul II). Later in 1943-44 he and his group participated in massacres in Volhynia and Galicia that resulted in death of circa 100.000 Poles.

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/BANDERA,%20STEFAN_0018.pdf
 
And for almost one and a half years they have been imprisoned without a official charges opposition Mateusz Piskorski, Zmiana leader, which is suspected of spying for Russia and possibly China.
 
As far as imports of US LNG is concerned, the following fairly recent article (July 5, 2017) signals the main hubs for that to be the UK, Portugal and Spain:

_https://www.ft.com/content/f7ea9416-616e-11e7-8814-0ac7eb84e5f1 -- UK gets first big shipment of US liquefied natural gas
 
bjorn said:
[quote author= Ant22]The Polish government-orchestrated and media-propagated Russophobia seems to be a part of the overall anti-Russian propaganda of the West. The Russophobic attitudes are very much in line with the American "Russians are coming!" scare.

Poland is so out of touch with reality that they are even building gigantic LNG harbors to import American gas and replace it with Russian variant. It's at least twice as more expensive and from the looks of it that are even expecting it to export it all across Europe. I suspect that's pushing it a bit to far, the more the US will try to force this upon the EU, the more the EU will try to find ways to break free from American hegemony. OSIT.

From what I know not even the Netherlands is building the infrastructure to import and export American LNG gas. And that says something because the Netherlands seem to be one of the better 'team players' within the Empire and they are the port of Europe when it comes to shipping.
[/quote]

I suspect, the "building of gigantic LNG harbors" for "the future" import of American gas - is a cover story - transforming the harbors into Ports, capable of receiving Pentagon/NATO Military ships and supplies?

This was reported back in 2014:

NATO Poland base may be prepared for blitz against Russia
https://www.rt.com/news/175292-nato-poland-supply-base/

NATO’s Europe commander advocates stockpiling a base in Poland with enough weapons, ammunition and other supplies to support a rapid deployment of thousands of troops against Russia, British media reported.

General Philip Breedlove’s idea would be presented to members of the alliance at the upcoming NATO summit in Wales in September, according to The Times.

The general told a briefing in Naples this week that NATO needed “pre-positioned supplies, pre-positioned capabilities and a basing area ready to rapidly accept follow-on forces.”

Several locations for the future stockpile are planned, with the Multinational Corps Northeast, a base in Szczecin near the Polish-German border being the leading contender.

“It would be a 24/7 fully functioning headquarters that forces could quickly fall in on to respond rapidly when needed,” the British newspaper cites a source familiar with the expected proposition as saying.

Breedlove has been advocating a build-up of NATO assets in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe, in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis in the secession of Ukraine’s Crimea to Russia. The alliance has already strengthened its presence in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea and deployed additional military aircraft in Eastern Europe. It said the moves were needed to boost the confidence of eastern NATO members in the alliance’s ability to protect them from Russian aggression.

The stockpiling of supplies is just a step short of a permanent massive deployment of foreign NATO troops in Poland. The alliance says it is needed for a rapid response to a Russian incursion, although Russian generals would probably view this as a possible preparation for a blitzkrieg attack on Russia.

Moscow considers the build-up of NATO troops in Europe as part of a hostile policy aimed at placing the alliance’s military resources closer to its borders.
Russia’s current military doctrine allows the use of all weapons in its possession, including tactical nuclear weapons, in response to a conventional force attack on Russia.

Then this - two years later: May 18, 2016·

U.S. Enlarges Its Military Footprint In Eastern Europe, To Mixed Reviews
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/05/18/478414178/u-s-enlarges-its-military-footprint-in-eastern-europe-to-mixed-reviews

The most tangible sign of a growing American military presence in Eastern Europe, behind the former Iron Curtain, is tucked inside a former military base in rural Romania.

Hidden from view is a U.S. naval facility, where sailors use high-tech radar day and night to watch for incoming ballistic missiles fired at NATO countries. If any are spotted, the Americans would fire back with SM-3 Block IIA missiles.

A second such American site will also be built in Eastern Europe over the next two years, this one near Poland's Baltic coast. It's inside a base that once belonged to the Nazis and later the Soviets.

Once this site is finished, the entire $800 million ballistic missile defense shield for NATO countries in Europe, more than a decade in the making, will be complete.

Top U.S. and NATO officials last week declared the Romanian facility up and running, and a day later broke ground on the Polish site. They say the state-of-the-art Aegis defense system, which will ultimately be under NATO control, is about protecting the alliance against rogue states like Iran and has nothing to do with Russia.

But Moscow considers the American bases on NATO's eastern flank to be a provocation, a position Russia has maintained ever since the alliance began moving into Eastern Europe in the 1990s, following the Soviet breakup.

"After the deployment of those missile defense elements, we will have to think about how we can fend off the threats to the Russian Federation's security," Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday. He has rejected repeated assurances by the Americans and NATO that Aegis is designed to take out only short-and-medium range ballistic missiles fired from outside Europe.

"It is fully compliant with existing arms control regimes," U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said at the groundbreaking in Poland.

"It's not about Russia," added Frank Rose, the assistant secretary of state for arms control verification and compliance, who attended the Romanian ceremony. Rose says the alliance has "been clear for over 20 years that U.S. and NATO missile defense are not directed against Russia, nor do they have the technical capability to undermine Russia's strategic deterrence."

That comes as a surprise to many Romanians, who have a different view of the U.S. Navy's "Aegis Ashore Facility," located on the outskirts of Deveselu, a farming community that is a two-hour drive southwest of the capital Bucharest.

Romania, like Poland and the Baltic States, has been clamoring for more U.S. and NATO troops and equipment since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and its backing for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The Obama administration responded by quadrupling its spending on initiatives intended to reassure its European allies, and it has been increasing the scope of military exercises in Northern and Eastern Europe. The plan also includes adding a third Army combat brigade in Europe, as well as a continuous rotation of 4,000 NATO troops in the Baltic States and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, is reported to have sent more troops and weapons — including missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads — into Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave bordered by Poland and Lithuania.

The buildup on both sides has been accompanied by an escalation in rhetoric. At a change-of-command ceremony earlier this month, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter lashed out at Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. He criticized Russia for intimidating its Baltic neighbors.

"And most disturbing, Moscow's nuclear saber-rattling raises troubling questions about Russia's leaders' commitment to strategic stability," Carter said.

It's making Romanians nervous, too, and helps explain why they are comforted by the U.S. Navy setting up a base in their country, even if the Americans say it's not about Russia.

Marius-Lucian Obreja, who heads the Romanian Senate's Defense, National Security and Public Order Committee, says Russian actions are destabilizing Ukraine. And Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, some 300 miles off Romanian shores, "caught us off guard and leaves us in huge need of help from a military power."

Romania and Poland have both been compromised by NATO, to do it's bidding.

US Signs Heavy Military Equipment Base Deal With Poland 08.10.2015
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201510081028228651-poland-nato-base-politics/

The United States and Poland signed an intergovernmental agreement defining the locations of future bases for heavy US military equipment, Poland’s Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.

Poland has committed to making available the Polish Air Force’s 32nd Air Base land and buildings in the central town of Lask, the Polish Land Forces’ training center in the northwestern town of Drawsko Pomorskie, and three additional military complexes across the country.

The agreement <…> can take the form of deployment of soldiers and disposal of property, equipment, supplies and materials," ministry spokesman Jacek Sonta said in a statement.

Reports of a US military base being created at one of the listed sites, the north-central town of Ciechanow, first surfaced this summer. Poland’s deputy defense minister reportedly sent a letter to the town’s mayor in August describing the military complex tasks as part of an agreement that came into force the previous month.

US President Barack Obama announced a $1-billion European Reassurance Initiative during his visit to Poland in June 2014. The initiative enabled the US-led NATO to increase its exercises, deploy detachments and naval forces across Europe, including Poland, this year.

The two countries maintain a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), under which the United States opened a temporary military base near the Russian border in 2010, set to become permanent two years later.

Poland, alongside five Central and Eastern European as well as three Baltic states, will hold a summit November 3-4 in Bucharest to push for a stronger NATO presence in their countries, including the creation of permanent military bases.

In June, the United States promised to construct military training facilities in six Eastern European nations, including Poland, to facilitate the movement of NATO troops in the region.

NATO’s eastward expansion comes against the backdrop of deteriorating relations with Russia over the Crimea referendum and the Ukrainian conflict.

Russia has repeatedly dismissed Ukraine-related accusations and stated that NATO's increased activities near the country's borders undermine regional and global stability.

All Bases Belong to US: New American Military Base to be Built in Poland 07.08.2015)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201508071025495895/

The new facility is planned to be located in Mazovia Province, in the city of Ciechanow. It will be used for the needs of Polish and US troops.

All this new Military build up - cost money, even for Poland - so they start pulling strings in all directions, even demanding "Reparations" to help meet it's cost. Under NATO's aggression, Poland is being used for a military build up towards Russia ... while the other hand is asking Russia to help foot the bill, by demanding Reparations for former war activities?

Lawmakers from the Polish ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party said on Saturday they believed that Warsaw had a right to demand the World War II reparation payments from both Berlin and Moscow.

Polish Ruling Party Claims Warsaw Has Right to Demand Reparations From Moscow
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201709021057026599-poland-russia-reparation-payments/

Polish ruling Law and Justice lawmaker Jan Mosinski said, as quoted by the Polish radio, that it would be fair to "gather at the table and discuss how these military reparations could be done." Similarly, Polish Deputy Justice Minister Patryk Jaki stressed that after 1945 Poland "spent trillions of zlotys" to rebuild the state after World War II.

"Imagine if we had spent this money on Poland's development instead of spending it to cover war damage. Today, Poland would be twice as strong economically, all of us would earn twice as much as in the West without these damages and wars," Jaki said.

The German state bears responsibility for this and there are no doubts about that, the deputy justice minister noted.

At the same time, both politicians believe that Poland has the right to demand military reparations not only from Germany but also from Russia.

Mosinski recalled that in 1921, Soviet Russia and Poland signed the Treaty of Riga, under which the former had to repay Poland 30 million rubles in gold. Mosinski noted that this monetary compensation had not been provided.

The PiS lawmaker stressed that Russia, which was "as a successor of Soviet Russia" had to think about "how to deal with the Treaty of Riga."
 
Palinurus said:
As far as imports of US LNG is concerned, the following fairly recent article (July 5, 2017) signals the main hubs for that to be the UK, Portugal and Spain:

_https://www.ft.com/content/f7ea9416-616e-11e7-8814-0ac7eb84e5f1 -- UK gets first big shipment of US liquefied natural gas

I just discovered that this link is concealed behind a pay-wall and therefore I copy/paste the contents below -- as the google crawlers apparently had access to it:

UK gets first big shipment of US liquefied natural gas

America set to become net exporter of LNG because of bumper shale production

July 5, 2017 Anjli Raval, Oil and Gas Correspondent

The UK is set to receive its first big US liquefied natural gas shipment this week, as growing US supplies of the super-cooled fuel find new buyers in Europe.

The LNG cargo from the Sabine Pass facility in the Gulf of Mexico will arrive at the Isle of Grain terminal around July 8, according to industry sources. The cargo has been loaded on to the Maran Gas Mystras tanker, chartered by France’s Total.

As European countries seek to reduce their reliance on Russian pipeline gas, US LNG supplies could provide one alternative in the coming years amid greater focus on energy security.

“Aside from pipeline gas, the UK and Europe have relied on LNG from Algeria, Nigeria and Qatar. The US in time to come will provide another option,” said Ed Cox, editor of Global LNG Markets at ICIS, which provides pricing information and market analysis.

The latest cargo he said comes as demand for spot cargoes in the global market is weak and Europe is the market for last resort.

“We’ve been expecting the UK to take cargoes, it’s just taken longer than expected,” he said, adding that the Sabine Pass plant that began shipping cargoes last year had already sent LNG elsewhere in Europe such as Portugal and Spain.

After decades of being a big importer of natural gas, the US is to be a net exporter because of the country’s bumper production caused by the development of previously uncommercial shale reserves.

Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass export terminal is the only one in operation, with five others that are under construction expected to come online by 2020.

Global supplies of LNG are set to expand by almost 50 per cent between 2015 and 2020, keeping pressure on prices and making it more competitive against coal and other power sources.

As the US turns into a big exporter of LNG alongside Australia as well as Russia, flows into Europe are expected to grow in the coming years.

LNG supplies into Europe have risen 10 per cent in the first six months of this year, industry data show, compared with the same period in 2016.

The continent has ample import facilities and infrastructure to convert LNG back into natural gas.

In Europe the fuel can also be used in a variety of purposes from power generation to manufacturing to household heating. Additionally, the gas networks between north-west European countries mean buyers can also effectively arbitrage between LNG and pipeline prices.

Isle of Grain in the south-east of England has almost 15m metric tonnes a year — or almost 21bn cubic metres — of regasification capacity. This is the process through which LNG is converted back into natural gas for use in power plants.

There are several big capacity holders at the Isle of Grain. BP and Centrica in the UK, alongside mainland European companies such as Iberdrola and Engie as well as Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach.

Isle of Grain has received seven LNG cargoes so far this year, according to the LNG Edge analytics platform, from countries including Qatar, Algeria, Peru and the Dominican Republic.

While the US exported LNG in small volumes to Canvey Island in the 1960s, this is the first from the new US Gulf production.

The vessel has capacity of 160,000 cu m of LNG, enough to supply about 50 per cent of the UK’s daily gas demand in the summer.

The shipment, along with another from Nigeria later this month, could help to meet high UK export demand.

The Britain-Belgium Interconnector pipeline has been exporting record volumes to mainland Europe as countries such as Germany and the Netherlands replenish gas stockpiles.

The price of natural gas trading in Europe, as measured by the UK National Balancing Point (NBP) front month hub price for August, hit $4.80 per million British thermal units. This is the lowest of any regional hub, implying the demand for exports from the UK will continue, analysts said.


Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2017. All rights reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't copy articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web
.
 
marek760 said:
Yes, the stupidity of the Polish government is beyond the imagination, and the Polish government is also actively supporting the Ukrainian regime whose hero is Stephan Bandera, whose fraction of OUN (OUN-B) collaborated with Nazi Germans. Bandera was recruited by the Abwehra in the 1930′s for espionage, counter-espionage and sabotage (nickname Consul II). Later in 1943-44 he and his group participated in massacres in Volhynia and Galicia that resulted in death of circa 100.000 Poles.

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/BANDERA,%20STEFAN_0018.pdf

Many politicians care nothing for ideology. They adopt them and discard them and adopt their antithesis with ease and as necessary.
 
Palinurus said:
As far as imports of US LNG is concerned, the following fairly recent article (July 5, 2017) signals the main hubs for that to be the UK, Portugal and Spain:

_https://www.ft.com/content/f7ea9416-616e-11e7-8814-0ac7eb84e5f1 -- UK gets first big shipment of US liquefied natural gas

Thanks for the link Palinurus, I guess it would have been more effective if I had read up about it to get a fuller picture.

The article doesn't say how the price of the US LNG compares to other sources and according to the British Gas website (_https://www.britishgas.co.uk/the-source/our-world-of-energy/energys-grand-journey/where-does-uk-gas-come-from), 35% of British gas comes from Russia. I do wonder how this is going to work out for the EU since it doesn't look like American LNG is going to be cheaper than Russian. I suspect that once the outcomes of all these sanctions and manipulations get delivered to people through the letterbox in a very tangible form of their gas bill people may begin to support the idea of punishing Russia at all costs a little less.

https://sputniknews.com/politics/201708231056725364-us-lng-russia-gas-eu/

Russian natural gas is still incredibly popular in the EU regardless of Washington's attempts to displace Moscow and occupy the European energy market, Davide Tabarelli of Nomisma Energia research company told Sputnik.
Despite US efforts to isolate Europe from Russia, the latter will remain one of the EU's major suppliers of natural gas for decades to come, Davide Tabarelli, the head of Nomisma Energia, an independent research company that deals with energy and environmental issues, told Sputnik Italia.

Tabarelli pointed out that Europe has recently become the main arena of the political struggle between Washington and Moscow.

"Europe is of particular interest [for the US and Russia] because of its wealth, culture, history, and the energy industry. Russia receives considerable financial resources by exporting gas to Europe," he said.

The expert noted that Italy has fallen prey to the US political ambitions along with other European states.

"Italian companies Eni, Saipem, Bonatti and other are involved in big energy projects such as [Russia's] Nord Stream," Tabarelli told Sputnik, "There were also South Stream and Turkish Stream [pipeline projects] and here one should say about the strategic defeat of Italy in the field of energy — the issue which remains largely neglected. Several years ago South Stream was considered to be an optimal solution to construct a gas pipeline bypassing Ukrainian and to strengthen relations with Russia."

"However, this project was abandoned," the Italian expert said, "This was a great loss for both [Italian] and European companies [in general]."
Tabarelli said that despite the crisis simmering in Ukraine, Russia continues to deliver natural gas to the EU without interruption.

"Despite the [anti-Russian] sanctions and other difficulties, Russia remains the main supplier for one simple reason: Russia is Europe, it is located closer [to the EU] than other [suppliers]. In addition, Russia, like Iran, is ranked first in terms of natural gas reserves," the Italian expert explained.

Whether one likes it or not, Russian natural gas will remain off the charts in Europe, according to Tabarelli.

"Russia has huge reserves of natural resources, including gas, which production costs much lower than that in the US," he stressed. "[Therefore], Europe will continue to import natural gas from Russia."

"Russian gas will be much more competitive [in the EU]," the expert believes, adding that the additional costs of extracting, transporting, exporting, liquefying and regasification of the American LNG, simply mean that the price is much higher than the same product from Russia.

More importantly, the energy sector will continue to be of strategic importance for Europe since the sustainable development of the EU's economy largely relies on uninterrupted energy supplies.

"In the future, energy issues will become even more connected to the policy and strategy of a state," Tabarelli believes.

The European energy market has become yet another "battle ground" for Washington and Moscow: the US is trying to displace Russia as the main supplier of natural gas to the EU.

In June the US began exports of liquefied natural (LNG) gas to Eastern Europe with first LNG cargo arriving in Poland on June 8. According to Bloomberg, Polish state-owned company PGNiG SA opened an LNG trading office in London in February, aiming to make Poland "a gateway for American LNG to central and eastern Europe."

However, Russia's supplies of natural gas are far more "convenient" and cheap in comparison with America's LNG. It is no secret to the Europeans that the cost of transportation and regasification of the American LNG is rather high.

The latest package of anti-Russian sanctions is aimed, in particular, against the country's energy sector and, most notably, the Nord Stream-2 project. In raising these sanctions, Washington is seemingly attempting to undermine Russia's energy market leadership in the EU.

But it's not just Moscow that will feel the pain, the restrictive measures will deal a heavy blow to the EU economy given the fact that Russia is providing up to 35% of all gas imported by Europe, according to Bloomberg.
 
Putin stating the obvious in the following clip:

Putin: Our gas is cheaper (1:45 min)

https://youtu.be/kvqYnPwux3s

[quote author= Putin]Because to date, it is an obvious fact that any specialist would tell you: the cost of production and delivery of liquefied natural gas from the US is much higher than our LNG and is not even comparable to Russian pipeline gas. So, there is no doubt that we have an absolute competitive advantage.[/quote]
 
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