US ambassador in Germany is scratching at diplomatic "Red Line"!

Source (example):
http://www.uawire.org/the-us-ambass...n-companies-with-sanctions-over-nord-stream-2

Richard Grenell ... this is the former Fox News idiot on duty and who still publishes his bullcrap every now and then at Breitbart Fake News has been US Ambassador to Germany for some time.
He is known to be the direct mouthpiece of Trump ... and since taking office, he has committed various diplomatic taboos. I'm talking about things that, if an ambassador from another country in the US would dare, would cause the collective anger of the US government and the US public ...
With his last action, he now scrapes very hard on the Red Line and that ... at the latest his next equivalent act, could have serious consequences!
In an official letter from US Embassy, Grenell has now contacted a number of German companies participating in North Stream 2 and challenged them with Washington may impose sanctions against them for supporting this project.
This is already the height of insolence, because no ambassador is allowed such an action. His contact for such a letter is only and exclusively our government and nobody else!
Correspondingly, the reaction in our country is also fierce and for the first time in 70 years there are serious voices from left wing to right wing threatening to expel the US Ambassador if he does something like this again ... or even him already to identify.

I can only support that and as far as my sources are concerned, there is already a fierce reaction behind the doors in this direction from our government. In and of itself Merkel has nothing to lose if she does that ...

 

I'm confused, how can Trump be Putin's puppet when he takes this kind of action because of German companies working for Russia? Does this work violate sanctions against Russia?
BTW, duplicate thread.
http://www.politicalforum.com/index...ns-german-firms-over-russian-pipeline.549138/

 

He is Mandelus, well out of line - but what is Germany going to do about it? The desire for independence from the US is definitely there as can be seen by how the EU responded to Trump reneging on the Iran deal...but this is a company he is threatening and I seem to remember reading regarding Iran, most firms were too scared to go with the EU.

You are off topic. However It could be in Russia's interest in that it would work to cement European interest in breaking free of the US and aligning with Russia

 

So ... first of all, Trump's new sanctions against Iran are illegal because they are unilaterally ... quite apart from the fact that they are unjustified. As far as companies are concerned, they simply weigh up financially as far as their decisions are concerned ... as always and with everything. If a company makes 100 million sales in the US and only 3 million in Iran and they run the risk of being (illegally) punished by the US government, then the decision is clear
However, the EU is here to discuss measures, which in turn punishes companies that bow to US compulsion ... but also to financially support companies, or ... and that should hit the US hard ... the agreement to terminate SWIFT in international payments. Thus, the US is no longer able to monitor payments between EU states and Iran or anyone else in the world.

As for the US ambassador, more and more politicians speak up and ask him to make it clear that he should leave something like that, otherwise he is thrown out of our country ... some extremes want to do that now, because he and so other non-wearable things has been done several times.

 

According to you perhaps. Why would unilateral sanctions be illegal while multilateral ones are not? But I do agree that the letter was over the top. How Germany powers itself is only Germany's business.

 

Yes, I know all that. I know that the EU has genuinely done as much as it can to overrule the US's, as you put it, illegal sanctions. However I have read that several big companies are not risking it and Iran is as yet getting little help from the EU.

This is just about Iran not gaining much help

https://www.euronews.com/2019/01/14...mMzI0ODdlMzUyNWYwNjgzMGU3YjI0Zjk2M2RmNTcifQ==

He is not acting as an Ambassador. I suspect the idea is to test you, to see how far they can go and I would not be surprised if he gets worse and worse till it is impossible to ignore. Possibly the US is again seeing Germany as a threat. The one thing the US wants to do at the moment is to keep its position re the $.

 

Because what give the USA the right to force others to follow their will in this? Nothing ... even not the fact to be a super power.
Sanctions are always an issue of a community against an other one where the community has same opinion and same goals they want to achieve with it.

Even it will never happen ... I am realist of course ... but think a moment about following:
What is if aside Israel and some uninteresting countries, no one ... really no one follows these sanctions against Iran and does with them full business and gives a crap on the USA. What will the USA do and what can they realistic seen do against? Nothing...

 

I agree. But it doesn't mean that unilateral sanctions are illegal.

 

But they become illegal if the country wants to force others to follow their will with threating them!

 

There is no other purpose for sanctions. So you say all sanctions are illegal. I say none of the are.

 

Sanctions are international measures adopted by the UN - specifically UN Security Council.
Of course, each country is free to impose sanctions on its companies and businesses that prohibit trade and business with another country ... or, conversely, prohibit any import of goods / services from another country.

So of course, the US is free to impose sanctions on Iran for US companies, etc.

But it is illegal to forcefully extend these self-imposed sanctions to others so that they, too, can abide to these sanctions!

 

No. The US, Germany and other countries impose sanctions as well. The UN has nothing to do with anything.

 

Because of sanctions and to protect itself from future sanctions, Russia started a process of de- dollarization. They also dropped their dollar reserves and raised their reserves of Euros and now hold 1/4 of the world's total reserve of Yuans. I'm not blaming Trump for an anti Russian policy that was put forward by the Obama regime together with his cohorts that control our government even today.

Putin stressed at a recent forum:

“We are not leaving the dollar, the dollar is leaving us",

President Putin brought up the dollar issue with regard to the Russian economy back in November, asserting that by making a weapon out of the greenback, the White House is “shooting itself not in the foot, but a bit higher”. He went on to point out that Russia has no desire to move away from the dollar, but is more likely “forced” to do so.​

Because of sanctions, the nations allied with Russia in the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as China, Iran, India, Turkey, Venezuela are using local currencies and a bartering system between them. More nations are also ready to do so, that way they can trade outside of Swift and Washington can't oversee the transactions. Russia also has it's own domestic Swift and there has been talk of the EU establishing one with the Euro.

 

Absolutely. He should be drop-kicked out the door for stupidity if nothing else.

 

Oh ... someone who is brainwashed by the right winger BS fake news about my country? Nice ... believe what you want, good that I know it from first source better ...

 

Yes ... but in the frame of the US Security Council decision and the Iran Deal lifted many of these sanctions. But the new one are one sided, without US Security Council decision!

I know that many Americans and likely you too is against the UN since they are not further an instrument for the US will to put on others, but is saying sometimes No to US demands ... but it was you who installed the UN after WW-2 and you wanted it.
Only because it can become uncomfortable and the US gets a NO or even it is possible that the US can become the target ... and then to say UN has nothing to do with anything, is simply lame!

 

I don't agree that it is lame, because the UN is mostly comprised of third world countries who embellish the "The U.S is a have, and they are the have not" philosophy.
That being said, my view is that Trump should have negotiated before backing out of the treaty and imposing sanctions. What he has accomplished is to unleash Iran's nuclear build-up and piss them off so that any negotiations become more difficult. Smooth move by
the 'great' negotiator.

 

The euro weenies would never have agreed to any changes trump proposed

 

That is what negotiation is all about. Of course, 'no' is the first reaction and then the negotiation begins and takes many months to come to fruition. But to start below ground '0' is not cost effective an only makes negotiation more difficult and maybe impossible.

 

No... the problem is that since the UN is also acting in well reasoned cases against the USA, it is disliked by the right-wingers in the USA much.
Anyway ... of course shoudl Trump have negotiated and decide a common way here ... but the point is that Iran had never broken the deal content and issues which Trump named like the Iranian Missile Program were never part of the Deal and why should they be ever part of it? Every country has the right to develop missiles how they want ... there is no international agreement like existing with Atomic Weapons about, something what was still evil in case of North Korea.
And even with the Nuclear Weapons ... why is not the same pressure set on Israel and their nuclear program again? Why does the USA is so one sided?

Because the Euros have still seen the truth that Trump is simple a piece of **** and becomes more and more an actor in same league as Hitler, Stalin, Mao?

 

Actually, those nuclear weapons may be keeping Israel alive. If Israel is eradicated the middle east would consist of a nest of Arab
states hell bent on destroying those around them, with no controls.
As far as the U.N is concerned my view is that left wingers also dislike the U.N. The difference is that the left wingers recognize the
importance of dialogue and this can certainly be accomplished in the U.N.

 

Its ironic that a german would compare anyone to hitler

As a rule I try to avoid smearing germans with thst name

 

But this is the good example why the US is hatred ... Israel does not allow any inspections of their nuclear program ... but all others have to allow otherwise they get in trouble with the USA. You understand what I mean?
And this is only 1 example of where Israel got the wild card from the USA to do what they want and to give a crap on any international agreements and so on, they only must declare it is for their surviving. But the reality is at least that Israel is the strongest military power and because they are nuclear armed too ... no one of their enemies is wanting a war which will end in suicide, even the USA and Israel are claiming the opposite.

 

It is ironic that a German must do such a well reasoned comparing to a US President I will say...

 

I think gemans should mind their own business where trump is concerned