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Originally Posted by Catfish
The US effectively destroyed any russian leverage that was left via the Nordstream pipes.
Leaving the US with a lot more leverage via LNG deliveries.
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Which might be called eliminating the competition I suppose but not "blackmail". Blackmail is threatening to do something if the victim doesn't pay or do something else you want them to do. Are you saying that Biden threatened your government that we would destroy the pipelines if they didn't pay their NATO dues or something and then actually did it when you continued to welsh on your alliance responsibilities or what?? Maybe there is something lost in translation here but I just don't see how what happened, if done by the USA, constitutes blackmail.
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If Russia just kept turning it off (without destroying it) it would make a bit more sense, don't you think so?
They could open the tap anytime if the EU states complied, now there is no leverage left.
And as Rockstar quoted, it was even announced.
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Not really, as the Russians never shut off the pipeline as a Punitive Action for Germany's assistance to Ukraine (what little there was of it), but rather they claimed that equipment failures were the cause of the disruption, reasons which were soon debunked. This provides them a solid justification for the long term shutdown and casts aspersions upon their enemy. Sounds like something they would do, don't you think so?