News of the World

[kyonides]

German Rejects Calls to Ban Russian Oil
Supports Seeking Alternative Energy Supplies

At the moment, Europe’s supply of energy for heat generation, mobility, power supply, and industry cannot be secured in any other way. It is therefore of essential importance for the provision of public services and the daily lives of our citizens.

That is why it is a conscious decision on our part to continue the activities of business enterprises in the area of energy supply with Russia.

However, he showed support for finding alternative sources of energy supplies in the long term and said Germany and other European countries have been working on finding alternatives to Russian energy imports.

European Union (EU) leaders are expected to make an announcement about phasing out its dependency on imports of Russian gas, oil, and coal.

The leaders will announce it at a meeting in Versailles which is scheduled on Thursday and Friday.
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The task will be tough, however, because the EU buys from Russia 45 percent of its imported gas, around a third of its oil, and nearly half of its coal. This makes the bloc vulnerable should Russia decide to retaliate for EU policies by curbing exports.
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On the U.S. side, a ban on Russian oil is gaining bipartisan support.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday said the chamber is “exploring” legislation to ban imports of Russian oil and that Congress intends to enact this week $10 billion in aid for Ukraine in response to Russia’s military invasion of its neighbor.

 It seems Scholz is kind of hypocritical here.

NATO Mulls More Permanent Bases in Baltics, Blinken Says

If there is any aggression anywhere on NATO territory, on NATO countries, we the United States, all of our allies and partners, will take action to defend every inch of NATO territory.

It’s as clear and direct as that. No one should doubt our readiness; no one should doubt our resolve.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that NATO is expanding its presence in Eastern Europe via temporary deployments of additional forces and equipment, and is considering additional permanent bases in the Baltics amid Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.

Blinken made the remarks at a March 7 press conference in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where he sought to reassure Washington’s Eastern European allies, who have been rattled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and fear they could be next.
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Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, commonly referred to as the Baltics, were once part of the Soviet Union and joined NATO in 2004. Estonia and Latvia, in particular, have significant Russian-speaking minority populations and there are concerns that Russia could leverage this in its pressure campaigns, much as it has in other former Soviet republics like Georgia and, now, Ukraine.
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Blinken, for his part, highlighted the additional forces already deployed in the Baltics, as well as ones in the pipeline. He noted the recent deployment of 7,000 additional U.S. troops to Europe, the repositioning of forces already there to bolster NATO’s eastern flank, and plans for 400 more personnel from the 1st Armored Brigade combat team to deploy to Lithuania in the coming days.

Asked about permanent troop deployments to the Baltic region as additional deterrence, Blinked said this was being looked at.
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Lithuania’s government later announced its own plans to ramp up military spending this year, including for Javelin anti-tank weapons, battle drones, and upgrades to its military bases.