SCANDAL: German Media SHOCKED That Putin Offered Merkel Flowers Instead of Handshake

Last Sunday, when we discussed the implications of the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal, we decided that America demands solidarity from Europe, that is, severing trade and economic ties with Iran.

Last Sunday, when we discussed the implications of the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal, we decided that America demands solidarity from Europe, that is, severing trade and economic ties with Iran. Otherwise, the EU itself will fall under the so-called US secondary sanctions.

Mikhail Antonov, Chief of our European office, is reporting on this week's developments.

 

But first, let's speculate on Europe's ability to resist. Probably, the last European politician who saw America as a threat and could effectively resist it was General Charles de Gaulle, President of France until 1969. De Gaulle, for example, scornfully called US dollars "green wrappers." He once sent a large ship packed with bales of dollar bills to New York, followed by a cargo plane full of "green wrappers," demanding that the then-president Johnson exchange the currency for gold at the official rate. If he refused, de Gaulle threatened to expel 35,000 NATO troops from France and close 29 military bases of the Alliance. De Gaulle won. He took over 3,000 tons of gold out of the US. After that, the US announced that the dollar was no longer guaranteed by gold and shifted to floating exchange rates. It was called a "currency snake".

Then America tried to treat Europe relatively gently, at least, on the face of it. The US was more or less polite in the so-called transatlantic relations. Figuratively speaking, Europe wasn't lectured, and diplomacy looked quite polite. Of course, Germany, with dozens of American bases, remained, in essence, an occupied country. Of course, Europe was forced to splurge on American weapons. Of course, America dragged Europe into dirty wars be it in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, or Syria. Of course, trade and mutual payments in the world energy market were in US dollars. But still, they officially served the decencies. The boss didn't allow himself indelicacy towards the poor cousin.

Now, with Trump, there are other times and other manners. It's like if a cowboy from a saloon showed up at a ball and called a spade a spade. The European ladies in hoop skirts aren't used to this, they blush. They don't know what do, they feel very vulnerable, to say the least.

President Putin has already said that sovereignty is a luxury, available to only a few countries. Nowadays, we can see how true it is in Europe's example. Trump begins to squeeze out the EU like a mop, openly suggesting the world with one Leader and one sovereignty. The US has nothing to counter the EU with. Sure, certain internal EU laws are being developed, they are meant to block US sanctions. However, even Angela Merkel has no illusions about their potential effectiveness.

Angela Merkel, Federal Chancellor of Germany: "Of course, this blockade in Brussels is discussed. However, this defense mechanism should not give any false hope. These won't be large reimbursements, these are economic decisions that are up to the companies to make".

Basically, Volkswagen and Siemens have to shut down their Iran projects on their own. The same goes for Airbus and France's Peugeot, Renault, and Total. By the way, Total has already published their official announcement.

"Total has always been clear that it cannot afford to be exposed to any secondary sanction, which might include the loss of financing in dollars by US banks for its worldwide operations (US banks are involved in more than 90% of Total's financing operations), the loss of its US shareholders (US shareholders represent more than 30% of Total's shareholding), or the inability to continue its US operations (US assets represent over 10 billion dollars of capital employed)".

Merkel is obviously concerned, nobody has ever given her such ultimatums before. She made an urgent visit to Russia, to Sochi, to see Putin. For Europe, it's not quite a turnaround towards the East but it's definitely exploratory. For Merkel, talking to a nice, understanding, and polite man is a cherished joy. Putin has calmed her down.

Vladimir Putin: "I don't think it's necessary to connect the growing financial relations between Russia and Germany to our relations with other countries. I've already said that Germany is one of our key business partners. Several years ago, our total trade was about 80 billion dollars. Thank God, it's grown since then, reaching 50 billion dollars. Hundreds of thousands of jobs depend on our partnership. That includes both Russia and Germany. Hundreds of thousands. We've recently begun to purchase large volumes of German-made merchandise again. This is our way of supporting German jobs. There are also thousands of joint enterprises, along with our co-operation. This is an essential factor that affects the lives of Germans and Russians. We've never lost contact even during the hardest times".

Thanks to Trump, Merkel spoke way softer than we're all used to.

Angela Merkel: "We have strategic interests in maintaining good relations with Russia. Even during our hardest times, I've always stood for the Russia-NATO Council to continue working with EU as well to ensure consistent contacts, which is why I think it's essential to maintain the dialogue".

It's important that both leaders have shown interest in the 'Nord Stream-2' project. From Merkel, it sounded like confirming the course no matter what.

Angela Merkel: "We also consider 'Nord Stream-2' as an economic commercial project. But, it also has other factors. Thus, we need to think of guarantees for Ukraine regarding this matter".

Putin talked about 'Nord Stream-2' more frankly, which was music to the woman's ears. He explained everything one step at a time.

Vladimir Putin: "First of all, it's support for Ukraine who doesn't really want a relationship with us, but has no problem taking our money for transit, which is about 2-3 billion dollars annually. They want us to give some of our money to Ukraine. We don't really mind, we're willing to keep this transit if it's economically viable, which can be achieved via negotiations. We're willing to negotiate with Ukraine about this matter. The thing is that 'Nord Stream-2' may be used for more than just distributions to Germany alone. It can be used for distributions to other countries, too, especially considering that UK's and Norway's extraction volumes are dropping. The European countries' demand in this industry is growing, but local extraction volume is dropping. Donald isn't just a US President today, he's also a steady, successful entrepreneur. Thus, I believe he's promoting his business to sell the US-produced liquid gas in Europe. Is it possible? It is. However, it's expensive. It's about 25-30% more expensive than Russian piped gas in Europe. Europe has a lot of machines that collect liquid gas nowadays. These machines are only used at 25-30% of their full capability, that's all. Why? It's not economically viable, it's too expensive".

For Merkel, the trip to Sochi was like a breath of fresh air. Germany's largest tabloid, Bild found a way to bully her for this urgent express business visit. They didn't even like the fact that Vladimir Putin had greeted Merkel at his residence with flowers. They were elegant roses and freesias, which turned out to really complement his guest. German Bild interpreted Putin's bouquet for Merkel to be nothing short of an insult. They said that politicians of such level shall only shake hands, flowers are inappropriate. Bild suggested that Putin tried to emphasize that Merkel is a woman with this gesture. That's why they consider it an insult. Isn't it ridiculous? As far as we know, Merkel doesn't plan to have a transsexual surgery. She feels very comfortable the way she is. She's a woman, nobody is disputing that, it's just a fact. Since when being a woman can humiliate or insult anybody in Europe? This goes for either gender. Perhaps, Bild thinks otherwise. Sure, Putin was gallant and acted as a gentleman but it doesn't harm their professional relationship. On the contrary, it lightens up the mood.