“Germany hooks up a pipeline into Russia, where Germany is going to be paying billions of dollars for energy into Russia. And I’m saying, ‘What’s going on with that?”’ President Trump said at a recent meeting with the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia at the White House. The remark certainly reflected the views of the Baltic leaders on Nord Stream 2, but what it did not reflect was Germany’s view on the matter, and Germany is the destination of the expanded pipeline. Germany fully approved Nord Stream 2 at the end of March, and its regulator was confident that the approvals from the other four countries along the route of the pipeline will come soon. This week, Finland granted the first of two approvals for the project. Russia, Sweden, and Denmark remain. Germany will certainly do what needs to be done to convince Sweden and Denmark that Nord […]