Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany was asked repeatedly about a lucrative for Germany gas pipeline project

"President Biden said it. His secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, said it and so did his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany could not bring himself to state what to his allies is obvious: That in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline connecting Germany and Russia under the Baltic Sea will die.

Standing next to Mr. Biden at the White House on Monday during a long-awaited visit — intended to assuage doubts over Germany’s reliability as an ally — Mr. Scholz was asked repeatedly about Nord Stream 2, but declined even to say the pipeline’s name.

“Many thanks for your question. I want to be very clear,” he said, and then proceeded to be anything but.

“We have intensively prepared so we can concretely impose the necessary sanctions if there is military action against Ukraine.”

Could he explicitly commit to shuttering Nord Stream 2 in case of an invasion?

“We will act together, and we are united,” Mr. Scholz said.

Mr. Biden tried to clarify. “If Russia invades, that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine again, then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,” Mr. Biden said. “We will bring an end to it.”

It was the latest moment for Germany’s new Social Democrat-led government, which has been at pains to stress its commitment to Western unity in the face of Russian aggression, but has wavered on the specifics of economic sanctions that would hurt Germany, too. 

Germany relies on Russia for more than half of its gas imports. As it phases out nuclear and coal power in the coming years, that dependency is set to persist and maybe even rise, at least in the short term.

In Germany, the news media were abuzz with the chancellor’s verbal acrobatics. Even before the current crisis, the pipeline had stirred controversy for bypassing Ukraine and depriving it of transit fees. “The pipeline whose name mustn’t be spoken,” the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said.

German officials play down the importance of mentioning the pipeline by name, but argue that Mr. Scholz does not want to be seen as acting on American pressure.”

 

Is it possible to send Lithuanian President  and minister of foreign affairs to study in Berlin how to talk in diplomatic meetings? Please...