WORLD, BUSINESS

The US is trying to reshape the world pursuing its own selfish interests. Pressure is the tool. Diplomacy cedes place to the policy of ultimatums.

Europe’s right to make its own decisions is at stake as the ongoing battle over Nord Stream 2 heats up. The choice is between a strong and independent Europe that is able to defend its own interests and independence or a puppet on a string dancing to Washington’s tune.

Few people believe the US Treasury’s assurances that the 261 million ounces (roughly 8,100 tonnes) in official gold reserves that are stored in Fort Knox and other places are fully audited and accounted for. What if the vaults turn out to be empty? It’s wiser to bring your gold home while you can, rather than to just keep on wondering.

Gas exports to Europe present exciting opportunities but supplies from Russia are cheaper and more reliable. So the US needs to get rid of the obstacle in its way — the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) pipeline, which will carry natural gas from Russia to Germany. Washington will do anything to achieve this cherished goal.

Saudi Aramco (the Saudi Arabian Oil Company) is the world’s largest petroleum business. It owns more than 100 oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabia with reserves of at least 264 billion barrels of oil, which is estimated to be approximately one-fourth of the world’s known reserves of this raw material.

Europe badly needs the stable supplies, if it wants to achieve economic progress. To protect its vital interests it has to defy the United States. The history appears to repeat itself.

On August 13, Iranian lawmakers gave initial approval to a legislation, which approves more than half a billion dollars in funding for the country's missile program and foreign operations of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in response to US sanctions.

President Donald Trump has rejected Exxon Mobil waivers to operate in Russia, which it had asked for and received in 2015 and 2016. In 2012, the then CEO Rex Tillerson negotiated a deal with Rosneft, worth as much as $500 billion in joint investments, to explore deposits in the Black Sea, the Arctic and Russia’s Far East.

Yet another promising area of bilateral cooperation between Russia and Austria is the high-tech manufacturing segment of heavy engineering associated with hydropower and the supply of related equipment and materials, in which the cooperation between Russia’s RusHydro and Austria’s Voith Hydro plays a central role.

Keystone XL Pipeline is a long-controversial proposed Canadian pipeline project through the U.S. north to south, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, to trans-ship the world’s most global-warming filthiest oil, from Canada’s tar-sands, to be burnt and used in Europe...