It is difficult to surprise anyone in today’s world with another set of sanction-slapping. A bipartisan group of US senators has expressed its intent to put another spoke in the wheel of Gazprom’s 55 BCm per year Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The new bill would amend the 2019 Protecting Europe’s Energy Security law by extending its force to entities that provide “underwriting services or insurance or reinsurance” relating to the construction of Nord Stream 2 as well as provide “services or facilities for technology upgrades or installation of welding equipment for, or retrofitting or tethering of vessels”. In a nutshell, wary of antagonizing European partners even further, Washington is seeking to implement a strategy of legislative precision strikes. Yet the chances of such sanctions derailing Europe’s prime pipeline-construction project remain pale, as we will see below. The new anti-Nord Stream 2 bill is sponsored among others by Ted Cruz […]