United States no longer supports EastMed pipeline

The United States no longer supports the proposed EastMed natural-gas pipeline from Israel to Europe; the Biden administration has informed Israel, Greece and Cyprus.

The reversal of position from that of the Trump administration was first reported in Greece earlier this month. Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette expressed US support for the pipeline when they were in office.

Washington informed Athens it was reversing course from the Trump administration in a “non-paper,” a diplomatic term for an unofficial, or off-the-record, communication this month.

 “The American side expressed to the Greek side reservations as to the rationale of the EastMed pipeline and raised issues of its economic viability and environmental issues,” a Greek government source told Reuters.

“The Greek side highlighted that this project has been declared a ‘special project’ by the European Union and any decision on its viability will logically have an economic impact,” the official said.

The EastMed pipeline, meant to transfer natural gas from Israeli waters to Europe via Greece and Cyprus, was announced in 2016, and several agreements have been signed between the three countries on the subject. The three states aimed to complete the €6 billion project by 2025, but no financing has been secured for it.

The US Embassy in Jerusalem said that the Americans “remain committed to the energy security and connectivity of the Eastern Mediterranean.”

Among the proposals the US supports is the EuroAsia interconnector linking Israeli, Cypriot and European electricity grids, “allowing for future exports of electricity produced by renewable energy sources, benefiting nations in the region.” The interconnector “would not only connect vital energy markets, but also help prepare the region for the clean energy transition,” the embassy said.

The US Embassy also said this is “a time when Europe’s energy security is – more than ever – a question of national security,” and as such, the US is “committed to deepening our regional relationships and promoting clean energy technologies.”

The US Embassy in Greece made a similar statement last week, saying Washington still supports the 3+1 mechanism of meetings between Israel, Greece, Cyprus and the US.

Claims over natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean have been a point of contention with Turkey in recent years, with Ankara saying it should be part of the EastMed project.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took the opportunity of the US withdrawing its support to say. “If Israeli gas would be brought to Europe, it could only be done through Turkey. Is there any hope for now? We can sit and talk about the conditions.”

He also noted his recent phone calls with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and President Isaac Herzog and said engagement with Israel had improved.

Turkish state media channel TRT last week aired a documentary opposing the EastMed pipeline titled The Pipe Dream, which includes footage of State Department Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein discussing the matter before he was appointed to his current position.

Hochstein said he would be “extremely uncomfortable with the US supporting this project” because of its environmental implications.

“Why would we build a fossil fuel pipeline between the EastMed and Europe when our entire policy is to support new technology... and new investments in going green and in going clean?” he asked. “By the time this pipeline is built we will have spent billions of taxpayer money on something that is obsolete – not only obsolete but against our collective interest between the US and Europe.”

Hochstein said the project was not financially feasible. It would cost more than €6 billion, he said, adding that international financial institutions no longer are committed to investing in fossil fuels.

The pipeline plan was “totally driven by politics,” but “multibillion-dollar deals should be driven by the commercial side,” Hochstein said.

“This idea came up in 2016, but no movement has been made except for signing some contracts, MOUs [memorandums of understanding] and the big hoopla of politics... Some ministers in the region are talking about the EU supporting [the plan]; they agreed to a feasibility study on the project. That’s a big difference,” he said.

“This is politicians talking, but there’s [nothing] there,” Hochstein said. “This project probably will not happen because it’s too complicated, too expensive and too late in the arch of history.”

Gabriel Mitchell, director of external relations for the Mitvim Institute for Regional Foreign Policy, said Israel’s relationship with Greece and Cyprus, which has grown very warm in recent years, does not depend on the EastMed pipeline.

“The cooperation between the parties has expanded beyond the narrow scope of an undersea pipeline project, incorporating multiple fields and inter-ministerial cooperation,” he said.

Regarding Israel’s future in exporting natural gas, the EastMed was never its only option, Mitchell said.

“The story of the EastMed pipeline should serve as a reminder that these projects require a high level of commercial, technical and political feasibility,” he said. “As one door potentially closes, others could open that present a different but no less important set of commercial and geopolitical opportunities.”

“The EastMed pipeline’s feasibility issues were well-documented, but in the end, it may be other energy initiatives – such as the EuroAsia interconnector – that become the tripartite relationship’s flagship project,” Mitchell said.

US sends aircraft carrier group to Mediterranean

The United States military has sent the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group to take part in a NATO naval exercise in the Mediterranean amid tensions between the West and Russia, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson announced on Friday. 

Neptune Strike 22 exercises, which are set to begin Monday and run through February 04, 2022 will “demonstrate NATO’s ability to integrate the high-end maritime strike capabilities of an aircraft carrier strike group to support the deterrence and defense of the alliance,” press secretary John Kirby told reporters.  

He added that the strike group, along with several other NATO allies he did not name, “will participate in coordinated maritime maneuvers, anti-submarine warfare training, and long-range strike training.” 

Kirby insisted the war games had been “long-planned,” since 2020, and were not in response to the recent Russian military buildup near the Ukrainian border. The drills are not listed on NATO’s website among exercises slated for this year. 

Shortly after the DOD announcement, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg added to speculation as to the timing of the maneuver when he tweeted that “NATO will always do what is necessary to protect and defend all Allies.”  

He added that the participation of the US vessel in Neptune Strike 22 displays “a strong sign of transatlantic unity.” 

NATO forces and weapons in recent days have moved to areas near Ukraine as Russia has refused move back the roughly 100,000 troops amassed near its border with Ukraine. The movements also come amid warnings from the west that Moscow may soon invade the former Soviet nation.   

Spain has sent warships to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and is mulling sending fighter jets to Bulgaria, while Denmark is sending a frigate to the Baltic Sea and France has offered to send troops to Romania.   

Secretary of State Antony Blinken — who met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday in Geneva in a high-stakes meeting to quell tensions— said he wants to use diplomacy to de-escalate the situation. If that proves impossible, however, and Russia decides to pursue aggression against Ukraine, it will be met with “a united, swift and severe response.” 

Asked whether the scope or location of the Neptune Strike 22 exercises had been altered in any way due to the tension around Ukraine, Kirby directed questions to NATO. 

“If this scenario has changed over time, I don't have that level of detail, but I would tell you ... the exercise itself is not designed against the kinds of scenarios that might happen with respect to Ukraine,” Kirby said. 

Iran and India establish shipping links

Deputy Head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Jalil Eslami has said direct container shipping lines have been established between Iran’s southeastern port of Chabahar and two Western Indian ports of Nhava Sheva and Kandla.

According to Eslami, regular container service with a traffic schedule of 10 to 15 days is performed by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) through these lines.

The official noted that PMO is going to offer the necessary tariff incentives and facilities on tolls and transportation costs to support the traders that use the lines.

He pointed out that according to the schedule, the first container service through the mentioned route will enter Iran’s Shahid Beheshti port on February 16, 2022.

Iran and India had previously launched shipping lines between Chabahar and the Indian ports of Mumbai, and Mundra.

The first shipping route between the two countries was put into operation in 2017 between Iran’s Chabahar port and Mumbai.

In January 2019, Iran and India inaugurated the second direct shipping route which passes through Mumbai, Mundra, Kandla, Chabahar, and finally Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.

India is using the mentioned shipping routes to transit goods to Afghanistan and Persian Gulf nations as well as the countries in Central Asia.

Through Chabahar port India aims at bypassing Pakistan and transport goods to Afghanistan and Central Asia, while Afghanistan can get linked to India via sea.

Iran has awarded India the project for installing and operating modern loading and unloading equipment including mobile harbor cranes in Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar.

The strategic Chabahar port in southeastern Iran is the only ocean port on the Makran coast and it has a special place in the country's economic affairs.

Back in September 2021, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called on Central Asian countries to benefit from Chabahar Port capacities for expanding their trade in the region.

US allows NATO allies to send American-made weapons to Ukraine

The United States has allowed three NATO allies to send American-made weapons to Ukraine amid growing fears of an imminent Russian invasion.  A State Department spokesperson confirmed to The Hill that the agency has authorized third-party transfers for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to send “US origin equipment from their inventories for use by Ukraine.”

“The United States and its allies and partners are standing together to expedite security assistance to Ukraine,” the spokesperson said. “We are in close touch with our Ukrainian partners and our NATO Allies on this and are utilizing all available security cooperation tools to help Ukraine bolster its defenses in the face of growing Russian aggression.” 

News of the transfer comes as the Biden administration warns of the immediacy of the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine amid Moscow’s amassing an estimated 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine.  

Third-party transfers are only authorized if recipients of weapons of US origin obtain written consent from the State Department before transfer, according to the agency’s website.

According to Politico, which cited an administration official, the requests from the countries were received in recent weeks, with the last of them being approved Wednesday, a day after being received.

The State Department spokesperson didn’t elaborate on what specific weapons were approved for transfer. But The Wall Street Journal reported that the countries will be allowed to send Javelin antitank weapons and Stinger air-defense systems.

The US has invested more than US$2.7 billion in military assistance to Ukraine under the authority of the State Department and Department of Defense since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

In the last year alone, Washington has committed US$650 million in defense equipment and related services to Ukraine, the spokesperson said, more than at any other point since 2014.

On top of this funding, the US has expedited up to US$60 million in lethal and nonlethal equipment from existing Pentagon stocks since August and in December authorized up to US$200 million in additional security assistance to Ukraine. 

US unhappy on growing Iran-Russia ties

Ebrahim Rezaei, Chairman of the Iran-Russia parliamentary friendship group, said that the West, particularly the United States, is unhappy with the growing relationship between Iran and Russia. 

The current visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Moscow, according to Rezaei, marks a milestone in the government's foreign policy agenda.

Rezaei said the two countries enjoy great potential for cooperation in areas of energy, agriculture, commerce, transportation, security, and tourism. 

The parliamentary friendship group chief said both the countries are eager in negotiating on oil and gas swaps, pointing to the presence of Oil Minister Javad Oji in the president's accompanying entourage to Russia as evidence.

Meanwhile, Iran's First Vice President, Mohammad Mokhber, praised Raisi's visit to Russia. Talking at the cabinet meeting, Mokhber said Iran's relations with its neighbors are growing well, and the visit to Moscow reflects Iran’s fundamental progress in cementing ties neighboring and regional countries. 

Iranian President Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Moscow on Wednesday morning at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The visit is intended to deepen economic, political and cultural interactions between Iran and Russia, according to the official website of the Iranian presidency.

The ministers of foreign affairs, petroleum and economy are accompanying Raisi on the trip.

The president’s agenda in Russia includes meeting with the Russian President, addressing the Duma, and meeting Iranian expatriates in Russia.

Speaking before leaving for Russia at Mehrabad Airport, Raisi said, "This trip is done at the invitation of the President of Russia and in order to promote neighborhood and regional diplomacy."

The pPresident also said, "We seek to establish and strengthen relations with all neighbors, especially Russia in various political, economic and trade fields, and this trip can be a turning point to improve and strengthen relations with Russia."

Calling the Islamic Republic and Russia as two independent, important, powerful and influential countries in the region, the President said, "Cooperation and talks between the two important, powerful and influential countries can be effective in improving regional security and economic and trade relations.”

Political ties between Iran and Russia have been strengthened in recent years. The two countries backed the government of Bashar al-Assad in the fight against terrorists and are now mediating between the Damascus government and the opposition groups.

Iran also joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in September 2021 which was first established by China, Russia and some former Soviet republics in 2001. 

President Raisi said, "In the Shanghai Summit, we will establish good cooperation with all countries, especially Russia. Russia also plays a key role in the Eurasian Union, and cooperation between the two countries in this regard can lead to effective steps to promote trade and economic issues."

Stating that Iran and Russia share common interests, Ayatollah Raisi said, "The existence of common and interactive interests between Tehran and Moscow in the region provides security and will prevent unilateralism in the world. Also, interaction and mutual cooperation between the two countries can affect the regional and international situation."

Referring to the vast potential for cooperation between Tehran and Moscow in various political, economic and energy sectors, the president said, "The current level of trade and economic cooperation is not satisfactory for either country and needs to be upgraded to a much higher level. We hope that this trip will be an effective step towards securing the common interests of the two countries, which are influential at regional and global scenes."

 

Hong Kong to Kill 2000 Pets

Hong Kong officials are killing hamsters by the thousands after declaring the rodents responsible for spreading COVID-19. Meanwhile, in China’s mainland, the blame has been put on international mail packaging.

As one of the world’s last major holdouts of a zero-tolerance approach to the virus, China is fanning unusual theories about the source of emerging COVID-19 clusters despite doubts from overseas experts over the likelihood of such claims.

On January 18, 2021 Hong Kong ordered 2,000 hamsters, chinchillas, rabbits, and other small animals to be “humanely” put down after a health check on the rodents found 11 to carry the Delta variant of COVID-19. All of them are hamsters imported from the Netherlands, from a local pet shop where a 23-year-old worker had tested positive to COVID-19.

While the officials acknowledged there’s no clear evidence hamsters could transmit the virus to humans, they are telling pet owners who bought hamsters from any store in the city beginning December 22, 2021 to hand over their animals for culling. Those who visited the pet store after January 07, 2022 are subject to quarantine. All 34 pet stores in the city that sell hamsters are now shuttered, and imports of all small mammals have come to a halt.

Hong Kong’s pet killing follows heightened virus containment measures in Beijing, where authorities suggested that mail from Canada might have been the culprit for the city’s first Omicron case.

The city’s health officials noted how the first Omicron patient, a 26-year-old woman, who has not traveled outside Beijing recently, handled a parcel sent from Canada via the United States and Hong Kong, before developing a sore throat two days later. They have detected the Omicron variant on both the outside of the package and in its contents, as well as on other mail samples delivered from the same origin, the officials said.

 “This is something not only new but intriguing and certainly not in accordance with what we have done both internationally and domestically given what we know about the transmissibility of Omicron,” he told reporters at a January 17, 2022 press conference.

Health experts have assessed the risks of virus transmitting through contaminated surfaces to be extremely low. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that coronavirus in general “need a live animal or human host to multiply and survive and cannot multiply on the surface of food packages.”

Touting the theory that the virus might have come from somewhere other than China is hardly new for the Chinese authorities. In October 2020, Beijing said an outbreak in the port city of Qingdao originated from a shipment of imported cod. In a June outbreak linked to a Beijing wholesale market, officials pointed to frozen salmon from Norway as the cause, citing a sample on a cutting board used for processing the fish that tested positive for COVID-19.

July last year, amid tensions between India and China, Beijing withheld over 1,000 containers of Indian shrimp on the grounds that the packaging allegedly contained virus residues.

In a bid to deflect growing scrutiny on Beijing’s coverup of the pandemic origins, authorities and state media have consistently put forward claims, without credible evidence, that the virus originated outside of the country. Following a WHO-China joint virus probe in China’s Wuhan last year, authorities have also repeatedly called for origin tracing efforts to begin outside of China.

The regime’s pandemic-control actions, though, have also come at a particularly sensitive time for Beijing. Less than three weeks before the country’s capital opens the Winter Olympic Games, Beijing and cities across China have struggled to stamp out waves of COVID-19 infections.

Hundreds of Omicron infections have surfaced in multiple parts of China even as Delta cases continue to spike. After the Omicron variant extended its reach to Beijing, Olympic organizers called off ticket sales to the general public, saying the entry will be reserved for a targeted group of spectators only.

Five takeaways from Biden news conference

US President Biden held a rare formal news conference Wednesday, one day before the first anniversary of his inauguration. The event came with the president's poll ratings at a low ebb and as he is enduring one of his most difficult stretches to date. 

His legislative agenda has stalled and he faces challenges ranging from inflation to Russian aggression. 

But the president, speaking amid the grandeur of the East Room of the White House, had a chance to reset the agenda with the midterm elections just 10 months away. Here are the five biggest takeaways:

A big misstep on Russia

Biden’s loquaciousness has a history of getting him in trouble. So it proved again on Wednesday. A predictable question on a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine produced an odd and damaging response. 

Biden suggested that a “minor incursion” by the Kremlin forces might not receive much aggressive push back from the United States.

The comment lit up social media, and a second reporter asked Biden about it later in the news conference. 

Offered a second bite at the cherry, Biden missed yet again, this time implying that a limited Russian action would make it difficult for him to drive a unified response from NATO.

White House aides immediately scrambled to try to clear up the confusion. They had little success.

They core of the problem is that Biden’s remarks sounded weak and timid — liabilities that Putin will try to maximally exploit. 

The Russian leader has form. He annexed Crimea in 2014 and, for all its noble-sounding words of protest; the international community has not been able to reverse the move.

The entire thrust of Washington’s approach in its negotiations with the Kremlin has been to show seriousness this time around.

But Biden put a hole in his own strategy on Wednesday, for no obvious reason.

In terms of domestic politics, the remark will also feed into the conservative tendency to portray Democrats as puny on the world stage.

The news conference was long — very long

Biden spent almost two hours in the East Room, and even joked about the longevity of the event in its closing stages.

“How many more hours am I doing this? I’m happy to stick around,” he said.

There were pluses and minuses to the marathon approach.

On one hand, the briefing’s duration was proof of Biden’s stamina and mental acuity — a retort to conservative critics who suggest that, at 79, he is not up to the job. 

In fact, that issue was explicitly — and somewhat pompously — brought up at the news conference by a reporter for Newsmax, and Biden swatted it aside.

But the length of the news conference also played to two Biden-related weaknesses — an eagerness to talk at considerable length and a propensity for inexact language. Those aren’t functions of his age. They are traits that have marked his entire political career. 

In the later stages of the event, for example, Biden suggested he might not consider the midterm elections legitimate under certain circumstances— but the wording of his answer was rather unclear.

Some commentators complained the event grew dull because of its length. 

But that critique is not likely to matter much with the general public, relatively few of whom are likely to have watched the presser in its entirety.

Biden kicked off his midterm campaign

Next to the Russia gaffe, the most politically significant aspect of the briefing was Biden’s shift to a midterm election strategy.

He is not — yet — going full, scorched-earth negative. But he clearly wants to put a contrast between his party and the GOP in the front of voters’ minds

He claimed several times that Republicans were happy to position themselves against him but unwilling to state in plain terms what they favor.

“What would be the Republican platform right now?” he asked rhetorically, citing issues including taxation, the cost of prescription drugs and human rights. “I honestly don’t know what they’re for.”

An old political dictum holds that elections are either a referendum on the incumbent or a choice between two options. 

Biden is doing what he can to make the 2022 midterms a choice — surely seeing this approach as his party’s most realistic chance to cling onto its razor-thin congressional majorities.

Relatedly, Biden also promised to hit the road more, talking wistfully about how he has not been able do more of the old-school politicking he relishes because of the pandemic.

“I don’t get a chance to look people in the eye, to go out and do the things I’ve always been able to do,” he said at one point. “Connect with people; let them take the measure of my sincerity.”

A bite-sized approach to his goals

Biden bowed to the inevitable on his legislative agenda — sort of.

In effect, he accepted that his Build Back Better plan, which he had hoped would be the capstone of his legislative agenda, would not pass in its current form. He acknowledged the same of voting rights legislation, more or less.

But he emphasized the fight for those goals was not over. Instead, he said he would move on to trying to achieve the same big objectives in bite-sized chunks over time.

“It’s clear to me that we are going to have to probably break it up,” he said of Build Back Better, noting as one example that even Sen. Joe Manchin was in favor of some of the big bill's provisions on early childhood education. 

He made essentially the same argument on voting rights and asserted that change happens incrementally.

“I don’t know many things that have been done in one fell swoop,” he said.

Whether that approach is enough to satisfy a restive Democratic base remains to be seen.

Did it move the needle?

It’s tough for any single event these days to shift the political realities of a deeply polarized nation, Biden’s press conference was no exception.

The extent of the damage done by the Russia-related gaffe will only become clear after several days. 

Right now, it’s impossible to tell whether it will fade from relevance or instead come to be seen like other infamous verbal miscues — President Ford’s “there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe” debacle during a 1976 debate comes to mind.

On the flip side, Biden supporters can take heart from the vigor with which the president pressed the case against the GOP. They have wanted more of that from Biden for a while and he delivered in spades on Wednesday.

His remarks hitting Republicans were a reminder that the presidential bully pulpit still holds power. 

Whether that power will be enough to reverse Biden’s current low fortunes remains to be seen.