“Transatlantic irritation”

Germany’s indignation over the US Senate’s planned expansion of economic sanctions on Russia illustrates “the whole extent of irritation in the current transatlantic relationship”, Richard Herzinger writes in Die Welt. Leading German officials find themselves hand in glove with Trump when it comes to making profitable deals with Russia, Herzinger says. “That [German foreign minister Sigmar] Gabriel pretends to speak for all Europeans on this matter is pure arrogance,” he argues. The current US administration’s words and actions are causing great damage for the alliance of Western democracies, but “a more assertive Europe” should work towards restoring this alliance instead of further disrupting it, Herzinger says.

Read the article in German here.  

See the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and its implications for international security for background.