Why Germany won’t kill Nord Stream 2

IN THE CHILL waters off Bornholm, a Danish island in the Baltic sea, a complex game of cat-and-mouse is playing out. A flotilla of Russian boats is rushing to complete the construction of Nord Stream 2, a 1,230km (765-mile) gas pipeline that would double capacity from Russia to Germany. Less than 150km of it remains to be built. Meanwhile, the American government, armed with sanctions legislation, is picking off companies it suspects of involvement. As the saga enters its endgame, the pipeline’s fate may depend on the outcome of this race.Nord Stream 2 has inspired criticism ever since 2015, when Gazprom, Russia’s state-backed gas giant, and five European energy firms formed a consortium to lay a new pipeline costing €9.5bn ($11bn) next to an existing one along the Baltic seabed. American opposition, grounded in concerns that the new pipe will expand the Kremlin’s influence, is bipartisan. Eastern Europeans, as well as France, fear growing dependence on Russian energy—and depriving Ukraine, from which Russia has gobbled territory, of transit fees from an existing land pipeline. Attitudes in Brussels range from concern to bitter opposition.