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German climate activists shut off oil pipelines to protest North Sea drilling

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Environmental activists shut down crude oil pipelines throughout Germany on Wednesday to protest the country’s renewed interest in oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. 

The group, which bills itself as the “Last Generation,” activated shut-off valves at emergency stations for pipelines in Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Greifswald and Koblenz. 

“We are in a climate emergency! The federal government is not only ignoring this, it plans to fuel it further. Wanting to drill for oil in our North Sea now – that’s madness that you have to stop, Mr. Habeck,” activist Edmund Schulz said in a statement Wednesday, referring to Robert Habeck, the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. 

A member of the “Last Generation” activates the emergency shut-off at pipeline in Germany.  (Last Generation)

Germany is not granting any new permits for oil and gas drilling the North Sea under a coalition agreement between the country’s top parties, but some officials have suggested they may need to rethink that amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has driven up energy prices around the world. 

GERMANY TO AUTHORIZE TANK SHIPMENT TO UKRAINE, BENDING TO INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE

“We have to question the decision in the coalition agreement,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told the Tagesspiegel newspaper last month. “Due to global market prices developments, this looks more economical.”

  • Industrial facilities of PCK Raffinerie oil refinery are pictured in Schwedt/Oder, Germany, March 7, 2022. The company receives crude oil from Russia via the ‘Friendship’ pipeline. Picture taken March 7, 2022.  (REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke)

  • (REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke)

Germany buys more than half of its gas from Russia and about a third of its oil imports. 

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Habeck cut Germany’s growth forecast for this year to 2.2% from 3.6% projected in January, and raised its inflation forecast to 6.1%. 

Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom cut off gas to Poland and Bulgaria this week over their refusal to pay in rubles, and threatened to do the same to other countries. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

Biden insists Russia sanctions never meant to deter Putin from invading Ukraine despite prior messaging

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President Biden suggested Thursday that sanctions were not meant to deter the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling reporters now that “sanctions never deter.” 

“Sir, deterrence didn’t work. What makes you think Vladimir Putin will alter course based on the action you’ve taken today,” Biden was asked by CBS reporter Christina Ruffini during a press conference at a NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium.

“Let’s get something straight. You remember if you covered me from the very beginning, I did not say that, in fact, the sanctions would deter him. Sanctions never deter. You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter,” Biden responded.

U.S. President Joe Biden attends a European Union leaders summit, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium March 24, 2022. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Ruffini repeated the question, asking whether these actions could make Putin change course.

“That’s not what I said. You’re playing a game with me. The answer’s no,” Biden snapped back.

“The maintenance of sanctions, increasing the pain and the demonstration [is] why I asked for this NATO meeting today, is to be sure that after a month, we will sustain what we’re doing, not just next month, the following month, but for the remainder of this entire year,” Biden said.

Biden said the “single most important thing is for us to stay unified” and for the world to “continue to focus on what a brute [Putin] is, and all the innocent people’s lives are being lost and ruined.”

“We have to stay fully, totally thoroughly united,” he added.

Speaking with Fox News Digital just minutes after Biden’s NATO speech, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said, “Of course sanctions deter.”

“But they must be structured to be impactful in order to work,” he added, saying Biden should have taken tougher action against Putin prior to his invasion of Ukraine.

Biden’s remarks come after weeks of messaging from key Biden administration officials – including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken – who claimed the sanctions placed on Russia were meant to deter the actions of Putin.

Asked in February whether she believed sanctions would deter Putin, Harris said at the time, “Absolut- — we strongly believe — and remember also that the sanctions are a product not only of our perspective as the United States but a shared perspective among our Allies.  And the Allied relationship is such that we have agreed that the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one, especially because – remember, also – we still sincerely hope that there is a diplomatic path out of this moment.”

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a joint press conference with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda on the occasion of their meeting at Belwelder Palace, in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, March 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Harris also said in February that the “purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence.”

Prior to Russia’s invasion, during an interview with CNN, Blinken insisted that the “purpose of the sanctions in the first instance is to try to deter Russia from going to war.”

Similarly, in February, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said “sanctions can be a powerful tool” and that the overall goal of imposing sanctions on Russia was to “have a deterrent effect.”

“Sanctions can be a powerful tool,” Psaki said. “They have been in a lot of moments throughout history. And what we view them as — or how we’re viewing them as we’re starting high, as Daleep just conveyed here, in terms of the significance and the severity of the sanctions that were announced today — yes, our intention is to have a deterrent effect.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Friday, March 18, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

During that same briefing, Daleep Singh, deputy national security adviser for International Economics, said sanctions “serve a higher purpose” and that is to “deter and prevent.”

“Sanctions are not an end to themselves. They serve a higher purpose. And that purpose is to deter and prevent,” Singh said. “They’re meant to prevent and deter a large-scale invasion of Ukraine that could involve the seizure of major cities, including Kyiv. They’re meant to prevent large-scale human suffering that could involve tens of thousands of casualties in a conflict.”

During an appearance on ‘America’s Newsroom’ in February, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the administration wanted the sanctions “to have a deterrent effect.”

“We want them to have a deterrent effect, clearly,” Kirby said. “And he hasn’t invaded yet. […] So look, if you punish somebody for something they haven’t done yet … they might as well go ahead and do it.”

A Twitter account managed by the Republican National Committee highlighted remarks from officials in the Biden administration who, at one point, claimed that the sanctions were meant to deter Putin.

Also in February, Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said “the president believes that sanctions are intended to deter.”

“And in order for them to work — to deter, they have to be set up in a way where if Putin moves, then the costs are imposed,” Sullivan added. “We believe that that is the right logic both on its own merits, but equally importantly, we believe that the most important fundamental for anything that unfolds in this crisis, whether through diplomacy or as a result of military action, is that the West be strong, be united, and be determined to operate with common purpose.”

Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick and Kelly Laco contributed to this article.

Putin’s miscalculation: Russia underestimated the Ukrainians’ resolve and Western backlash, experts say

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Russian President Vladimir Putin underestimated the strength of the Ukrainian resistance as well as the harsh backlash from the United States and Western allies when he invaded Ukraine last month, experts tell Fox News. 

The U.S. continued piling sanctions on Russia Tuesday, implementing a ban on oil imports from the country in what President Biden called “another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine.”

“Putin miscalculated the Ukrainians’ willingness to fight, the leadership style and willingness to die for the cause of [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy,” Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer and author of “Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America,” told Fox News Digital. She said he also miscalculated “the backlash of Western audiences, Europeans, Americans, and even a segment of the Russian population who are anti-war.”

RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES

Zelenskyy, who has already survived three assassination attempts, vowed to stay in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as Russian forces lay siege to the city, even going so far as to reveal his location in a defiant message on Monday. 

“On Bankova Street,” Zelenskyy said Monday, referring to where presidential offices are located. “Not hiding, and I’m not afraid of anyone.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law legislation that could punish journalists with up to 15 years in prison for reporting so-called “fake” news about his military invasion of Ukraine.        (Yuri Kochetkov/Pool via AP )

Unarmed Ukrainian civilians have confronted Russian soldiers as thousands of foreigners have traveled to Eastern Europe to help the Ukrainian army defend the country. 

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: INTEL OFFICIALS PREDICT ‘UGLY’ WEEKS AHEAD AS PUTIN DOUBLES DOWN

As the Russian military attempts to take Ukrainian cities, unprecedented sanctions on Russian banks, oligarchs, and industries could challenge Putin domestically. 

“The sanctions could make it very difficult to govern Russia, in the sense that people’s savings have been wiped out, factories will start to close, and there are fewer high-tech imports that are needed for the Russian economy. And obviously, the financial elite has taken a real beating,” Timothy Frye, the professor of post-Soviet foreign policy at Columbia University, told Fox News Digital. 

In this March 8, 2022, image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office and posted on Instagram, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Kyiv, Ukraine.  (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Companies started pulling out of Russia almost as soon as Putin invaded, both due to Western sanctions and to their disapproval of the war. Food giants Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi joined the withdrawal on Tuesday. 

“At some point, Putin, who has long been averse to any kind of domestic political instability, might fear the reaction from the elite and from the mass public, and begin to look for a way out of this situation, but we’re not there yet,” Frye said. “It could take a while before we get there.”

PUTIN MAINTAINS 95% OF AVAILABLE COMBAT POWER IN UKRAINE AS WAR PERSISTS, DOD OFFICIAL SAYS

Putin, a former KGB officer known for his ruthless information warfare tactics, also failed to take into account how a war would play out in 2022. 

“[Putin] didn’t anticipate how technology has brought this conflict into the homes of ordinary people all over the world, by virtue of it unfolding on our TVs and on our computer screens,” Koffler said. “He was counting on the fact that he could keep it hidden, not only from the Russian people, but also from the rest of the world. Well, it’s no longer the case.” 

  • A Ukrainian tank rolls along a main road on March 8, 2022.  (ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

  • A semi-conscious woman is attended to by Ukrainian soldiers after crossing the Irpin river as fleeing the city in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

  • Natali Sevriukova reacts next to her house following a rocket attack the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Russian authorities have cracked down on dissent over the last two weeks, blocking independent and foreign news outlets while shutting off access to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. 

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While Putin still has control over the flow of information at home and it is difficult to get a pulse on public opinion in Russia, Frye said the tide could turn. 

“The message will slowly get through, particularly if the military gets bogged down significantly,” Frye said. “This is an extraordinarily volatile time, I think, in Russian public opinion towards the war.”

Iran expert warns Tehran regime’s provocations ‘going to get worse,’ show value of ‘snapback’ sanctions

Recent provocations by Iran show that the United States should reimpose sanctions on the Middle Eastern theocracy, Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Pregent told “Your World” Thursday.

This week, Iran unveiled two new cruise missiles — including one that Iranian state media claimed could bypass enemy defense systems, likely a reference to Israel.

“It’s basically what the regime’s been doing for 40 years,” Pregent told host Neil Cavuto. “It’s going to get worse … That’s why snapback sanctions are so important. And that’s why it’s important for our allies to work together and for more countries to probably sign onto this peace deal with Israel,” he said, referring to the recent agreement between the Jewish state and the United Arab Emirates.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO TRIGGER ‘SNAPBACK’ OF UN SANCTIONS ON IRAN: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has asked the United Nations Security Council to reimpose sanctions removed under the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“[The sanctions] have been temporarily paused because of the ridiculous nuclear deal. And the world will be a safer place,” Pompeo told Fox News on Wednesday.

Last week, the Security Council rejected a U.S. resolution to extend a thirteen-year-old arms embargo on Iran that was due to expire in October as part of the nuclear deal. Russia and China voted against the resolution, while France, Germany and the United Kingdom abstained, a move Pompeo called “really unfortunate.”

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“Russia and China want Iran to stay in the nuclear nonproliferation treaty,” Pregent explained. “The United States wants Iran to stop spreading terrorism and funding proxies and launching ballistic missiles. The two missiles that you talked about earlier are also violations of existing U.N. Security Council resolutions, and it’s also a reason for the U.S. to trigger snapback.

“This is a sign to China and Russia that you cannot just jump into Iran’s economy without reprecussions, and that’s what snapback is all about.”

Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

Iran’s leader points to coronavirus as reason for US to lift sanctions

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, in an open letter, urged Americans to call on their government to end the “dark chapter” of sanctions against his country as it fights the growing coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran last week, blacklisting five international companies from doing business with the country, Reuters reported.

“Our policy of maximum pressure on the regime continues,” Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iranian affairs, told reporters, according to Reuters. “U.S. sanctions are not preventing aid from getting to Iran.”

But in his letter, Rouhani wrote, “Even under the circumstances of the pandemic, the U.S. government has failed to abandon its malicious policy of maximum pressure; and is thus in practice aiding the spread of this virus with its sanctions.”

A person dies of coronavirus every 10 minutes in Iran, health ministry says

He said the “war” on the virus can be won only if every nation pulls together.

Rouhani also wrote to a number of world leaders last week, asking them to ignore U.S. sanctions that have “hampered” Iran’s response to coronavirus, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who claimed the sanctions show “utter contempt for human life.”

Iran has been hit the hardest of any other Middle Eastern country by the virus, with one person dying every 10 minutes, according to the country’s health ministry.

Over the past 24 hours, 123 people died, raising the country’s death toll to 1,556, according to healthy ministry spokesperson Kianush Jahanpoor. It has had 20,610 cases.

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The U.S. sanctions are meant to pressure Iran into abandoning its nuclear ambitions after President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Obama-era nuclear agreement in 2018.

Sens. Cruz, Shaheen propose sanctions against Lebanese officials over American prisoner

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have introduced a biting new sanctions bill aimed at senior Lebanese officials involved in the holding of U.S. citizens — in response to the detention and torture of 57-year-old American citizen Amer Fakhoury.

Fakhoury is believed to be the only U.S. citizen currently being held by Lebanon.

The sanctions legislation — “The Zero Tolerance for Unlawful Detentions of U.S. Citizens in Lebanon Act” — seeks to impose sanctions against Lebanese officials “who are involved in the unlawful detainment, arrest or abuse of any United States citizen in Lebanon.”

While no names are mentioned in the legislation, U.S. officials have been in contact with Lebanese counterparts over Fakhoury’s case, as Fox News has previously reported. The bill brings together Shaheen, a strong backer of the U.S.-Lebanon relationship, and Cruz, an outspoken skeptic of giving financial assistance to the Lebanese government due to Hezbollah’s influential role there.

Amer Fakhoury is pleading the Trump administration to work to get him back from Lebanon.
(Fakhoury Family)

LEBANESE-AMERICAN BEING HELD IN BEIRUT NOW RISKS DEATH SENTENCE AFTER MURDER CHARGE, JUDGE SAYS

In a press release announcing the new bill, Shaheen who has worked with White House and State Department officials to get Fakhoury released, stated: “The U.S. Government has provided ample opportunity for Lebanese officials to free Amer Fakhoury. However, Amer is fighting for his life and time is running out. Lebanon’s officials know that their behavior – which is motivated by Hezbollah’s desire to sow discord in Lebanon – are illegal even under their own laws. There must be consequences for this flagrant disregard of international norms and human rights.”

Since his detention, he has developed stage 4 lymphoma cancer.

Fakhoury was arrested in his native Lebanon during a trip last September to visit relatives he had not seen in 20 years — after he was accused in a pro-Hezbollah publication of torturing Hezbollah and Palestinian prisoners while he served with the South Lebanon Army (SLA) at Khiam prison. The SLA was a predominantly Christian force allied and supported by Israel during its proxy war against Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups in the 1980s and ’90s.

Upon arrival, he had his U.S. passport confiscated and was later arrested. He was attacked by Lebanese security officials, tortured and forced into signing a fake confession at gunpoint.

After he was held without charges for nearly six months, the Associated Press reported that Fakhoury was charged earlier this month by a military judge with murder and attempted murder of prisoners at a jail run by the SLA. He was also charged with kidnapping and torture.

FAMILY OF AMERICAN HELD IN LEBANON CLAIMS HE’S A HOSTAGE, US SENATOR THREATENS SANCTIONS

In a call last week with reporters, a senior adviser to Shaheen said they had done a deep dive into the charges against Fakhoury and concluded they did not add up.

Shaheen’s statement addressed those inconsistencies.

“Anytime a U.S citizen is wrongfully arrested, detained or abused by a foreign government, we must use every tool at our disposal to bring that person home and ensure they are not used as pawns in political games. That’s why today I’m introducing bipartisan legislation with Senator Cruz to impose visa bans and asset freezes against those culpable in Amer’s illegal imprisonment,” Shaheen stated.

Fox News has learned that the sanctions would also apply to associates, friends and family of those directly targeted.

Bill co-sponsor Cruz also said in a statement: “Protecting American citizens both at home and abroad is the most fundamental responsibility of our government, and there is nothing I take more seriously.”

He concluded: “The taking of American hostages is completely unacceptable, and I’m committed to doing all that is necessary to ensure that this vital bipartisan legislation is signed into law.”

Celine Atallah, Fakhoury’s lawyer, echoed both senators’ statements and told Fox News that there was not one shred of evidence to substantiate the charges against him during his time at Khiam prison while serving with the SLA.

In this May 2019 file photo provided by Guila Fakhoury, her father Amer Fakhoury, second right, gathers with family members at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H.
(AP/Guila Fakhoury)

DAUGHTER OF AMERICAN HOSTAGE IN LEBANON CALLS ON TRUMP TO ACT

“There had never been an accusation against Amer of torture, murder, or abuse at Khiam prison, and the first time we ever heard about such accusations, was in an article published by Al-Akhbar newspaper, the same day Amer was illegally detained and tortured.”

With Lebanon in the middle of a dire financial and social crisis, Atallah said the Lebanese people need U.S. support and called on authorities to set her client free.

“It is not the right time for Lebanon to be on bad terms with the United States, and this is their opportunity to do the right thing and release Amer immediately. We also stand by the Lebanese people, who are calling for an impartial judiciary, and we also call on the Lebanese Judges handling Amer’s case to stand up, be brave, not to bow to any political pressure, abide by their own rule of law, and release Amer immediately,” Atallah said.

The plight of the New Hampshire resident caught the attention of his U.S Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who has threatened to sanction individuals involved in his imprisonment.
(Fakhoury Family)

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Fakhoury’s daughter Guila thanked both senators for their help. “Currently the family is undergoing a lot of stress, and in constant fear for our father’s life. We don’t know if he will make it back home under these circumstances,” she said.

She also noted that the family’s business, a restaurant, has been closed, leaving them not only emotionally drained but also financially strapped in supporting the costly efforts to free and get medical treatment for her father. Friends of the family in New Hampshire just recently set up a GoFundMe page to help the family with their mounting costs.

Lebanese authorities have not yet responded to Fox News’ questions over the continued holding of Fakhoury.

Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

US, Sudan to exchange ambassadors, ending 23-year pause, Pompeo says

The United States and Sudan have agreed to begin exchanging ambassadors again after not doing so for more than two decades, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Wednesday.

Relations have warmed between the two nations since Sudan’s 30-year dictator Omar al-Bashir was deposed in a coup in April and a civilian transitional government was formed in August.

The announcement came as Sudan’s new prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, wrapped up his first visit to Washington.

The last ambassador sent to Sudan was terminated in 1996 with the suspension of U.S. embassy operations. The U.S. had designated Sudan as a “state sponsor of terrorism” three years before. The embassy reopened in 2002 but has been run by a charge d’affaires rather than a Senate-confirmed ambassador.

NEARLY 630 PAKISTAN GIRLS, WOMEN SOLD AS BRIDES TO CHINESE MEN: REPORT

“This decision is a meaningful step forward in strengthening the U.S.-Sudan bilateral relationship, particularly as the civilian-led transitional government works to implement the vast reforms under the political agreement and constitutional declaration” in August, Pompeo said in a statement.

Hamdok was in Washington seeking support for his nation’s transition toward democracy. One of his priorities was to win Sudan’s removal from the U.S. “state sponsor of terrorism blacklist,” which subjects the African nation to U.S. sanctions, making it ineligible for debt relief and financing from the IMF and World Bank.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FINALLY RELEASES AID TO LEBANON WITH NO EXPLANATION 

Pompeo praised Hamdok for installing a civilian cabinet and making key personnel changes to break with the previous regime. Pompeo made no mention of the terrorism designation. Administration officials said Sudan is making progress toward removal but has not met all conditions.

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Bashir served as Sudan’s president from 1989 to 2019 when he was removed from his post by Sudanese Armed Forces after months of protests and uprisings. His administration was marred by corruption and accusations of genocide. He is now in detention and is being tried by the International Criminal Court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.