It is time for Zelensky to woo the Danish government.

The tumultuous nature of the year 2020 for politicians all around the world cannot be underestimated. 

The pandemic of Covid 19 has not only thrown the global economy into turmoil, it has also brought home to many lawmakers and politicians their human vulnerability to a virus that does not choose whom to infect.

This vulnerability has also publicly exposed the extent and degree to which many politicians and lawmakers are now desperately trying to cling to power.

It is therefore not surprising that in his last days in office Donald Trump, the outgoing president of the US, is now, in the words of Ari Melber,

" ..... but instead they [the Republicans] are focussed  ..... [on] ....  joining Trump's attempt to steal ...  [the US presidential] election [that Biden won] .... (MSNBC : 31 December 2020) (my emphasis)

 What is ironic is that in Ukraine we have a similar type of drama unfolding.

As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW),

"The head of Ukraine's Constitutional Court, Oleksandr Tupytsky (left), is being investigated for suspected bribery of a witness, prosecutors announced on Monday.

The Prosecutor General's office also asked President Volodymyr Zelensky to suspend Tupytsky for two months after he failed to show up for police questioning." (DW : 28 December 2020) (my emphasis)

Oleksandr Tupytsky, like Trump, is desperately trying to bend the laws of Ukraine to escape being tried for his alleged crimes.

As reported by UNIAN,

"The Constitutional Court has branded "illegitimate" a presidential decree suspending CCU chairman, Oleksandr Tupytsky.

"The decree, issued by President of Ukraine, is not based on the Constitution of Ukraine, and does not correspond to it. The powers of President of Ukraine are determined exclusively by the Basic Law of Ukraine," the commentary says.

At the same time, it is noted that the Constitution does not endow the President with the right to "suspend a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine." Moreover, the Constitution has laid down no possibility for suspending a CCU judge whatsoever, the Constitutional Court stressed." (UNIAN : 30 December 2020) (my emphasis)

Zelensky's office, however, is pushing back against this statement of  the Constitutional Court of Ukraine

"Any "statements" posted on the website of the Constitutional Court, on which the court made no decisions, are legally null and void, says the President's Office.
...
    "Neither the above, nor any other normative legal act of Ukraine provides for the possibility of posting on the CCU's official website a statement by CCU Secretariat's Legal Department, drafted by no one knows whom, with the content that implied misappropriation of CCU powers by its Legal Department," the statement notes." (UNIAN : 30 December 2020) (my emphasis)

Meanwhile, Putin and Merkel's continued attempts to link Putin's Russia and Merkel's Germany with the umbilical cord of the Nord Stream2 pipeline continues to have obstacles thrown in its path.

 As reported by Andrea Shalal,

"The outgoing Trump administration is readying a fresh round of congressionally mandated sanctions “in the very near future” that it believes could deal a fatal blow to the Russia-to-Germany project led by state gas company Gazprom , three officials said.

“We’ve been getting body blow on body blow to this, and now we’re in the process of driving a stake through the project heart,” said one of the officials, who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity. (Reuters : 23 December 2020) (my emphasis)

Trump, however, tried to veto this defence policy but to no avail.

As reported by UNIAN,

"The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to override President Donald Trump's veto on a defense policy bill that would provide, among other things, financial aid to Ukraine and sanctions on companies involved in the construction of Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline." (UNIAN : 29 December 2020) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, on the horizon we have,

"Azerbaijan has started commercial natural gas supplies to Europe via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the energy ministry said on Thursday, beginning its push into the lucrative energy market dominated by Russia.
...
TAP is a part of the $40 billion Southern Gas Corridor, stretching 3,500 km from Azerbaijan to Europe and drawing from Azerbaijan’s giant Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea.

The project has the backing of the European Commission as part of efforts to curb Europe’s dependence on Russian energy" (Nailia Bagirova : Reuters : 31 December 2020) (my emphasis)

It is no wonder that,

"Russia is stepping up work on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline before the U.S. tightens sanctions against the controversial project designed to feed more natural gas into Germany ....

Among the next steps is resuming work in Denmark’s part of the Baltic Sea, where the bulk of the remaining sections of the 157 kilometer link will be located.

Based on the Danish permit, the operator must submit an updated schedule to the nation’s Energy Agency prior to carrying out the works. So far, the regulator hasn’t received the updated plan, the agency said."  (Vanessa Dezem, Daniel Flatley and Dina Khrennikova: World Oil : 30 December 2020) (my emphasis)

For Zelensky the question now is,

"Will plucky Denmark hold up the resuming of the pipeline laying works in Denmark's territorial waters until they receive an updated plan?"

It is time for Zelensky to woo the Danish government.

(to be continued)

TO ALL MY READERS 

A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS 2021