There are signs that the efforts to isolate and even destroy Russia are crumbling. While England and the main entrenched power structure in the United States won two significant “victories” in their efforts to waylay US President Trump’s efforts to improve Russian-American relations, two of Europe’s most important nations moved in the same period of time to cement and improve relations with Moscow.

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The first incident was reported here on The Duran as Germany’s deal with Russia to build the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline was cemented in reality:

Germany needs Russian gas. Russian gas is substantially more cost effective than US LNG hauled all the way from the States, and at the end of the day, Angela Merkel needs Nord Stream 2 to keep her in power. Putin knows this, and so during his meeting with Merkel in Berlin, a confident Russian President laid down the positive economic realities for Germany and the precarious position of Ukraine gas transit.

Putin and Merkel did discuss a variety of hot button issues other than Nord Stream 2 including the war in Syria, the situation in Ukraine and Iran. But the most pressing issue discussed was Nord Stream 2.

Investors needed a strong signal that the project is a go… despite POTUS Trump’s rhetoric regarding the pipeline at last month’s NATO summit in Brussels.

This is certainly a logical move, and the Russians are great at living and handling matters in a logical manner. So are the Germans. Perhaps President Trump knew this – it is almost impossible to imagine that he would really believe it is cheaper for Germany or any European country to buy LNG from the United States when Russia has a huge supply of it right next door, so to speak. But what is significant is Germany’s simple recognition of this fact, despite the pressure from the US to buy American. It is eminently logical to get supplies from a close source.

Advantage: Russia. Disadvantage: American Deep State.

The second action comes from the French. In a news piece released by TASS, French President Emmanuel Macron noted that the European Union cannot rely on the US for security, and called for greater cooperation with Russia:

French President Emmanuel Macron… called for involving Russia in the process of providing security in Europe, he stated on Monday during an annual meeting of ambassadors that focused on France’s foreign policy.

“Europe can no longer rely on the US to provide its security. It is up to us today to take our responsibilities and guarantee our own security, and thus have European sovereignty. We have to draw all necessary conclusions from the end of the Cold War,” Macron added.

“This amplified European sovereignty requires reviewing the architecture of European security and defense system, by starting a new dialogue on cybersecurity issues, chemical weapons, conventional weapons, territorial conflicts, space security, the protection of polar regions, and particularly doing it in cooperation with Russia,” the president said.

“I call for us to start considering these issues with our partners in the broadest sense of the word, that is, with Russia,” Macron stressed. He noted “a mandatory prerequisite for achieving real progress in relations with Moscow is significant progress in regulating the Ukrainian crisis. Also, adherence to the regulations introduced by the OSCE with regards to the observers’ status in Donbass.

“However, this should not hinder us doing work in European countries right now on all these issues, and I am counting on you in this,” the French president addressed the ambassadors. According to him, in the upcoming months, he will provide a project for strengthening European security.

This is potentially HUGE. And as such, it is more than likely that there will be some sort of American diplomatic or media response. The civil war in Ukraine is predicated on a large swathe of that country buying into the promise of “being with the West.”

That lure created a serious revolution, the breakaway of two Ukrainian provinces, urged by fear among the Russian-speaking people in these provinces of the new, pro-West and anti-Russian, Ukrainian government. It led to a peaceful, though controversial, referendum in Crimea to rejoin Russia. It is not often reported in the Western media that the reason for these actions was fear of the sentiments of the Poroshenko government, and reports abound that that fear is justified.

The fact that a US ally is even beginning to mention a different course of action in Ukraine is like watching the ice begin to crack on a lake in the spring. The weather may remain cold for a while, but usually once the cracking starts, it continues on its own until the ice breaks.

Again – advantage: Russia. Disadvantage: American Deep State.

The Deep State is certainly alive and kicking, with the latest round of US sanctions against Russia kicking in on 27 August, in response to the (totally unverified) claim that Russia was involved in the poisoning of Sergey and Yuliya Skripal on March 4 of this year. The Russian Ruble took a beating earlier in August when the new sanctions were announced, but the new level around 67 to 1 seems to be stable.

This is a massive struggle of worldviews, and it is evident in many pieces of journalism these last few days. The passing of US Senator John McCain gave opportunity to examine some of this rather hidden policy viewpoint, and Trump’s unexpected rise to the presidency of the United States gave the anti-Russia plan a lot of publicity, though one has to know how to sift through the layers of propaganda it is buried under.

These two developments in Germany and France suggest a shift, however, and it may be one that Uncle Sam is unable to stop.