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A pariah state on the Baltic coast

When one of the foremost environmentalists in Germany steps in to defend a natural gas project, you know something pretty strange is going on.

Jürgen Trittin, Green party MP and former Environment Minister, demanded this week that Europe “defend itself” against US attempts to thwart the Nord Stream 2 pipeline being built to take Russian gas under the Baltic to Germany.

Nord Stream 2 has become a football in a game of Realpolitik between Washington and Moscow, with Berlin caught in the middle.

For Russia, the sister line to Nord Stream 1 will secure further gas exports to western Europe that circumvent Ukraine - an outcome Washington wants to avoid at all costs. Germany, which has committed to stopping coal and nuclear energy production, is desperate for a reliable alternative to renewables.