The pipeline feeding billions to Putin ... evading sanctions on the way

Nord Stream 2 will transport gas from Russia to Europe, endangering habitats, fuelling climate change and funding Putin's regime for decades

Tough western sanctions on Russia may be squeezing the economy - but that's only half the story. The other half you can understand better by attending a public hearing into a project that will finance the Putin regime for another 50 years.

The project is called Nord Stream 2. It involves piping gas directly from Russia to Germany through the Baltic sea, and it is unaffected by sanctions. Its progress means that Europe is excoriating the Putin regime diplomatically while at the same time promising to inflate the same regime with billions of gas dollars.