MAYOR PUTS UP NO FUSS
Adams still won't slam Biden
Mayor Adams gave President Biden a pass Tuesday for the city’s escalating migrant crisis — even while admitting he was “frustrated” that the problem wasn’t being addressed with a national “decompression strategy.”
In response to questions from The Post, Adams again refused to say why he hasn’t called on Biden to secure the southern border, as bipartisan critics have demanded of him.
“I am frustrated with the fact that this is a national issue that must be resolved,” Adams said during an unrelated event in upper Manhattan.
‘National problem’
The mayor then quickly pivoted to address The Post’s frontpage report about how more migrants have been sent to the Big Apple by the Democratic mayor of El Paso than by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Adams, a Democrat, has repeatedly attacked Abbott for relocating asylum-seekers to Democratic-run cities, but he spoke earlier this month with El Paso
Mayor Oscar Leeser, who later revealed that Hizzoner agreed to “welcome” thousands of migrants from his border city.
Adams said that the difference between the programs run by Abbott and by El Paso was “that we did something that seems very revolutionary right now — we communicated” with El Paso.
“We attempted to communicate with Gov. Abbott’s people, and stated: How do we coordinate during a crisis?” Adams said.
“So yes, this is a national problem, we must have a national solution to this problem, and we can’t just say: Let’s turn our backs on New York City. That comes with coordinating with all of our country with this issue.”
When pressed by The Post on whether he was letting Biden off the hook because he’s seeking $500 million in emergency federal funding, Adams said, “We requested money to deal with the crisis. That’s what we did, and it’s what we’re going to continue to do. This is expensive and we should not have to trade off dealing with the needs of
New Yorkers and dealing with the needs of migrants and asylum-seekers,” he said.
“That is not fair to New Yorkers. I have an obligation and responsibility to provide the resources that New Yorkers need and I’m going to do that.”
Tents are ‘humane’
Earlier, Adams also mentioned how he was “hoping the national government deals with the decompression strategy that’s needed,” without elaborating further.
That comment came as the mayor defended his plan to temporarily house migrants in a massive tent city under construction in The Bronx, calling it “a safe, clean environment as we process them for a few days to figure out their needs and move them to the right location.”
“And to those who are saying, you know, it’s inhumane to use tents, I mean, like: What are people talking about?” he said.
“There was a tent [field hospital] in Central Park during COVID. Do people forget? I was on the ground during COVID. I know that we had a boat, a hospital boat that was utilized. Other locations were utilized. This is a humane way.”
Major leaks in two naturalgas pipelines connecting Russia to Europe were being investigated Tuesday as possible acts of sabotage.
The breaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines caused natural gas to bubble up through the Baltic Sea, creating a foamy disturbance visible from the surface.
“We have established a report and the crime classification is gross sabotage,” a Swedish national police spokesperson said.
Seismic monitoring stations in Sweden, Finland and Norway recorded two explosions Monday near the Danish island of Bornholm, the largest of which registered a 2.3 on the Richter scale.
“There’s no doubt this is not an earthquake,” said Bjorn Lund, director of the Swedish National Seismic Network.
The Nord Stream pipelines — a major artery for natural gas transport between Russia and Europe — have been a flashpoint in the economic cold war over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Gas transit has been halted over the pipeline for months — with Moscow blaming technical issues, while Europe accused the Kremlin of retaliating against Western sanctions.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki joined the Swedes Tuesday in calling the leaks intentional sabotage.
“We can clearly see that this is an act of sabotage, an act that probably means a next step of escalation in the situation that we are dealing with in Ukraine,” he said.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said foul play could not be ruled out, and a German government source told the newspaper Tagesspiegel, “We can’t imagine a scenario that isn’t a targeted attack.”
Even Russia — a likely suspect in any potential pipeline plot — said it would not rule out sabotage.
“This is an unprecedented situation that requires an urgent investigation. We are extremely worried by this news,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “No version [of events] could be excluded.”
The damage to the pipeline was reportedly extensive, with German media describing an “explosive drop in pressure.”
Business consultancy Eurasia Group issued a bleak analysis on the damage Tuesday.
“The multiple undersea leaks mean neither pipeline will likely deliver any gas to the EU over the coming winter, irrespective of political developments in the Ukraine war,” it said.