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Well, they can’t say they weren’t warned. Exactly what Donald Trump warned smirking EU leaders — especially Angela Merkel — is coming to pass: Russia is moving to cut off the gas supplies that they are absolutely dependent on.
I might also note that it looks like I’ve been proven right. Weeks ago, I pondered whether NATO leaders had deliberately provoked Putin into invading Ukraine, in order to drag Russia into a grinding proxy war. With Russia thus occupied for probably years, if not decades, the West would have a freer hand to move against China. Would even the US and NATO be so cold-bloodedly calculating, I wondered?
The answer appears to be, yes, absolutely. “We want to see Russia weakened,” Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said, as the US steps up its arms supplies to Ukraine. So, there it is. The US and its allies are doing what Mao did to them in North Korea, and they in turn did to the Russians in Afghanistan: bogging their enemy in a gruelling, bloody proxy war. NATO is prepared to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.
But, back to the gas.
President Trump warned EU countries that they were dangerously exposing themselves by foolishly pursuing climate chimaeras and shutting down their domestic fossil fuel industries. Wind and solar being as unreliable as they are, countries like Germany in particular made themselves utterly dependent on Russian gas to keep the lights and heaters on.
And exactly what Trump warned would happen has come to pass.
Russia will cut off crucial gas supplies to two European nations within hours in a move branded an act of “blackmail” by Ukraine.
Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they? But why would Russia continue to supply desperately needed energy to the NATO countries who are pouring weapons into the Ukraine, to be used against Russian soldiers? Yes, of course Russia is the invader, but that doesn’t change the simple military calculus. Something Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has already pointed out. “Nato, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy,” he said.
Did they really think Russia would keep supplying desperately-needed energy to its enemies?
Poland and Bulgaria – which are both Nato members – have confirmed that Russian energy juggernaut Gazprom has announced it will shut down supplies on Wednesday local time after they refused to pay in roubles.
Putin’s move dramatically escalates tensions between Russia and wider Europe.
The shutdown comes just weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that so-called “unfriendly” foreign nations would have to pay the state-run energy company in rubles instead of euros and dollars, with the demand seen as a bid to support the Russian currency as the invasion of Ukraine rages on.
But it was angrily rejected by Europe, with many leaders claiming the order was a breach of contract.
In the end, though, whoever controls the energy supplies gets to decide whether the lights stay on or not.
The continent is heavily reliant on Russian gas supplies to heat private homes and power businesses, and until now, the war in Ukraine has not impacted supplies.
To put things in perspective, the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, receives 77 per cent of its natural gas from Gazprom, and its sole oil refinery – the largest in the Balkans – is owned by Russia’s Lukoil, with the nation almost completely reliant on Russia to meet its gas needs.
Meanwhile, Poland’s state-run gas firm PGNiG announced Gazprom would “entirely suspend” gas supplies along the Yamal pipeline – but said it aimed to secure gas from other areas, and stressed that its underground gas storage was nearly 80 per cent full, implying Russia’s move would not significantly affect the population.
Let’s see how long that storage lasts once the pipeline is turned off and when the wind stops blowing. Poland imports nearly half its gas from Russia.
Poland has been a staunch opponent of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and has sought some of the harshest sanctions against Moscow
It has also acted as a transit point for weapons sent to Ukraine by the US and other allies, and recently announced plans to send tanks to assist the Ukrainian army.
Well, they can’t have it both ways.
Russia’s latest blow has been lashed by Kyiv, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, accusing Moscow of “beginning the gas blackmail of Europe”.
“Russia is trying to shatter the unity of our allies,” he said.
“Russia is also proving that energy resources are a weapon.
Well, duh. Thanks for that nugget of wisdom, Captain Obvious.
“That is why the EU needs to be united and impose an embargo on energy resources, depriving the Russians of their energy weapons.”
NZ Herald
Yep: if Russia won’t sell them their gas, then they just won’t buy it. Genius.
