Posted on 03/18/2014 12:01:35 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
Europe has acute concerns about Russia's military intervention and annexation of Crimea – it's doling out aid to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russian individuals.
But its potentially most punitive weapon – blocking Russian energy exports – remains out of reach. However much Europe might like to express its displeasure by targeting a major part of Russia's economy, it confronts one inescapable fact: It needs Russia's natural gas and oil.
Europe's dependency has concerned both the European Union and the United States for decades, but the current political crisis in Ukraine has driven home the urgent need for Europe to move more aggressively to diversify its energy sources – particularly its natural gas – thus allowing Brussels to be more economically secure, not to mention more geopolitically nimble in challenging Moscow.
Russia's "repeated and persistent and malicious use of energy as a weapon" just ups the urgency for Europe, says David Goldwyn, who served as the US State Department's special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs from 2009 to 2011. "What's happening in Ukraine points out that [supply diversification] was absolutely the right policy to pursue, but it is an unfinished policy."
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Well the first thing I would do is shut down all the nuclear energy plants. You know, in case of tsunami.
Uhh, because it gets a commanding percentage of its energy from Russia?
Duh.
“He who controls the spice, controls the universe”
or in this case, oil.
Rush answered it towards the end of his show. Russia OWNS the energy lines. Case closed.
The best thing that the US could do would be to greatly increase their energy production so they could furnish Europes energy needs. Of course, obama is preventing this from happening.
Gee, if there only was a source of gas outside of Russia that could supply Europe.....I wonder where it could be?
The EU could start by telling Obama they no longer are supporting the climate change scam and encourage him to start upping US energy production. Get Lil georgie in for a meeting.
But they won’t. Leftists will go down along with their stupid ideology. Oh, and take all the other dopes along with them.
It’s pretty ironic that Putin is building his economy through oil while Obama is destroying ours by trying to kill oil.
I have a hard time coping with this. We have a communist in the White House and we want to go fight communist aggression?
Heaven help me.
With the George Soros as the instigator.
It is mind boggling. Not sure Russia is even communist anymore. Maybe more fascist. But then, Obama’s a fascist, too. A Marxist/fascist. Who knows? Maybe the conspiracy theorists are right. Maybe Obama and Putin have cut a pact. Kinda like Stalin and Hitler re: Poland. Can’t trust either, but know that someone is gonna get a knife in the back. Probably us.
Actually we called this on FR at least two weeks ago. It's all over but the shouting, and the shouting seems to be coming along very nicely.
What happens if the right-wingers in the Ukraine decide to play hardball and threaten to, or actually start to sabotage the lines running through the Ukraine? You think the EU will immediately come to their defense?
It is looking more and more like history is starting to repeat itself.
“Maybe Obama and Putin have cut a pact”.
I was thinking that myself today. I do remember that I heard Obama and Richard Lugar traveled to the Soviet Union together some years ago.
This mess has so confused people. But we have to keep in mind what is happening right here in the US. Obama is supported fully by real Communists. People on this site seem to forget that when a re-emergence of the cold war may loom. But things are not the same anymore. Our country now espouses much of the same as those who were our enemy.
How do we pretend we are on the right side when we really are not? Obama does not believe as I do. I do not see him as an American President operating for the good of this country and for the interests of the American people.
Was this on purpose?
the urgent need for Europe to move more aggressively to diversify its energy sources
......
Well the first thing I would do is shut down all the nuclear energy plants. You know, in case of tsunami.
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LOL -— Yep, we all know the historical problems that tsunamis have presented to Germany!!
This will happen withing the next two months.
However, those that put C4 on those pipelines will be Russian Spentnaz forces. Russia will then "BE FORCED" to attack the Ukraine to secure the Russian Pipelines and assure the delivery of Natural Gas and Oil to Europe.
Russia can crush the military of the Ukraine. Russia could not crush the Muhadadin in Afghanistan whom had little classic military training but were guerrilas of extraordianry skill and ferocity. However, even the Muhadadin could not have done it with out stinger missiles. The answer to the Ukraine is to flood it with shoulder held anti aircraft missiles and tow missiles that will take out tanks.
Me thinks there is a possibility that the protests in the Ukraine that precipitated this situation were filled with Russian supporters. Did Putin orchestrate the whole thing, including the Olympic security threat in Sochi, so as to mask the troop movements of forces that were sent into the Crimea? Game, set, and match before our Regime knew what happened.
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