Finally, a move that makes sense, President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged (?) to ramp up liquefied natural gas (LNG) into Europe in order to reduce its exposure to Russian control of its energy.
But wait.
Unfortunately, energy experts say that the LNG industry is already near its capacity. And it is LNG they talked about because they want to make sure to reach their climate change goals.
Shipments to Europe have doubled since the beginning of the year but at the expense of Asian customers who hold long term contracts. Biden officials have said they “can’t speak to exactly where the 15 [bcm] is coming from.”
But wait.
The amount of LNG they were talking about is only one tenth of the 150 billion cubic meters Europe imported from Russian last year.
My takeaways:
1. Europe cannot and will not wean itself from Russian energy. They are massively exposed to Russia, Russia can send Europe back to third world status whenever it wants (albeit with temporary hardships to itself.
2. Stiffing Asian customers is a massive mistake by the Biden administration.
George McMillan has commented on this, control of the pipelines (i.e. controlling and securing the territory they travel through) is a major reason for this invasion. But Russia has the option of sending its fuel to Asia, specifically China, which needs its badly. McMillan predicts that pipelines will stop being built east to west and will start being built north to south to reach its Asian customers more easily.
By stiffing the Asian customers, those customers are forced to seek energy any way they can get it. Getting it from Russian may mean joining the Russian/Chinese coalition that seems to be forming quickly.
This move is a step toward a new cold war, with the world bifurcating along the lines of energy availability.
3. America’s security is threatened. Biden is still unwilling to increase the production of oil at home, citing climate change BS. If Russia is able to shift its markets away from Europe quickly, the shortage will hit all of the West. We already see a massive increase in gasoline prices. Any third world countries we consider our allies will be hit hard and may be prone to distance themselves from us.
4. Biden’s willingness to “put lipstick on that pig” never ceases to amaze me. Anyone who reads any of the articles produced by mainstream media outlets with even an ounce of integrity will know that Biden’s moves accomplish exactly the opposite of what he intended.
The propaganda coming out of the Biden White House, supported by mainstream media has grown to shocking levels.
Do we still live in a free society?