Washington Examiner
by Tom Rogan, Commentary Writer
President Joe Biden has no such excuse. Punishing Biden’s appeasement of his energy blackmail policy, Putin is now waging an energy war on Europe.
Biden only has himself to blame. Abandoning Trump administration and congressional sanctions, Biden approved Putin’s Nord Stream 2 Gazprom pipeline . Facing fierce criticism, Biden then reached a Monty Python-esque deal with Germany. That agreement was supposed to ensure that Russia wouldn’t use Nord Stream 2 to cut off Ukraine’s access to billions of dollars in energy transit fees and extort European political appeasement in return for stable energy supplies. The deal was always a complete joke.
Except to the Kremlin.
Because Putin has now rewarded Biden with a delivery of farcical vengeance to make the great Russian satirist Nikolai Gogol proud.
As energy reserves run short and the cold winter beckons, Russian energy giant Gazprom is withholding gas supplies to Europe. On Monday, Gazprom was offered the opportunity to book additional gas flows through pipelines feeding Europe (including Britain). Instead, Gazprom booked only a third of available capacity through Poland and roughly a tenth of available capacity through Ukraine. This has sent energy prices soaring even higher, now above $900 per 1,000 cubic meters. Gazprom’s move follows similar supply cuts earlier this summer.
There should be no illusions as to who is responsible for the cuts.
Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller is a Putin puppet risen from the Russian leader’s old guard in St. Petersburg. The political, versus business, character by which Gazprom ultimately operates is well known to the U.S. intelligence community. Indeed, Miller was sanctioned by the *cough* Trump administration *cough* back in 2018. Miller is following Putin’s directives.
This is also a KGB goodbye present to Angela Merkel.
Set to leave office next week, the German chancellor has been Putin’s greatest enabler (even openly hosting GRU chemical weapons facilities on her soil). Putin is telling Merkel how much he appreciates her weakness. There is a distinctly Russian message at play here. Literally and figuratively, Putin is presenting himself as the God of ice and fire.
In that sense, this is also a message to Biden. The Russians want Washington to look weak and the Europeans to feel dependent on Moscow. Putin is letting everyone know that the only way Europe will ever stay warm is if Europe bows before Nord Stream 2 — Poland, the Baltics, and Ukraine be damned.
But don’t worry, as in Afghanistan, Biden’s adults are now in charge.