ISSUE #109: Europe thrusted itself into an energy crisis.
Europeans are told to lower their energy use while the energy bills keep climbing.
“You don’t make holes in the plate you eat.” You can paraphrase this to better understand the energy crisis in Europe like this: “You don’t sanction a country whose energy you are dependent upon.”
Suppose you have to buy vegetables from your neighbor because you can’t grow them in your backyard, and one day a conflict took place between you and your neighbor. Would you create blockades around his house knowing that you won’t get the same amount of vegetables at the same prices from other neighbors? Or would you try to settle the conflict with peaceful negotiations?
The European leaders went out for the former and now they are finding out what the phrase “You don’t make holes in the plate you eat” means.
As a result of the economic blockade around the “Russian house,” the residents of the “European house” have to go through this:
ELECTRICITY:
Feb 24 - 180 Euros per megawatt-hour
Aug 23 - 640 Euros per megawatt-hour
- That’s a 255% increase.
NATURAL GAS:
Feb 24 - 114 Euros per megawatt hour
Aug 23 - 272 Euros per megawatt hour
- that’s a 138% increase.
THE EURO:
At a 20-year low.
“The benchmark European gas price has soared 550% in the past 12 months. The cost of energy for British consumers will rise by 80% from October, regulator Ofgem said on Friday, taking average annual household bills to 3,549 pounds ($4,188),” said Reuters.
To put it in one sentence, the Europeans are struggling to afford energy, while the winter, when energy use is at its peak, is yet to come.
Sanctions were supposed to destroy the Russian economy, or “hobble the Russian economy,” as vowed by Boris Johnson, but the opposite happened due to misinterpretation of the Russian economy.
Under intense pressure from Washington, Europe was forced to join the sanctions campaign against Moscow - upon which it depends heavily.
“Germany in particular and Europe in general are being forced to face a problem that they don't want to face. And that is that subservience to Washington will be their ruin,” said Canadian diplomat Patrick Armstrong.
Germany canceling the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which was supposed to double the flow of Russian gas into Europe, after Biden said "If Russia invades ... there will no longer [be] a Nord Stream 2, "is an indicator of how much influence Washington has over Europe.
Following the sanctions, Russia reduced the gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline - which is the biggest pipeline to Europe - to 40% of the pre-sanctions capacity in June, which was further reduced to 20% the month later. The pipeline has now been shut indefinitely due to some maintenance issues which the Kremlin spokesperson says occurred “due to the sanctions western countries imposed against our country and several companies.”
It worsened the already higher cost of living for the Europeans, which was triggered by the reckless monetary policy during the pandemic.
The indefinite shutdown of gas flow to Europe was followed by an outcry from Western politicians accusing Russia of “weaponizing” energy.
Do you see how arrogant they are?
It’s OK for them to sanction Russia, freeze its assets; weaponize the dollar and SWIFT against Russia, but it’s not OK for Russia to respond accordingly. It’s like, “I can hit you as much as I want, but if you hit me back you are evil.”
They expect Russia to turn the second cheek when the first one was already slapped with sanctions, which is silly. Europe wanted to end business with Russia after sanctioning them, and Russia complied by cutting off the gas supply. Why are the European leaders crying now?
As the Germans are struggling with rising energy costs, their Foreign Minister expresses in a statement how much she cares about her people.
The European leaders don’t serve the Europeans, they serve the warlords in Washington. Otherwise, why would they hold onto the policies that serve the US’s agendas more than it helps the Europeans? Instead of “helping” Europeans in any way, the sanctions on Russia are forcing them into a dark, cold, and de-industrialized Europe.
“The cost of living has increased and yet you're still expected to live on the money provided for when there wasn't a crisis ... I either can have my heating on or eat,” said a European man.
Their effort, since the war began, has been to convince the public that everything wrong in their lives is because of Russia and Putin, with “Putin’s price hike” being the widely used term by the Western leaders to blame inflation on Putin, but the people in Europe are waking up to the reality of the war in Ukraine, and they are coming together to protest against their government’s sanctions on Russia.
The Western propaganda related to the war in Ukraine is crumbling and the people are realizing that their elected leaders are their real enemies, that they are the ones harming them with sanctions.
I think these are just highlights of the kind of riots we may see in Europe in the future if Europe’s current stance on Russia doesn’t change because the shortage of energy means a shortage of everything; food, electricity, fuel, medicine, etc.
And we know, “A hungry stomach is any angry stomach.”
The energy crisis Europeans are going through now, which is expected to worsen in the future, is not because of Russia or Putin, but because of the Western policymakers who wanted to “weaken” Russia with their sanctions, which have failed miserably at weakening Russia but succeeded tremendously at strengthening Russia.
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