Every Tool at Our Disposal
POTUS says he will use every tool at his disposal to limit the impact of rising gas prices on U.S. citizens resulting from sanctions. The sanctions are those that he imposed on Russia and some high-profile Russians in “punishment” for Putin’s offensive against Ukraine. That tool seems akin to a feather duster, more likely to evoke a snicker than cause them lasting pain. The Germans said “Nein” to further work on Nord Stream 2. That tool actually could cause pain, but not in the near term – Nord Stream 2 is not yet producing any revenue for Russia. Biden does deserve some kudos here - he recognizes that his action will cause pain to his own people.
There is an old saw that goes something like “if you can’t attack an opponent directly, kick ‘em in the kids”. That sounds unseemly and brutal, but war is unseemly and brutal. By “kids” in this entreaty is meant vulnerable assets, even if they are not directly involved in the conflict. The Russian oil and gas industry is not directly involved in Putin’s aggressions, but it is vulnerable. Oil and gas are commodities, largely -although not completely - fungible: heavy oil is not the same as light oil, sour gas is not the same as sweet gas. But in a fully functioning free market global economy, swaps and trade-offs make a barrel of Russian oil nearly equivalent to a barrel of Saudi oil, and a cubic foot of Russian gas nearly equivalent to a cubic foot of Abu Dhabi gas. More importantly in the current crisis, Russian oil and gas is nearly equivalent to American oil and gas. We are net importers of oil and net exporters of gas. But we have the capacity to produce and export much more of each.
Joe Biden has demonstrated time and time again that he is a “tool” of liberal, and, in many cases, far left influencers. The global elite are among the string-pullers on this marionette of a man. He weakened the global positioning of the country he swore to defend by cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline in the first hours of his horrible-to-date presidency. And now he cancels leasing of oil and gas rights on federal lands. He did this in total disregard of federal laws requiring regular leasing of oil and gas rights on federal lands. I could say that he shot himself in the foot by this action, but we know his position on guns. The injury is not to his body, it is to the energy independence of the U.S. and to leverage we might have had with Putin the Pillager.
I have to restrain myself from any further derogatory remarks about Biden’s actions. His actions go from bad to worse. If the Democrats have any hope of preventing a bloodbath in November, Congress must disavow this latest travesty and immediately set about reversing this counter-productive, misguided and awful decision. That means that a few Democrats would need to demonstrate a measure of intestinal fortitude we have not seen, save by one or two gutsy individuals.
Most of the media - on the left and the right – say what happens in/to Ukraine is not worthy of our attention. Most likely that was the world view in 1938 when Hitler “absorbed” the Sudetenland into Germany. That was a region that had been “taken” from Germany after WW I. Hitler said it “rightfully” belonged to Germany. Most of the world’s leaders at the time talked about doing something and did nothing. The rest is history. Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it. I don’t think Biden is ignoring history. Memory is no longer in his toolbox. He just forgot. And now he is just befuddling us into further battle while throwing away an important tool.
OttoPolitico