Pravda claims Germany will eventually have to return to buying Russian gas because it will have no other choice.
Our Take, with Doug Sheridan
Our Take, with Doug Sheridan
The WSJ Editorial Board writes, Biden is trying to strike a contrast with Trump by promising to stick by America’s European allies. Now Putin’s media organs are crowing that the US has double-crossed Europe by halting permits for new LNG export projects.
“Now it is not Russia, but the United States that wants to bring the Germans to their knees,” gloated the Russian newspaper Pravda after the DOE imposed a moratorium on permits for new LNG export projects last month. Pravda claims Germany will eventually have to return to buying Russian gas because it will have no other choice.
Germany accounts for a large share of the contracted supply from the Gulf Coast’s CP2 LNG project now in limbo because of the permit halt. Frankfurt is rapidly building LNG import terminals on the expectation of a future reliable US supply. But now the US is threatening to cut off LNG exports.
RedDigest, a Russian-based news source, also predicted Europe will need to buy more Russian gas and be forced to pay a higher price. “The EU may well turn to Moscow for additional supplies. Of course, there will be no talk of any discounts,” a Feb. 3 article sneered. Biden’s LNG embargo will leave Europe more vulnerable to Putin’s energy blackmail.
Bloknot, a pro-war Russian media outlet, accused the US of scheming to replace Russian gas and then pulling the rug from under Europeans. “A brilliant scam—how the States fooled Europe with gas,” read a Bloknot headline. RT gloated that Biden’s “very timely decision to ban LNG exports” was a “gift to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.”
It’s hard to disagree with that last point. Biden’s ban increases Putin’s leverage and it undermines the credibility of the US as a reliable ally. Tsargrad, a Kremlin-aligned TV station, broadcast that the export “pause” offers more evidence the US cares about its allies “only in words.”
Biden talks a good game on standing by allies compared to Trump. “When America gives it word, it means something. When we make a commitment, we keep it,” he declared recently. The President gave his word that the US will help Europe break its dangerous reliance on Russian gas. Will he keep that promise—or does he mean it only when his climate donors don’t object?
Our Take 1: John Podesta, White House advisor on climate policy, has done Biden, the US, and our allies a real disservice. We see it it time and again—partisan political operatives tell a politician it's in their best interest politically to hamstring the domestic oil and gas industry. "It's just the dirty oilfield—what could go wrong?" All kinds of things, that's what.
Our Take 2: America needs to be sending Putin a coherent message that he can't operate with impunity. The Russian state media's trolling of America, along with today's news on the death of dissident Alexei Navalny, suggests the opposite message is being received.
Our Take 3: is America too woke and confused to face down the evils the world now faces?