The Resolve of the Allies and the United States to Impose a Total Embargo on Russian Energy
March 18, 2022
Article by Jeffrey Price
This topic has gone from 0 to 60 in a record amount of time! Major publications are awash with articles on which country is willing to do what. The Wall Street Journal has gone out of its way to fire off round after round of criticisms aimed directly at the Biden Administration. In my opinion, some of them have merit and others come out of the same playbook used by those Philadelphians who threw snowballs at Santa during an Eagles game (40 years ago). A much more dispassionate treatise on this subject came from Max Fisher of the New York Times in his excellent piece, “Russia’s Other Contest with the West: Economic Endurance”. Please, take a few minutes to read it as it is about as good a rendition of forces on each and every party with respect to this very tough matter. (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/world/europe/russia-ukraine-economy.html) For the average American, it simply translates into some pain at the gas station. It is far different for a middle class family living in Germany or Italy. And the offset is that the average Russian citizen, many of whom barely grasp what’s going on in Ukraine thanks to Russia’s powerful disinformation campaigns, are utterly bewildered by the implosion of their own economy. The article has an excellent section near the end that delves into the potential collapse of support for Putin that has traditionally come from “Russian political elites…[who prize his] stabilizing the country and winning it respect abroad”. Many also expressed concern over his handling of the economy – an opposition to military adventurism in Ukraine.
I mentioned the Wall Street Journal, and I should not have omitted Fox News, but some of the claims leveled at Biden, such as complaining about the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, are spurious if they are meant to explain why gas prices are so high. This link is a FACT-CHECK piece by Linda Qui writing for the New York Times. (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/us/politics/fact-check-republicans-biden-gas.html)
Lastly, under the heading of macabre comedy, is this editorial from the March 8th Wall Street Journal where the editorial board unrelentingly lambastes Biden for cozying up to such nice folks as Maduro (Venezuela) or MBS (Saudi Arabia). Finally in the last few words of the barrage of criticism, they point out that “shale producers can increase production twice as fast…” – well, let’s get on with it! (https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-bidens-u-s-oil-embargo-russia-energy-natural-gas-vladimir-putin-ukraine-11646780609)
Right now, to support the needed increase in US-based O&G production, First Keystone is fast-forwarding our program to have ready-for-delivery warehouses for lease.
The opinions expressed above reflect only those of the author and do not represent those of the First Keystone Pecos Industrial Park organization. First Keystone welcomes responsible fact-based discourses on these topics.