Is this a true national security issue to America? If so, how so?
Sounds like we are trying to help out our American friendly allies in Europe like Poland and Czech Rep.
These are supposedly NATO “allies”......yet they don’t spend even a paltry 2% if GDP on Defense like they committed to and they scream for us to provide for their defense WHILE they move pell mell to buy ever more of their energy from the very country they want us to protect them against.
You don’t see the problem here? Since we’ve been subsidizing their defense, shouldn’t they be buying our gas instead of the Russians’ gas?
Europeans, Western and Eastern, depend on oil and natural gas for their lives. They have no real resource of fuel on the continent to ensure they stay warm in the winters.
Throughout history, Russia has been the dominant supplier of gas to Europe via pipeline. And Russian heads and oligarchs have often abused their market dominance.
When Russia tells European heads of state that policies are to be carried out in such and such way, the consequences of not complying can mean and have meant a cutoff of fuel in winter. Europeans hate Russians for doing this, the population is highly skeptical of anything the Russians offer.
When Russians have put the screws to Europe before, the Europeans have begged the US for help. The Europeans have begged the Saudis to build pipelines through Syria into Turkey up into Europe to bypass the Russian pipelines. This is why Syria and Turkey are targeted by Russians for market control. This is the center of the global security threat.
America has the most gas by far than any other place on Earth. Pipelines, LNG ports/ships supplying Europe and Asia, especially Korea, can create millions of long-lasting and high-paying jobs for Americans. This is where Trump is coming from. By setting up the infrastructure to compete with the Russians, breaking their grip on European markets, the US stabilizes Europe and decreases the likelihood of war. The Russians will be angry but they can do nothing about it.