ERICKSON: An Unserious People Confront A Serious Man

Call Russian President Vladimir Putin a dictator. Call him an autocrat. Call him a totalitarian. Call him whatever you want, but make sure you understand he is serious. He also knows the West is not. He has brought war to the West’s doorstep.

On Dec. 5, 1989, Putin was running a KGB office for the Soviet Union in Dresden, Germany. The Berlin Wall had fallen, and East German mobs were ransacking Stasi headquarters. They came for the KGB in Dresden. Putin called out to the approaching mob that he and his men would open fire. The mob held off. Putin called a Soviet military unit for help. The military could not come, reported the general, because “Moscow is silent.” It was a defining moment for Putin. He has prepared for years and now Moscow will no longer be silent.

Over the last two decades, Putin has taken advantage of the Western world’s grievous fixation with climate change. European nations have reduced their dependence on both fossil fuels and nuclear power. As they expanded wind and solar power, their ability to generate a sustainable base load of power declined. This fostered their dependence on Russian natural gas.

In the United States, Democrat politicians and judges have ended drilling permits and leases on federal land, curtailed and canceled pipelines, and reduced our capacity to be energy independent. Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas notes we have gone from providing all our oil domestically a few years ago to importing 595,000 barrels of Russian oil a day. The Keystone XL pipeline, which President Joe Biden killed, would have generated 830,000 barrels of oil a day. Concurrently, Biden got rid of former President Donald Trump’s sanctions placed on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a Russian project to supply even more gas to Europe.

Under former President Barack Obama, the United States got rid of its Two War Doctrine. The doctrine had sustained the United States military since World War II. It merely stated that the United States must have the defense capabilities to fight two wars on two fronts at the same time. The Obama administration shortsightedly concluded it was no longer needed and, by downsizing the military, the United States would save costs and reduce the military’s carbon footprint. After all, according to the Obama administration, climate change was a bigger national security issue than Russia or China.

The West focused on climate change and Putin knew he could use energy as a national security issue against Western powers. Additionally, Putin viewed his time in Germany as a lesson on the destabilizing power of populist movements. For decades, Putin has fueled populist movements in countries that oppose him, including the United States, in order to get those nations to stop focusing on him.

Putin did, in fact, interfere in the American election in 2020. Contrary to Democrat mythology, it was not about helping Trump, but about generating a rising hatred between Americans and their fellow citizens. It worked like a charm to the extent the United States is now going through a significant political realignment.

Putin has assassinated his opponents, jailed dissidents, confiscated his rivals’ money and invaded his neighbors all while loudly saying he wanted to upend NATO and restore Russia’s sphere of influence. All the while, the West has relied on experts and diplomats who believe papers and signatures and sanctions could govern foreign affairs and contain Russia’s ambitions. Putin has capitalized on the naivete of Western powers and is now going to war.

Europe is too dependent on Putin’s natural gas to stop him. The United States imports oil and fertilizer from Russia. To actually fight him would mean to give that up and force up prices as inflation is already out of control. But none of those things will actually stop Putin. The only thing that will stop Putin is guns and ammo. Neither the United States nor Europe have the will to truly arm the Ukrainians.

Ukraine is just the first domino to fall. Many Americans see no reason to be concerned, but no living American remembers a world in which the United States was not a superpower. Putin intends to show us that world.

I can’t even watch Aljaz during this period. keep in mind it is owned by the Qatari govt, which has its own interests.

the following has been removed from the link, but I saved it prior to it being taken down:

28 Jan: AFP: Qatar looks to profit from Europe gas fears over Ukraine
by Tim Witcher
Tim Witcher
Europe’s fears of losing Russian gas supplies in the Ukraine crisis will loom large when Qatar’s emir meets the US president on Monday but the powerful Gulf ruler has no “magic wand”, analysts say.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani will ensure some kind of assistance, however, as he seeks a bigger share of the European market for Qatar’s burgeoning offshore gas production and to score valuable points over its neighbours in becoming the key US ally in the Gulf.

The sheikh, whose tiny country has increased its diplomatic initiatives to match its status as an energy colossus, has the Ukraine crisis, efforts to engage the hardline Taliban administration in Afghanistan and backroom talks on reviving a nuclear accord with Iran on the agenda for his White House meeting with President Joe Biden, officials said.
Gas supplies are one of the key areas that Europe fears could be cut if Russia decides to take military action in Ukraine.

The United States is also in contact with Australia about providing alternative supplies and could send more of its own production, diplomats said.
Australia, Qatar and the United States are the world’s biggest gas exporters...
But as Qatar has long-term contracts with huge customers in South Korea, Japan and China, there is little it could do to replace all Russian gas supplies to western Europe...

Qatar, which is also in talks with the European Union and Britain, could redirect a number of shipments...
https://news.yahoo.com/qatar-looks-profit-europe-gas-024231883.html

21 Feb: Reuters: Iran, Qatar sign bilateral cooperation deals as Raisi eyes improved Gulf ties
(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom, Lina Najem and Nadine Awadalla, Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Hugh Lawson)
Iran and Qatar signed several bilateral cooperation deals on Monday during a visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Doha that he said he hoped would help improve ties with other Gulf Arab states.
Raisi’s visit, the first to Qatar by an Iranian president in 11 years, comes as the United States and Iran hold indirect talks aimed at salvaging a 2015 nuclear deal...
“We have today expanded our cooperation in the fields of the economy, energy, infrastructure, culture and food security,” Raisi said.

Qatar has good ties with Iran, with which it shares a giant gas field...

Iran’s oil minister said on Monday that unilateral sanctions against members of the gas forum threaten global energy security and that Iran provided the best option for gas exports to east and west, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Iran has faced gas shortages at home because of record high consumption, particularly for winter household heating, and has had to cut supplies to cement plants and other industries.
https://au.sports.yahoo.com/irans-raisi-hopes-qatar-gas-100051269.html

22 Feb: Aljazeera: Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Qatar: Who said what
by AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Gas-producing nations say they will not be able to provide crucial replacement gas if sanctions against Russia affect Europe.
Qatar’s capital Doha has hosted a two-day forum of gas-exporting nations against the backdrop of mounting tensions in Ukraine, as well as reporting progress in the drawn-out negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers...

The United States has previously asked Qatar to help Europe by preparing emergency supplies if the Ukraine crisis worsens. But producing nations say they will not be able to provide substantial amounts of replacement gas if sanctions against Russia do affect Western Europe.
Qatar and other countries have insisted that significant investment is needed in gas infrastructure, and that they need the certainty of long-term contracts to be able to guarantee supplies to Europe...
Russia currently accounts for 40 percent of gas used in Europe, and Qatar five percent.

Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov made no reference to the Ukraine tensions but told the forum that “Russian companies are fully committed to existing contracts” for gas supplies...

Tehran has high capacity for gas production for domestic use and a high and growing capacity for exports, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said...
Raisi said his country wanted to increase production and exports but was being held back by what he called “cruel and unnatural” US sanctions against his country...
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/22/what-was-said-at-gas-exporting-countries-forum

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