Brussels presses on with its self-defeating policy of isolating Russia, even as the US makes clear its transatlantic ally is effectively on its own for its security
Three news items caught my eye over the past few days. The European Union is finally ready to totally ban the import of Russian natural gas. (You mean they have still been buying Russian gas?)
The new National Defence Strategy put out by the Pentagon says the United States will de-prioritise Europe – which must address its own regional security needs – and focus on deterring China.
And former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder wrote a piece in a newspaper that ended up drawing a lot of flak for himself. Why? He said Germany will eventually need to resume cooperation with Russia. He also defended the construction of Nord Stream 2, the Russian-German gas pipeline, which was blown up either by Ukrainian terrorists, American special forces or Russian saboteurs, depending on who you believe.
The last one seems most unlikely, though it was, for a long time, promoted by Brussels. Why would Russia blow up its own infrastructure while still trying to sell gas to Europe, despite the Ukraine invasion? At least EU foreign minister Kaja Kallas didn’t allege Chinese involvement!
The European Union has finally approved a total ban on all imports of Russian pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas by 2027, over the objections of Hungary and Slovakia – not quite the land of unanimity and consensus as advertised.
All this time, Brussels has been criticising China, and to a lesser extent India, for buying discounted energy from Russia, which it claims amounts to supporting Moscow’s war efforts. And yet, EU states have continued importing it.
Besides the breathtaking hypocrisy, it is also mindless in a way typical of EU leaders. The time to cut off Russia’s energy revenue was when the war proved most draining on its economy, not when it might be reaching a possible settlement, and when the Russians have already “foolproofed” the economy by turning it into a war economy.
Suppose the war does end or at least reach a ceasefire in the next year or so, EU states will end up buying overpriced American oil and gas, rather than discounted Russian energy. That would, no doubt, warm the heart of US President Donald Trump, but not ordinary Europeans already put upon by sky-high utility bills in the past few years, for effectively subsidising the Ukrainian resistance. These days, it’s not clear Trump is any more popular than Russian leader Vladimir Putin among Europeans.
That takes us to Schröder, who wrote in the Berliner Zeitung that European leaders should not simply see Russia as the enemy but resume cooperation and restore dialogue. That echoed something Angela Merkel said previously about the need for coexistence with Russia.
But those currently in charge in Brussels like nothing better than to completely shield Europe from Russia. What does it mean to isolate Russia? Pushing Moscow into a “no-limits” – but in effect junior – partnership with China. Smart, isn’t it?
Russia has been at least partly European since Peter the Great. And which mighty emperor helped the allies defeat Napoleon, not to mention Joseph Stalin’s role in the defeat of Hitler?
Meanwhile, Trump and his minions in Washington may be unhinged, but sometimes crazy people say the quiet part out loud because they have no filter. “In Europe and other theatres, allies will take the lead against threats that are less severe for us but more so for them, with critical but more limited support from the United States,” says the Pentagon’s 2026 National Defence Strategy.
Of course, we have known from day one that the Ukraine war is primarily a regional conflict that threatens continental Europe at most, and is of little concern to the Global South, hence its lukewarm responses to Moscow’s transgression. But typical of Western self-aggrandisement, Brussels and Washington under former president Joe Biden insisted that the Russian war threatened the entire world, and that if you didn’t join them, you were with Putin, a modern-day Hitler.
But with his long-standing antipathy towards the Europeans, Trump now states the obvious: Russia is really your problem, while China is ours. “In the Indo-Pacific, where our allies share our desire for a free and open regional order, allies and partners’ contributions will be vital to deterring and balancing China,” the new defence document says.
Leaving aside the question of whether Trump’s America is even capable of taking on China, Europeans should wake up to the fact that their own leaders are getting them nowhere, if not worse.
