Europe readies for long cold winter.

FIREWOOD BECOMING THE GO TO TO STAY WARM

EXPECT CHAOS AND POLITICAL UNREST 

While the U.S. press focuses on Trump, LBGTQ rights, and abortion, Europe is realizing that they do not have enough energy to sustain their economy, their manufacturing or even home heating fuel and electric. It is now September and in few short weeks the reality of their eliminating their energy independence and reliance on wind power and Russian gas will become the only story. Will the U.S. be the next to suffer from a lack of affordable energy, both heating oil and electric?

Europe adopted the policy of shutting down their Nuclear, coal and domestic energy production in the hope of becoming free from carbon fuels. They hoped to use Russian natural gas to a be bridge to the day when they would only have renewable fuel sources.  The U.S. not too long ago touted natural gas as such a bridge, but then decided it to was a fossil fuel and refused to grant permits for pipelines and plants to convert gas to Liquefied Natural Gas. It looks like this winter will see the catastrophic results of these short sighted, unreasonable decisions.

We see how citizens of Poland, Germany and the UK are now cutting firewood for the winter. It is the only recourse for those who either cannot obtain or cannot afford the cost of energy. If the situation is not solved they will likely deforest the continent in a few short years. Or, maybe they can buy firewood from Russia which has an abundance of forest wood.

We hear that Germany the economic dynamo of Europe is shutting its manufacturing plants due to shortages of energy.

The EU has made a series of unreasonable decisions that have led to this situation. First their headlong rush to eliminate fossil fuels and nuclear power from their domestic production without having a sustainable alternative. Then, rather than objectively consider Russia's concern about NATO expansion and its encroachment on its border, it caved to U.S. leadership and refused to open the Nord Steam 2 pipeline. Then with the onset of the Russia/Ukraine conflict they adopted sanctions that hoped to eliminate dependence on Russian gas without an alternative source. Sanctions also created the incentive for Russia to no longer accept payment in Dollars or Euro's and demanded payment in Rubles as they had no where to spend those currencies. They then decided that they would join together and set the price they were willing to pay Russia for gas. Russia then shut off the gas.

While the U.S. and the EU claims that Russia is using energy as a weapon, it is a stretch to claim this is all Russia's fault. First they should have considered energy independence not only from Russia but from any foreign sources, second they should have not joined in supporting NATO expansion to the border of Russia and then they were in no viable position to demand conditions for Russian energy.  Now, the results of their failed policies cannot be spun or blamed on others. When this reality sets in, it may very well lead to political unrest, economic collapse and changes in the governments in most of Europe.

The U.S. should be watching this play out and making a change in direction quickly, but sadly we see California demand electric cars replace gas powered cars, then within days ask for drivers not to charge their cars as there is a shortage of electric power.

It seems the world has elected leaders without the common sense to foresee the results of their policies. Maybe it is time that voters stop voting for those without any practical experience, who make policies based on ideological dreams rather the realities of everyday life.