EU uses gas as political weapon against itself?

 OR IS IT SYMBOLISM OVER SUBSTANCE?

EU IS STILL BUYING RUSSIAN GAS WITH A NEW NAME

Yesterday was a new low in EU politics as Ukraine, with the blessing of Brussels and Washington, cut the supply of gas that comes through Ukraine from Russia. This move is advertised as a step to hurt Russia financially, much like a prisoner who goes on a hunger strike to hurt their jailers, but no one is going to force feed the EU Russian gas, they may very well be successful in committing financial suicide.

The crisis will be especially severe for Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Romania who get the majority of their gas through Ukraine. No secret that there is plenty of political pressure on Hungary and Slovakia to submit to Brussels edicts on Ukraine and other social issues. There is also political pressure on Moldova to become part of EU and NATO and soon to militarily invade Transistia. Of course, only Russia would use gas as a political weapon in the middle of winter, except that they have not.

The reality is that the U.S. wants the EU to buy LNG gas from the U.S. at a far higher price than it cost from Russia. Will this cause a rise in the price of energy in the U.S.? Some believe that all those manufacturing businesses closing in Germany will soon emigrate to the U.S., while cheap energy is important it is not the only factor in where a business locates. So far the loss of jobs and business in the EU is being taken by, you guessed it, China. The low cost manufacturing giant is willing and able to fulfill any vacuum created by the west's misplaced political moves.

As for gas from Russia, if it is refined and sold by a third party, it is no longer Russian gas, but some other kind of gas, but at a much higher price. That is the reality of much of the gas that is currently being sold to the EU, just Russian gas with another label, and at a higher price. We must marvel at the wisdom of the current leadership in the EU. 

While they can now proclaim how they are hobbling Russia's ability to wage war, they are in effect hobbling their own ability to be prosperous and inevitably their own ability to wage war. In the meantime many of citizens, who do not live in the big cities, will need to start deforesting the continent to keep warm this winter.