Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Europe Paralyzed By Failed Green Energy Policies

Keneci Channel

As the Russia-instigated conflict between Kremlin and Kyiv escalates, critics are slamming liberal European leaders for their zealous short-sighted green energy policies which have made many countries in the region dependent on Russia for stable energy supply.

Hundreds of thousands of Russian troops have been piling up the Ukraine-Russia border sparking fears of an imminent invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded among other things that United States commit to not let Ukraine join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO, a request rebuffed by U.S. President Joe Biden.

Many conservative politicians in U.S. and Europe have been warning against the zealous embrace of so-called alternative green energy sources like solar and wind which scientists have pointed out are totally unreliable and nonsensical as major sources of energy.

However many liberal governments in Europe have zealously pushed the adoption and integration of such green energy sources in national power grids. This means high energy prices and hypocritical reliance on Russian gas, especially in Germany where almost all nuclear power plants have been shut down.

More than a third of Europe's gas requirements are provided by state-controlled Russian energy company Gazprom.

The St Petersburg-headquartered energy company runs the controversial Nord Stream 2, a new gas pipeline which runs through the Baltic Sea, beginning near Narva Bay in the Ust-Luga area of the Kingisepp district in Russia's Leningrad region -- and makes landfall at Lubmin, a German town on the northern coast near Greifswald. The pipeline bypasses Ukraine has traditionally been the main route for Russian gas.

Along with the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which opened in 2012, Nord Stream 2 will significantly increase Russia's annual export capacity to Europe.

U.S., United Kingdom, Ukraine and Poland among others are opposed to the Nord Stream 2 project fearing that it will only solidify Europe's reliance on the whims of Kremlin.

The $11 billion pipeline project has been built but is yet to go into operation, awaiting regulatory approval.

The US and Germany have committed to impose sanctions on Russia to prevent it from using the pipeline as a political weapon. In 2019, a major contractor stopped working on the project after the US imposed sanctions on the firms involved.

A war between Russia and Ukraine would likely significantly roil global energy markets.

As diplomatic talks continue between European leaders and Russian officials to avert a war, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby announced Monday, that the U.S. is putting 8,500 troops on “heightened preparedness to deploy” to Europe.

President Biden has also ordered the evacuation of families of U.S. embassy personnel from Kyiv, a move slammed by Ukrainian officials.

A source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly said he “does not think there’s any remotely imminent threat to Kyiv” at the moment, and took a shot at failed Democrat-run American city Los Angeles: “The fact that the US was the first one to announce this [withdrawal] is extremely disappointing and quite frankly these Americans are safer in Kyiv than they are in Los Angeles … or any other crime-ridden city in the US.”