The Patriot Post® · Why Are We Buying Russian Oil?

Joe Biden is talking tough these days. In recent weeks, he’s warned Russian President Vladimir Putin by suggesting the U.S. might shut down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine. It’s one thing to talk tough if you can back it up, but any sanctions against Russia would almost surely hit the U.S. and Western Europe with higher energy prices.

It sure looks as though the Russian president is playing mind games with Biden, though that’s an easy accomplishment these days.

Making matters even more complicated, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz refused in a recent White House meeting to commit to going along with Biden’s threat. In other words, Scholz isn’t going to allow his citizens to pay more for natural gas simply to placate Biden, who merely wants to sound tough on the evening news or pretend the U.S. has a real say over Germany’s energy needs.

Germany knows how important natural gas and fossil fuels are for a country to sustain its standing as an international economic power. Unfortunately, our own president doesn’t blink an eye when it comes to undermining America’s energy independence.

On the first day of Biden’s presidency, the U.S. became more energy dependent on countries like Russia. How’s that working out in practice?

“Here’s a flashing neon sign that U.S. energy policy has gone terribly, terribly wrong,” National Review reports. “Throughout 2021, the U.S. has imported 12 million to 26 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products per month from Russia — that same country we keep enacting new sanctions on, in an effort to deter Vladimir Putin’s territorial ambitions.”

“The most recent month from the Energy Information Agency’s figures is November 2021, at 17.8 million barrels,” adds National Review. “Last spring, imports of Russian oil hit the highest level in a decade; in August, Russia became the second-highest exporter of oil to the United States.”

Of course, it didn’t have to be this way. The United States was the world’s largest producer of oil and had become a net exporter when Biden stepped in the Oval Office and assaulted America’s energy production by shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Spectator World reports: “Pain at the pump is part of that story, and that begins with the administration’s constraints on energy production. Those began with a flourish on Inauguration Day, when Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada.”

Unfortunately, Europe is more dependent on Russia than ever for its energy needs. But the problem goes far beyond energy, as that dependence is making it impossible for European countries to hold the line against Russian aggression. The fact that they might be willing to sacrifice Ukraine in the process is evidence of Putin’s chokehold on the European Union.

If Joe Biden and the Democrats understood or appreciated just how much the world still needs fossil fuels, we’d be in a better bargaining position with Putin. Instead, we’re building wind farms in the ocean and hoping Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine.

As a leader in energy production, America could have more sway over global geopolitics. Instead, the Democrats’ obsession with green energy has left us less secure and the world more unstable. We should learn an important lesson from Germany, which shut down its nuclear plants and now depends on outside sources for 61% of its energy.

Yet Biden won’t budge.

“Biden’s opposition to fossil fuels has broad support within the Democratic Party,” the Spectator adds. “That support remains strong despite rising prices. But Independents are clearly unhappy. Since they are upset with so many Biden policies, it’s hard to disentangle what troubles them most. Still, it is striking how little this rising resentment and declining popularity has affected Biden’s policies. Zero, zip, nada.”

As this author wrote last summer, Biden’s claim about producing cleaner energy to fight climate change doesn’t make sense when he’s just fine with importing fossil fuels from other countries.

Make no mistake: President Biden might sound like he’s got the power to tell Putin how to act regarding Ukraine, but Putin has the political advantage. And whether Biden realizes it or not, traditional energy still rules the world.