Mandalore76 said:
The unfortunate thing is, the Biden administration picks and chooses which things to sanction. For example, Russia invaded the Ukraine 9 days ago, but the US has still not sanctioned the import of oil from Russia. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a bill on Thursday to ban U.S. imports of Russian oil, saying the shipments could be replaced by boosting output in North America and other places. The bill would have to pass the Senate and House and be signed by President Joe Biden to become law, but the White House has indicated reluctance to support moves that could increase the price of gasoline at a time when inflation is already high. "I don't believe this country should be importing anything from Russia," Jon Tester, a Democrat from oil-producing Montana who supports the Manchin-Murkowski bill, told reporters. "It will send even a bigger message that the United States is in this with Ukrainians for the long haul." "We don't have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy... that would raise prices at the gas pump for the American people," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday. Pressure grows on Biden to ban U.S. imports of Russian oil You're either all in on standing with the Ukraine as a nation and ally, or you're not. Saying you support the Ukraine while continuing to buy oil from Russia isn't a good look. Russia is the 2nd largest exporter of crude oil after Saudi Arabia. You would think that would be the first thing to ban import of in order to cripple a country's war effort. But nah, let's ban athletes and esports players from competitions first, because that will really hurt Russia's war effort. |
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Energy_statistics_-_an_overview
This illustrate well the problems with EU & UK issue with banning Russian OIL and gas as it make for the majority of grid energy source. Even if the US is less reliant on Russia, would they ban Oil and gas, it would greatly pressure EU to follow suit and doing so would likely skyrocket electricity and gas price which could even trigger a world recession. This potentially could have the adverse effect of diverting attention from the war in Ukraine which could also reduce support to them.
Understand that Russia being a Nuclear power is not the only reason NATO did not join the war in support of Ukraine. It is only a reason everyone can understand and go along with it. Would Russia not be a nuclear power the EU might still have grown to dependent on them to declare war.
For me here's a better course of action.
The previous chart shows an interesting fact, for the past 20 years, use of oil and natural gas have stabilized and even declined a little meanwhile renewable have rose to meet the increase in demand. The EU and UK should declare war on Russian oil and gas, not by banning it but dramatically increase investment in renewable.
For every $ Russia spend on the war with Ukraine they should spend 10$ to end their dependence on Russian energy.
Only an announcement of such would hinder Russian long term prospect and therefore should further impact Ruble value.
This is possible as it should be less costlier than joining war with Ukraine which they are prevented from in the first place.
Also 3 EU (4 if we include UK) member have bigger GDP than Russia (France, Germany and Italy) so they can and should lead the way.
