If Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin’s plan is outlasting Western allies of Ukraine to achieve war victory, he may succeed.
Cracks are appearing in the previously publicized solidarity of the U.S. and European countries supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
After months of rising inflation exacerbated by higher prices for energy and food, citizens of European nations bristle at continued sacrifice. The support for Ukraine and its refugees is waning fast as dipping temperatures are cramping budgets for many Europeans.
Top European officials expressed fury with President Joe Biden and accuse Americans of making a fortune from the war while EU countries suffer, according to a Politico report.
“The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the U.S. because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons,” one unidentified senior official told POLITICO.
Incendiary remarks like that have become more common after the U.S. passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which Europeans fear will further weaken their economies. The incentives for U.S.-manufactured clean energy solutions put European competitors at a distinct price disadvantage.
“We are really at a historic juncture,” the senior EU official cited by the outlet said. The official reportedly argued the double hit of trade disruption from U.S. subsidies and high energy prices risk turning public opinion against both the war effort and the transatlantic alliance. “America needs to realize that public opinion is shifting in many EU countries.”
European Union chief diplomat Josep Borrell demanded Washington respond to European concerns.
“Americans — our friends — take decisions which have an economic impact on us,” he said in an interview.”
President Biden and administration officials have repeatedly blamed President Putin and his Russian war for the increase in gas prices.
“The rise in gas prices in Europe is caused by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s energy war against Europe, period,” a spokesperson for Biden’s National Security Council said.
The NSC spokesman noted a dramatic increase in liquified natural gas from the U.S. to Europe helped them withstand supply shocks from Russian gas disruptions.
Regardless of where blame lies, the continued Russian war with Ukraine is causing European countries to enter recessions. Double-digit inflation has been driven by a Machiavellian energy squeeze by Russia that has forced rationing and blackouts.
And, winter has just begun. As conditions worsen, it may increase anger against the U.S., which is being portrayed as profiteers from shipping liquified natural gas to Europe. East Coast supplies of LNG and diesel are dwindling because market prices paid by Europe are multiples of American prices, creating incentives to sell the energy products to Europe instead.
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