The war-drunk EU seems to have lost its mind, "thanks" to Germany, France, and Poland, but also due to perfidious Albion (England), everything is only going to get worse, and that very soon.
Maybe this is reading into it too much but I think that this move by the US is actually to the detriment of the EU (and deliberately so). As you've made clear, the EU needs the gas. No question. The tightening of sanctions just means more pain for Europe, as you have clearly outlined. Russia is likely to see no change in the situation, and Europe is scrambling to work around their "own" sanctions, which of course has the added issue of making it more obvious than ever that the EU is still importing huge amounts of gas from Russia, a fact that many inhabitants of the EU are still unaware of... Let us not forget that the only reason Europe managed to not freeze last winter is that industrial output was way down, as industry flooded out, so they needed less gas.
Yes this might take us further from peace by adding to the Russia bad narrative, but I don't really think that narrative can get any worse, as people have lost count how many sanctions there have been on Russia!
You know, this could be conducive to fostering innovation etc., but the EU is making matters worse by the hour. At some point, reality will re-emerge, I'm sure of it, and then a lot of people--politicos™, journos™, and experts™--will be revealed to be: morons. If that moment will also bring about consequences for shit decisions, we might all learn from it (but I wouldn't hold my breath).
I wonder... let's say in six months something radical happens that causes the EU to toss out all sanctions against Russia, and that Russia reciprocates by allowing business as usual.
How would Trump react, I wonder?
Because I sincerely doubt he and the US oil/gas and assorted industry would be very pleased. It's cost them tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars.
I do believe there's real pressure from the US on the EU to keep up sanctions, not for any care about Ukraine (or even the US money-laundering via "foreign aid" to Ukraine) but to keep Europe down, dependent and increasingly impoverished.
Don't forget Americans have huge cultural inferiority complex vs Europeans, and always feel a need to be no. 1, bigger faster firster in everything. And Trump has been playing to the segment of the Us populous that is unaware of this trait (the inverse are snobbish Europeans looking down on Americans as uncouth bumpkins), and has kept doing it since he took office, as has Vance and others.
Imagine if the EU told the US:
"We're not going to impose sanctions on any nation just because the USA thinks that nation ought to be under sanction, and you law that says you have the right to limit what nations trade with each other? You can stick that sideways."
And the offered Iran to buy Archer, or offered a good oil/gas-deal to Venezuela, including JAS-E Gripen airfighters in exchange for favourable prices on oil/gas, and so on.
The US would either have to accept it, or start a hot war with Europe.
The war-drunk EU seems to have lost its mind, "thanks" to Germany, France, and Poland, but also due to perfidious Albion (England), everything is only going to get worse, and that very soon.
My dear friend, 'seems' is a way too innocent word for this…
Maybe this is reading into it too much but I think that this move by the US is actually to the detriment of the EU (and deliberately so). As you've made clear, the EU needs the gas. No question. The tightening of sanctions just means more pain for Europe, as you have clearly outlined. Russia is likely to see no change in the situation, and Europe is scrambling to work around their "own" sanctions, which of course has the added issue of making it more obvious than ever that the EU is still importing huge amounts of gas from Russia, a fact that many inhabitants of the EU are still unaware of... Let us not forget that the only reason Europe managed to not freeze last winter is that industrial output was way down, as industry flooded out, so they needed less gas.
Yes this might take us further from peace by adding to the Russia bad narrative, but I don't really think that narrative can get any worse, as people have lost count how many sanctions there have been on Russia!
You know, this could be conducive to fostering innovation etc., but the EU is making matters worse by the hour. At some point, reality will re-emerge, I'm sure of it, and then a lot of people--politicos™, journos™, and experts™--will be revealed to be: morons. If that moment will also bring about consequences for shit decisions, we might all learn from it (but I wouldn't hold my breath).
I wonder... let's say in six months something radical happens that causes the EU to toss out all sanctions against Russia, and that Russia reciprocates by allowing business as usual.
How would Trump react, I wonder?
Because I sincerely doubt he and the US oil/gas and assorted industry would be very pleased. It's cost them tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars.
I do believe there's real pressure from the US on the EU to keep up sanctions, not for any care about Ukraine (or even the US money-laundering via "foreign aid" to Ukraine) but to keep Europe down, dependent and increasingly impoverished.
Don't forget Americans have huge cultural inferiority complex vs Europeans, and always feel a need to be no. 1, bigger faster firster in everything. And Trump has been playing to the segment of the Us populous that is unaware of this trait (the inverse are snobbish Europeans looking down on Americans as uncouth bumpkins), and has kept doing it since he took office, as has Vance and others.
Imagine if the EU told the US:
"We're not going to impose sanctions on any nation just because the USA thinks that nation ought to be under sanction, and you law that says you have the right to limit what nations trade with each other? You can stick that sideways."
And the offered Iran to buy Archer, or offered a good oil/gas-deal to Venezuela, including JAS-E Gripen airfighters in exchange for favourable prices on oil/gas, and so on.
The US would either have to accept it, or start a hot war with Europe.
Last time I checked, the EU has some 30,000 individual sanctions imposed on Russia since 2022. Imagine how fast/swift these may be repealed…
As to the US's war vs. Europe, well, here's some 'evidence' of stuff I put out in mid-Sept. 2022, i.e., two weeks before the Nord Stream bombing…
https://tkp.at/2022/09/14/amerikas-krieg-gegen-europas-voelker-das-ist-brutalitaet/