With Energy Stocks At End Of Winter Low And Europe Vulnerable To An Energy Crisis, Putin Says Russia May Pull The Plug On Gas Supplies

 

Russia has threatened to cut off  gas supplies to Europe, just as energy reserves are at an end-of-winter low, and as markets experience a spike ‌in energy prices triggered by the Iran crisis. President Vladimir Putin warned of potential action from Russia on Wednesday, linking the possible decision to the European Union wanting to ban purchases of Russian gas and liquefied natural gas. 

 

Oil and gas prices have soared in global commodity markets following the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran and Tehran's strikes on Gulf Arab neighbours. The conflict has  almost halted the flow of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz through which about 30% of the world's oil passes, ​and forced the shutdown of Qatar’s LNG production and Saudi Arabia’s largest oil refinery.

 

This threat to Europe's energy security comes as Iran tightens its chokehold on the the marine gateway to the Persian Gulf oil ports through the Strait and Trump's Iran regime change strategy for weakening China by taking out its middle east proxy and main supplier of crude oil and petroleum products seems set to turn into another 'forever war' quagmire.

 

It is also worth  thinking about the effect this Iran skirmish would have on China.  Other commentators also seem to be waking up to the idea  this has been part of Trump’s explicit strategy all along. Iran in the Middle East, China in the East, were always the main villains in American eyes. The tariff gambit weakened China enough for them to realise that their economy relies on trade with the West and back off their tactic of disrupting western consumer markets.

That gave Washington space to turn its attention to Iran.  His brash and bombastic smoke-and-mirror tactics in the arctic, Caribbean and middle east were not just to trigger TDS meltdowns in liberals and lefties for the entertainment of people like me. He had to keep foes and allies alike guessing about what he was really up to. 

Trump is now demanding Iran’s unconditional surrender. At last! The only way to break the appeasement stranglehold of the so-called liberal rules-based world order delusion of the Western elites, is the firm hand.Show the upstar BRICS bloc that despite the pussyfooting of a few decades of weak, virtue sgnalling leaders, the west is not finished.

An appeasement strategy and a virtue signalling philosophy of lets-all-be-one-big-happy-global-nation attracts toadies whose inadequacyis quickly exposed when they have to make tough decisions, and they turn into crybullies, coercing their own people into bowing before the threats of tyrants; but it also attracts the amoral charlatan, and the society becomes riddled with bribery and extortion. As we have observed in Europe and the USA

In addition to potential Iranian control of the Gulf, Russia is already a no-go area for western land and air traffic and Iranian-sponsored Houthis have the potential to control shipping transiting the Red Sea. On top of this, China now poses a threat as it has a naval base at the mouth of the Red Sea at Djibouti and is building a string of dual-purpose ports along the East coast of Africa. Collectively, this choke point and who controls it is known as the 52nd Meridian East Challenge.

Given this context, it's hardly surprising that the US wants to neutralise the threat from China's middle east proxy Iran. It's vital to ensure western Europe-Asia trade, supply chains, and military movement.Somebody, and due to European pussification it could only have veen the USA, had to move to stop the advance of China, which in addition to having become, with the aid and complicity of European and previous US Presidents, the world's leading industrial nation, has also been planning to replace the $US with its own reserve currency and has ben infiltrating and undermining wetern political systems, particularly that of the UK, without opposition for far too long.

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