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In the Gas War, Ukraine Is the Loser No Matter Who Wins

Russia wants to pipe gas under the Baltic, the US wants to sell LNG from tankers via Baltic terminals. Where in this is the Ukraine?


What is the gas war?

Roughly speaking, it is waged between Russia, who wants to export gas to consumers in Europe, and America, who wants to export their liquified natural gas (LNG) to consumers in Europe. There is a European consumer called Germany, who needs a lot of gas. The Germans have gone nuts, they want to replace coal and atom with windmills and mirrors. But meanwhile they need the low emissions natural gas to meet the targets they set themselves.

Some pro-Ukrainians believe Russia builds pipelines to bypass Ukraine, and thus deprive Ukraine of the revenue she makes from transit. Some hotheads out there believe Russia would then be less inclined to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and war in the east may resume. But they are fooling themselves if they think that current America’s pressure on European countries to halt the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is in any way intended to help Ukraine. America’s goal is to be the sole exporter of LNG to Europe, and Washington is attempting to use its political influence to achieve this goal. For this purpose, LNG infrastructure is being built around the Baltics.

Where exactly is Ukraine in this scheme of things?


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