Dana Mathewson

To sort of paraphrase the title, it's fun presenting articles by one of the finest writers in the business today. Victor Davis Hanson explains what's schizophrenic about Europe regarding its energy and defense needs as opposed to how it tries to deal with them.

Despite its cool Green parties and ambitious wind and solar agendas, Europe remains by far the world’s largest importer of oil and natural gas.

Oil output in the North Sea and off the coast of Norway is declining, and the European Union is quietly looking for fossil fuel energy anywhere it can find it.

Europe itself is naturally rich in fossil fuels. It likely has more reserves of shale gas than the United States, currently the world’s largest producer of both oil and natural gas. Yet in most European countries, horizontal drilling and fracking to extract gas and oil are either illegal or face so many court challenges and popular protests that they are neither culturally nor economically feasible.

The result is that Europe is almost entirely dependent on Russian, Middle Eastern and African sources of energy.

The American-Iranian standoff in the Middle East, coupled with radical drop-offs in Iranian and Venezuelan oil production, has terrified Europe — and for understandable reasons.

In a logical world, Europeans would retake control of their own destiny. That recalibration would entail beefing up their military power, and their navies in particular.

The European Union has almost no ability to guarantee the delivery of critical oil and gas supplies from the Middle East should Iran close the Strait of Hormuz or harass ships in the Persian Gulf.

Europe’s only maritime security is the NATO fleet — a synonym for the U.S. Navy.

Vladimir Putin’s Russia supplies an estimated 30 percent of Europe’s oil needs. In times of crisis, Putin could exercise de facto control over the European economy.

In other words, Europe refuses to develop its own gas and oil reserves, and won’t fund the necessary military power to ensure that it can safely import energy from problematic or even hostile sources.

It’s no wonder that Europe’s traditional foreign policy reflects these crazy paradoxes.

Energy neediness explains why the EU was so eager to maintain the so-called "Iran deal” with the theocracy in Tehran, and also why it was nervous about the anti-Russia hysteria that arose in the United States after the 2016 election.

Past European distancing from Israel reflected Europe’s fear of alienating Arab oil producers in the Middle East and North Africa.

Europeans are also uneasy about the Trump administration. They see the current U.S. government as nationalist and unpredictable. Americans appear not so ready as in the past to enter the world’s hotspots to ensure unimpeded commercial use of sea and air lanes for the benefit of others.

The result is a sort of European schizophrenia when it comes to America and foreign policy in general. On one hand, the European Union resents its military dependence on Washington, while on the other it prays for its continuance. The EU loudly promotes freedom and democracy abroad, but it is careful to keep ties with oil-exporting Middle Eastern autocracies that are antithetical to every value Europeans promote.

"Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera," to quote the King of Siam in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The King and I." By which I mean, please go here https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/victor-david-hanson-europ-importer-gas-oil to read the rest. Victor Davis Hanson's articles are not be be bypassed or ignored!

And you will learn important lessons to keep in mind when you hear European "allies" complain about President Trump's actions in the Middle East, especially ones which appear to say "OK, guys, we're going to take our stuff and go home now (which to many of us sound like a great idea since we don't need their oil anymore)."

Please note that stuff about Europeans possessing oil reserves but not utilizing it. Remember when we were in the same boat?

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at January 17, 2020 07:49 AM (nCCzp)

Posted by: Dana Mathewson at January 17, 2020 11:06 PM (drMAl)

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