Written by Michael Thervil
Photo by GENYA SAVILOV / AFP/File
Geopolitical pundits around the world are wondering if Volodymyr Zelenskyy is blind. In other words, can Volodymyr Zelenskyy see that his actions are not only hurting the people of Ukraine but are now adversely affecting people throughout Europe to the United Kingdom? If Volodymyr Zelenskyy isn’t geopolitically blind, then it can be said that he is most definitely acting in a selfish and reckless manner when it comes to his failure to meet the needs of not only the people of Ukraine, but to his reckless endangerment of all the people from Ukraine to the United Kingdom.
Granted the oil and gas transit deal between Ukraine and Russia expired yesterday, but to unnecessarily expose people to the region's harsh winters is another matter of it own. One can say politics be damned when it comes to the average citizen's livelihood. What's appears to be most ridiculous claim on the first day of 2025 made by German Galushchenko, who is Ukraine’s Energy Minister is the following:
“We stopped the transit of Russian gas. This is a historic event. Russia is losing its markets; it will suffer financial losses. Europe has already made the decision to abandon Russian gas.”
The truth of the matter is that they [Ukraine] did not stop the flow of Russian gas, instead, the terms of the oil and gas transit deal expired. There's a difference that should be recognized, claims like these leave Ukraine looking desperate for any kind of win against Russia. Although Türkiye will not be that adversely affected by the decision of Volodymyr Zelenskyy not to renew their end of the oil and gas transit deal, because Türkiye obtains their oil and gas needs from Russia from the Black Sea Pipeline.
The decision to not renew the oil and gas transit deal by Ukraine also hurts Russia to a small degree as Russia is expected to lose roughly $5 billion in the oil and gas sector. Again, this is a small blow to the Russian economy, but it can easily be made up by selling oil to other countries such as India, China, North Korea, various African countries, parts of South America and to what is known as “developing countries”.
Calling a spade a spade, it can be said that America, who is both influencing and unaffected by Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s decision stands to gain the most financially by shipping its oil and gas to not only Ukraine but to the rest of the European nations. The shipping of oil, gas, and LNG (liquified natural gas) overseas to other members of the Collective West doesn't come cheap. With American oil and gas exports not coming cheap to their collective partners, it again places Russia in a special position to capitalize on that fact by conducting business with other parts of the world that need oil and gas.
With Russia’s ability to deploy “shadow fleets” and other oil and gas carrying vessels throughout the world, combined with those receiving nations ability to repackage and sell that Russian brought gas to other countries at a discount, to the very countries that agreed to the sanctioning of Russia serves as nothing but another avenue for Russia to exploit in the long term. With Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s bullheaded stubbornness to continue fighting a war that he has picked and already lost leads to two trains of logic. The first being Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a dumb ass that should go back to making comedy skits about playing the piano with his dick; or he actually is a dumb ass and simply hasn’t realized it.
Even if Europe says it wants to cut off Russian gas – the next question is “for how long?” Europe, and more specifically the United Kingdom is already financially broke and is considered by many to be nothing more than a shell of former itself. How long will the average citizens of Europe and the United Kingdom allow themselves to be subjected to the will of weak leadership? Only time will tell.
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