The sanctions initiated by the United States against Russia—could the true target actually be Europe? It appears that Europe has finally come to its senses, realizing that restrictions on Russian energy exports do not affect the United States and, surprisingly, have not had a significant impact on Russia either. Instead, Europe has suffered a fatal blow.
As a result, European countries have decisively made concessions, recognizing that nothing is more important than securing Russian natural gas.
It is well-known that Russia's resources are particularly crucial for Europe. Many experts once firmly believed that, regardless of how the situation changes, Europe would not easily interrupt its imports from Russia. However, unexpectedly, after the Ukraine crisis, Europe actually did so.
But now Europe clearly feels that it was wrong, and some insightful individuals have pointed out that what seems to be restrictions on Russia are, in fact, a fatal blow to the European economy by the United States.
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The reason lies in Europe's own extreme scarcity of mineral resources, with Russia being its most convenient source of minerals, offering high quality and favorable prices, and covering almost all the mineral resources Europe needs. Especially in terms of natural gas supply, European countries have long been heavily dependent on Russia, a dependency that has spanned centuries.
Under normal circumstances, maintaining this cooperation would be beneficial for both parties. However, it has now turned into a unilateral loss for Europe. For Russia, not exporting to Europe means it can export to Asia, with no worries about sales.
On the contrary, for Europe, although it has not stopped trying to break free from its dependence on Russian natural gas, these attempts have repeatedly failed, leading Europe to ultimately choose to compromise. The reason is that there are no other competitors around Europe that can replace Russia, and even if such merchants exist, their natural gas prices are far higher than Russia's.
Of course, Europe is advancing the transition to clean energy, but projects such as nuclear and wind energy are not yet fully mature, and natural gas is still necessary to achieve the transition. Therefore, completely cutting off imports of Russian natural gas is difficult, especially in winter. In the depths of winter, every household needs heating, and gas is the main source, so every winter, Europe's demand for natural gas surges.
The United States, on the other hand, is the beneficiary. The United States has been trying to export energy, and over the past year or so, its energy exports have yielded significant gains.
Recently, European countries could no longer bear the lack of sufficient Russian natural gas for two years, leading to a severe shortage and rising prices of natural gas. Under these circumstances, France, as one of the five permanent members and a central European country, boldly and openly imported Russian natural gas, disregarding numerous bans.Although Germany maintains an anti-Russian stance on the surface, it still secretly purchases, while France directly reveals its true attitude. France's actions have also resonated with people in other European countries, with an increasing number of nations joining the ranks of openly importing Russian natural gas.
Perhaps this is the confidence Russia has in further economic recovery next year, as one can imagine a significant increase in natural gas orders from Europe.
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