The Threat That Russia Poses That No One is Talking About
by John Lawrence
While diplomats quibble over Russia's interference in our elections and incursions into Ukraine, they are missing the largest reason why Russia is a threat to humanity and that is the fact that Russia's economy depends on the export of fossil fuels. Russia has the largest reserves and is the largest exporter of natural gas. It produces 12% of the world's oil and has a similar share of global oil exports. This is the reason why the US, the EU and the world community needs to stop sanctioning and censuring Russia and take it under its wing if the world wants to eliminate fossil fuels and greenhouse gasses. Global warming will continue apace unless Russia and China are on board, and in Russia's case at least, the transformation to clean energy will affect its economy in significant ways. Otherwise, Russia will just say to hell with it and export all the fossil fuels it possibly can knowing that global warming will only make Siberia and northern Russia more desirable tourist destinations.
The petroleum industry in Russia is one of the largest in the world. Russia has the largest reserves and is the largest exporter of natural gas. It has the second largest coal reserves, the eighth largest oil reserves, and is one of the largest producers of oil. It is the third largest energy user. Russia is the world's second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia. As the world shifts to renewable energy and away from fossil fuels, what will happen to the economies of Russia, Saudi Arabia and other major oil exporters such as Venezuela? How is the world, especially the Western world, going to convince Russia, with the largest oil reserves in the world, to keep its oil in the ground? Reuters reported:
"Over the past decade, Russia launched a major oil pipeline to China, which today is shipping 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), and opened the new port of Kozmino on the Pacific, exporting over 600,000 bpd. Russia is also shipping 200,000 bpd to China via a pipeline crossing Kazakhstan.
"Next month, Russia plans to expand the pipeline connecting its east and west Siberian fields with China, Kozmino and local refineries - known as the East Siberia–Pacific Ocean (ESPO) - by another 100,000 bpd.
"The link will then reach its full designed capacity of 1.6 million bpd.
"Over the past decade, China has become by far the largest buyer of Russian oil via new routes, securing 800,000 bpd of supplies by pipelines and buying large volumes from Kozmino.
"The expansion of the ESPO link should further cement Russia’s role as China’s top supplier ahead of rivals such as Saudi Arabia and the United States."
Clearly, it's in the US' interests to make friends with Russia and China because they are both in a better position to withstand the ravages of global warming than is the US with its hurricanes coming off the Gulf of Mexico and its drought and forest fires in the west. In the geopolitical game, both Russia and China have tremendous advantages. The US will continue to see a flow of refugees as hurricanes destroy Central American nations. Low lying areas of the US such as Florida, Louisiana and New York City will see increased flooding. Higher temperatures will make living in parts of the US let alone the land mass on its southern border untenable. If the US is serious about ameliorating global warming, it needs to bring the entire planet on board. Without Russia, China and India getting serious about climate change, the whole effort is doomed and these so-called enemies or competitors with western values will have won the day more or less by default. The US will suffer the worst consequences. All Russia has to do to secure that outcome is to continue producing and exporting fossil fuels.
Therefore, it is a losing game to quibble about human rights abuses especially in light of the fact that the Russians and Chinese by and large seem to be more loyal to their countries than does the US population which is not at all on the same page. The US is a divided nation that can't even agree on who won the last election. Its sanctions on other nations are having little actual effect except to piss off those nations' leaders. The US military adventurism is draining the country of resources best utilized elsewhere. Joe Biden is doing his best to right the ship of state, but it's a herculean task given the fact that the Republican establishment is dead set on regaining power and reversing all the progress that Joe Biden can possibly make with his limited time in office. The rest of the world sees that lack of steadiness in steering the ship of state and takes it under advisement.
