Putin’s Game

Dealing with Vladimir Putin reminds me of dealing with peers growing up who had a decidedly different take on the games we played.  We all recall them, those kids that played by a different set of rules, seeking to get ahead, to win at everything even when there appeared to be nothing to win.  Just playing basketball for fun with the neighborhood kids in the driveway, nobody keeping score, yet there was always that one guy who always knew what the score was, and was throwing elbows in the paint. The family gathered around the scrabble board, having a few drinks and just trying to come up with some interesting and clever words.  But there’s always that one participant, usually an in-law, who puts the S on the end of your 10-letter masterpiece on the double word square, taking advantage of the game’s loophole in the rules.  Yeah, it’s legal, but like the NFL overtime rules, it’s still not cricket. And then there’s the guy at team practice looking to climb into the starting line-up.  Pity the starter who unknowingly has a bull’s-eye on his back and will be the victim of the blind side hit, the errant elbow to the ribs, or the cleated stomp to the ankle courtesy of his supposed teammate.  Different goals, different game.

 

Such is the way of Mr. Putin.  While the world seeks to get along and is happily playing checkers, Vlad is playing chess.  He does nothing that isn’t self-serving, nothing that isn’t for leverage.  Call Trump what you will, but the businessman in him saw the Nordstream Pipeline for what is was; Putin’s effort to control the spigot to Europe’s energy supply.  Sure, Biden may have “looked [Putin] in the eye” and suspected they had an understanding of one another, but what Putin understood was Biden’s weakness and he knew he had a dupe.  Nothing Biden has done since on the international stage, from the Afghanistan withdrawal to his reaction to Chinese aggression and North Korean missiles has changed that.  And Biden’s plummeting approval at home is making him weaker and more impulsive.  C’mon, man.  With Europe in the throes of climate change hysteria, Germany in the process of shutting down all their nuclear power plants (why exactly?), and the US deciding that energy independence and becoming a net energy exporter wasn’t in keeping with the radical left’s green agenda, fumbling, bumbling Joe Biden gifted Russia with 40% of Europe’s gas imports.  Genius.  And how did Vlad thank Joe for the gift?  Why, by massing forces on the Ukraine border in the dead of winter, that’s how.  And why would he do that?  Because he can.  Because Putin wants to extend his sphere of influence, reconstitute as much of the former Soviet Union as possible, and keep NATO away from his borders.  And the West has conveniently given him the tools to do it, shooting ourselves in the foot in our race to a green energy future. As the Wall Street Journal succinctly put it, “Can we count on Germany?  Nein.”  Not when Germany is freezing through a cold winter with Russia crimping the energy hose just as gas prices are soaring. And this occurring amidst a reduction in energy from sources such as coal, nuclear, solar and wind.  The perfect storm.  And if Joe suspects that he can shut down the pipeline to punish Putin, that tactic is already blunted by our inability to consistently supply Europe with Natural Gas to compensate, the Arab’s reluctance to increase supply, and China’s willingness to buy the gas through pipelines that are already under construction.  

 

In the same manner that Texas discovered the fickle nature of renewable energy sources when Mother Nature comes to call, Europe is now experiencing the impact of their move toward green energy and the implementation of punitive cap-and-trade programs.  Americans take note: these same green energy initiatives lurk within the Build Back Betterdisaster that thankfully stalled in Congress, hung up by a thread of sanity.  The world order is changing as we become preoccupied with social constructs and the woke agenda, things that don’t really matter to our detractors.  It would be best if we played the same game, if we started playing chess.