Free-world financial sanctions are hitting Russia hard, but the best long-term way to pull Vladimir Putin’s teeth remains more rational energy policies, in the United States and across the West.
The ruble tanked Monday, and Russia’s stock market didn’t even open. All in reaction to the far tougher sanctions the West announced Sunday — drastic measures inspired by the brutality of Putin’s invasion and Ukraine’s heroic resistance.
Yet it’s not enough: Putin’s regime gets much of the wealth that funds its military from energy sales. And he uses energy as a weapon, blackmailing Europe in particular.
No less than Germany’s Social Democratic leader, Olaf Scholz, is facing these facts. In his stunning speech Sunday, he vowed “to eliminate our dependence on imports from individual energy suppliers.”
Germany still aims to be carbon-neutral by 2045, but Scholz committed to “building up a reserve of coal and gas” and constructing two new Liquid Natural Gas terminals to allow imports.
“Responsible, forward-looking energy policy is not just crucial for our economy and our climate. It is also crucial for our security,” he declared.
Hear, hear. But America needs to do its part. That means abandoning Democrats’ short-sighted efforts to strangle the US energy sector, which is producing 1.2 million fewer barrels a day in oil than it did at peak under the last president.
As Steve Moore notes for The Post, with oil at $100 a barrel, that’s $120 million in lost US income every day.
It also leaves us importing from Russia — and forced to turn to also-tyrannical regimes in Venezuela or Iran if we boycott the warmonger.
Like Germany, we’re burning carbon fuels no matter where they come from. Doesn’t it make more sense to burn our own — and to supply the needs of allied nations who lack these resources?
And, yes, renewed US production matters for our economy, too: More good jobs, lower prices at the pump and helping slow out-of-control inflation.
This does not mean giving up the fight against climate change, let alone resorting to denial about the planet’s warming. But it does require recognizing the simple truth that solar, wind and other alternate energy sources aren’t yet remotely where we need them to heat our homes and power our factories, computers and cars. (Nuclear power deserves another look, too: It works great for the French.)
Putin’s invasion has been a wake-up call for on many fronts. Shifting to a “responsible, forward-looking energy policy” has to be one of them.