Sticking It To Russia

I am sitting in a parking lot waiting for my wife to come out of the doctor’s office so I decided I had time to write an article since she will be a while. I started thinking about how the price of oil is suddenly dropping at the same time we are going after Putin and the Russians. Could it just be a coincidence that suddenly the price is dropping like never before in recent history and Russia needs to keep the price of oil at about $100 per barrel for their economy to survive?Β  There have been all sorts of rumors circulating around lately that President Obama in cooperation with our government and some of our allies is out to not only destroy Russia, but break it up into smaller countries. This certainly does seem like an incredible statement doesn’t it? Yet all the signs point to us as having been trying to at least control Russia in some way and depose Putin.

I began to notice something was wrong with the new relationship we had with Russia after the wall fell in Berlin, when we told the world we were going back to the moon and excited Russian scientists said they couldn’t wait to take part and we told them they couldn’t. They were shocked, because they had been our partners in space for years and still are to some extent since we use their rocket motors and their spaceships as an emergency escape vehicle on the space station. We told them we wanted to go it alone and basically they were not welcome to accompany us. We couldn’t have been angrier than when Putin became the head of Russia for the second time. I don’t know where we get the idea we are in charge of the entire world. If one were to look at all the dictators we have backed in the last 90 to 100 years he would see we had other interests than those of the people of those countries. South American is a good example of this where we either put despots into power or helped keep them there. Then there was the shah of Iran. We got rid of the democratically elected leader because he was going to nationalize the oil companies and we helped put the shah in power who was completely corrupt and cruel.

Companies have far too much input into our government in this country. This is why one will see me complaining about the system of lobbying. Lobbying is really only for the rich and powerful companies, because as individuals we have no lobbying power at all. So what do we do, we try and band together in organizations such as AARP for the elderly, veterans organizations and unions to increase our lobbying power, but this is mostly just a drop in the bucket since none of these have the power of the rich or the powerful international companies or even countries who lobby us. Yes foreign countries have more power with our government than we do, but I think this comes as no surprise to most of us. Somehow many people have succumb to the propaganda that unions are evil and responsible for the ills of the country. This has allowed companies to pay a sub-living wage and reduce the lobbying power of the individual even further.

Getting back to our hatred of Russia. We thought we had them where we wanted them when the Ukraine managed to get a pro-western leader. It has been said we were behind this and had CIA operatives working in that country. If the country fell to the west, the Russians would have been cut off from their only naval base in the area and from some Russian speaking citizens in that country. This is the reason they felt they had to invade, which they deny doing. I am not saying this was the right thing to do, I am an American first and foremost, I am only saying why they did it. They felt we were betraying them. We probably should have reacted in a different way instead of constantly turning the screws on them. As we turn these economic screws we actually risk a nuclear war. Maybe we could have worked things out, but it doesn’t look like we even tried and have no interest in trying. Russia reacted by creating a new economic entity a sort of World Bank backed by Russia, China and India. They also agreed to accept a nation’s currency for their oil and gas. Previously all oil transactions in the world were in U.S. dollars. These moves have made us even angrier.

As we turned the economic screws we targeted two Russian banks and two Russian energy companies. We hit them where it hurts and have prevented them from getting financial backing not only in the United States, but in other countries. We now say we have a real reason for sanctions against Russia and that is the downing of flight MH17. We claim rebels who were supported by Russia shot the plane down probably by mistaking it for a military plane. Russia denies this, but this has become another knot in the board for Russia as many of our allies joined us in our condemnation of Russia. Who really shot the plane down? The general public really doesn’t know, but it could have been the rebels but maybe not.

Russia is being attacked more forcibly by Europe now, but they have a problem. Over 30% of the energy needs of Europe come from Russia. If Russia decides to get even, look for it happening this winter when heating oil and gas are needed the most. Thanks to us Russia is being driven into the Asian block instead of the western one. It would be far more beneficial to the world if Russia and the United States became close allies. It would especially be good for space exploration. There is some hope for Russia however since not all European countries are standing that firm. France is delivering two warships to Russia in the future. Shell Oil has a huge investment in Russia and may help to alleviate Russian problems. This may not help however as the European Union has decided to target more Russian financial institutions, ones that are especially vital for Russian fiscal health.

Some American politicians are now saying the Europeans have no spine. I have to wonder if eventually all this pressure on Russia will blow up in our face. It is quite possible our allies will get tired of these games since many of them also have financial investments in Russia and it would be better for them if Russia survived. I can only hope somehow our politicians would realize it is better for everyone if Russia is left to compete in the western sphere, but I don’t think this will ever happen.