I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organisations – environmental organisations working against shale gas – to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen (12th NATO Secretary General)
A majority of US voters (80%) don’t understand the President’s reluctance to send America’s energy industry to war. Putin depends on oil and gas to fund his military and provide Russians with government services. Yet, Joe Biden won’t do the obvious, stupefied by climate activism that’s been fomented and funded by Putin, dating back to the Obama years. Thus, if the US economy tanks and Putin stays in Ukraine, there’s enough evidence for Biden to fear impeachment.
If the GOP reclaims Congress, a sizable America First wing can link Putin’s anti-fracking propaganda and funding of climate activism to Biden’s executive orders that killed US energy independence. Payback is hell. Many Republicans (59%) think Biden stole the election (source: Newsweek). Most (65%) think Trump was wrongly impeached for Ukraine (source: Vox). Almost all (93%) disapprove of Biden (source: Gallup). That smells like a mandate.
The US was hurt by Biden’s Inaugural Day executive orders (gas costs $2.38) that stalled fossil-fuel development. A gallon of gas now costs $4.32, and Gallup reports 73% of the US is “not satisfied with the government’s energy policies.” Today, despite Biden claims that “clean energy” will “lower energy prices for families,” IBD/TIPP reports 63% of voters support “drilling for domestic fossil fuels at the expense of climate change.” Americans are paying at the pump for this war – and know whom to blame.
After Ukraine president Zelensky spoke to Congress, GOP leaders panned Biden’s decisions: too slow restricting Russian oil and gas (65% of its exports, 39% of government funding, and 25% of GDP), too green to embrace US energy independence, and too weak to lead the free world. It’s no stretch to allege that funding Putin’s war machine is a high crime or hurting America’s energy workers is a misdemeanor. And, why did Biden block Poland’s GIFT of fighter jets to Ukraine?
These are very real damages – and the public record suggests a quid pro quo between Putin and the green movement.
Russia Today (state-owned TV) in 2013: America’s shale energy revolution is built on myths, lies and Wall Street hype – a new Ponzi fraud [like] the 2002-2007 US real estate securitization bubble.
Hillary Clinton in 2014: We were up against Russia pushing to buy media, even up against phony environmental groups. I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by Russians. “Oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you” – and that money was coming from Russia.
Rep. Lamar Smith in 2018: The findings of the Committee’s investigation into Russian efforts to influence U.S. energy markets: (1) engaged in a concerted effort to disrupt U.S. energy markets, (2) influenced domestic energy policy, and (3) exploited American social media platforms to carry out this objective.
NSA Russia expert Fiona Hill in 2019: I sat next to Vladimir Putin at a conference in 2011, in which he started making it very clear that American fracking was a great threat to Russian interests. And since that particular juncture, Putin has made a big deal of this.
One does not have to be a rabid Republican to connect the dots. Everybody knows Putin needs petrodollars, Trump thwarted Putin by creating a net-energy-exporting America, Biden helped Putin by creating a net-energy-importing America, and impeachment is as close as a Republican with a committee gavel. So, yeah, Biden should fear impeachment.