Russia’s new cold war and the Democrats’ new no-to-drilling push

Vladimir Putin is using oil to gain power and control of the countries around Russia.  He just cut off oil supplies to at least half a dozen countries who need the oil to survive the winter:

Fears of a deep chill spread across Europe yesterday after a row between Russia and Ukraine over gas prices cut supplies to the rest of the continent on a day of plummeting temperatures and heavy snowfalls.

The European Union said the situation was “completely unacceptable” as thousands of businesses were urged to switch fuels, and households struggled to keep warm in sub-zero temperatures. But there was no sign of an end to the standoff between Russia’s energy monopoly Gazprom and Ukraine, locked in battle since New Year’s Day.

Gazprom stopped pumping gas to Ukraine for domestic consumption on 1 January after the two countries failed to agree on a fixed price for 2009. The pipelines that cross Ukraine also carry gas to Europe but that continued to flow, until Moscow accused Ukraine of siphoning off Europe’s fuel and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin retaliated by ordering Gazprom to cut EU-bound exports by the amount being stolen.

Yesterday Russia stopped gas supplies through Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia. The government of Slovakia declared a national emergency; Austria and Italy reported falls of 90 per cent; France said Russian supplies had tailed off 70 per cent, and Germany also reported a decline although did not quantify it.

The Czech Republic, which took over the EU presidency this month, had sharp words for Moscow. “Drastically curbing deliveries this way is no solution to business disputes,” said Alexandr Vondra, the Czech Deputy Prime Minister. “It is impossible to hold other countries hostage.” He demanded the warring sides reach an agreement by the end of the week.

In Bulgaria, the government has declared a “crisis situation”. The country not only has the lowest GDP per capita in the EU, but relies on Russia for all of its gas.

“Everyone was sent home from school after the gas suddenly went off,” said Patrizia, an 18-year-old student in the provincial town of Pazardzhik, where the daytime temperature was minus 8C. “It’s the first time I remember this happening, there was no warning, and people are worried because they have no idea how long it will last.”

This is why we need to drill for our own oil so we don’t find ourselves in a very similar situation, yet the Democrats are doing to their own citizens what Putin is doing to these other countries’ citizens. They’re both cutting off supplies for the purpose of gaining power and controlling behavior. And with gas prices slowly moving back up and Barack Obama hinting at gas tax hikes, the squeeze begins once again after the American people have finally had a reprieve:

How does $8-a-gallon gas sound? Few Americans would want to see that happen. Unfortunately, President-elect Barack Obama’s choices for the government’s two highest energy posts have expressed a surprising level of comfort with sky-high gas prices…

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., Obama’s nominee for secretary of the interior, was on record as opposing lifting the offshore moratorium even if gasoline were to reach $10 a gallon. The Department of the Interior runs the federal energy-leasing programs. As secretary, Salazar would have the power to slow such leasing to a crawl, with or without the help of Congress.

In fairness, Salazar strongly opposed offshore drilling but never said he actually wanted the price of gas to skyrocket. The same cannot be said of secretary of energy nominee Steven Chu.

Last September, he told The Wall Street Journal that “somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”

European gas taxes are much higher than in the United States and are designed to force people to drive less or not at all. At the time of Chu’s comment, the “levels in Europe” were above $8 a gallon.

Beyond restoring the ban on offshore drilling, the Obama transition team is also considering adding to the restrictions facing onshore drilling, something Salazar has pushed for in the Senate. He has also been instrumental in placing regulatory roadblocks in front of oil shale in Colorado and other states where it exists.

It’s a scary thought to consider, but Obama and his Democrats are impressively Putinesque in their desire to gain total control over America’s oil production and consumption, allowing them to dictate how we live.

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