One of the most absurd efforts the United States has engaged in involves a whole lot of gas. Literally. The US wants its allies in Eastern Europe to buy LNG from them, and has even helped build off-loading facilities to accept US LNG tankers coming across the Atlantic. Serbia is one of the countries targeted by the US as a potential customer of its gas.
There is only one problem. Russia has an enormous natural gas supply, and it borders all of Eastern Europe. But for the US, that is not a problem; the problem is… RUSSIA!!!
This is truly an hysterical peak of US foreign policy. Russia has long been known as a reliable supplier of natural gas to countries all throughout Europe, not just former Warsaw Pact countries but even Germany, Greece and Italy.
An upcoming English translation of this program from Russian Channel 1 shows the history of this struggle. However, for anyone who understands Russian, that program is available here. To get English, turn on Auto Translate and choose English, and you will get a pretty good approximation of the Russian language.
This program’s topic was manifested in reality on 30 December, with the announcement from the President of Serbia that they are not interested in buying Western gas at all:
Serbia does not plan to give up Russian gas for more expensive liquefied gas to please the West, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Studio B TV channel on Saturday.
“I will not pay double for liquefied gas to please someone in the West. I will buy cheap gas so that people can live and industry can develop. [This is] not my money, [this is the] people’s money, state money,” Vucic said.
The topic of gas will dominate the agenda of the upcoming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Belgrade on January 17. “The main thing for us is to reach an agreement with Russians. We want that, and we will do it,” the Serbian leader noted.
He also said that at the upcoming meeting, the sides will discuss the situation in Kosovo, as well as touch upon the situation in Ukraine and Syria.
Serbian media reported earlier that during Putin visit to Belgrade, the sides plan to sign 20 agreements. The two presidents are expected to discuss the implementation of joint projects in energy, infrastructure and innovation technologies. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said that the sides may also sign an agreement on the construction of a nuclear center in Serbia.
As can be seen in the video program, the tug-of-war between Russia and the United States is done here through the issue of energy. But politics cannot pay the bills, and the vastly cheaper price and enhanced reliability of Russian gas sources make it so that the only reason not to buy from Russia is politics. The Serbian president decided not to play that game.
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