Nothing has changed: Europe’s fossil imports are still funding Vladimir Putin’s war machine

The lowest common denominator prevails again in European diplomacy. Germany cannot yet bring itself to forgo Russian fossil energy until the end of the decade, seemingly whatever Vladimir Putin does to Mariupol, Sumi, or Kyiv today.

 The EU policy towards Russia fails the test of statecraft on every count. It smacks of business as usual and underestimates the intensity of public outrage across Europe.

 The measures agreed so far are disruptive without reaching the necessary shock and awe threshold for the Kremlin. They do not hurt enough to precipitate a revolt by the Russian high command or an internal coup by the kleptocracy as their world collapses. Europe is repeating the cardinal fallacy of calibrated sanctions through the ages.

The Commission’s sub-plan to dial down imports of Russian gas by two-thirds before next winter is more to the point but lacks the credibility of detail to make it fully authentic. …

Some seem more interested in using this “beneficial crisis” as a federalysing catalyst, a chance to force the pace towards EU fiscal and defence union, whether or not these architectural ambitions have any relevance to the slaughter before the world’s eyes.