By Ben Stein on 12.19.06 @ 12:09AM
Some terrifying thoughts about a rogue, outlaw state.
Here is a terrifying thought. Europe is now dependent on Russian
energy exports for about 40 percent of its daily needs. Europe gets
more energy products from Russia than from OPEC, by far. This kind
of dependence on Russia would have been unthinkable in Stalin's day
or Brezhnev's day. Sensible people would have considered that Red
Russia was an unreliable supplier and would use its energy exports
to control and subjugate Europe. But now, with capitalist,
money-mad Russia regnant, we assume that we can trust Russia with
keeping the lights on in Paris and Berlin and Rome and Prague,
because Russia is a law-abiding society based on human decency.
But Russia has already put the screws on Ukraine and Poland
about energy issues and made their people shiver with fear. What is
far more ominous, the Russian state is almost surely the cause of
the demise of Sasha Litvinenko, the dissident ex-KGB agent who was
murdered in London last month by radioactive agent poisoning -- by
a chemical element available only to governments with major nuclear
programs. If Russia was the cause, this officially makes Russia an
outlaw, rogue state. (It should not have taken this much; Russia's
behavior in Chechnya has been brutal on a scale hardly imaginable
in modern European society.)
Now, I sincerely hope Russia did not kill Litvinenko. I greatly
love and admire the Russian people. They beat Hitler. They survived
Stalin, and they are a talented, brilliant people. I would like to
believe they are living in a new day under new leaders with respect
for human rights.
But if Putin did kill Litvinenko, and it sure looks like he did,
here's what we have: Russia, a rogue, murderous state, basically in
charge of Europe. Western Europe is now subservient to Russia on a
scale unimaginable in the days of the cold war. Even Tony Blair,
toughest of the tough, bravest of the brave, cannot bring himself
to confront Russia seriously about the murder of a political
refugee with official refugee status on British soil by Russian
secret police. The UK needs Russian gas too much to openly fight
with Russia about this grave insult to British dignity and law. If
Tony Blair can't stand up to Putin, no one in Europe can. Russia
now calls the shots from Warsaw to Madrid.
Everyone is worrying like mad about the Moslems taking over
Europe. It may well be that Russia has beaten them to the punch.
Europe is now in chains of oil and gas, marked "Made in Putin's
Russia." NATO is meaningless. The pride of France and Germany and
Italy is in vain. Energy trumps all else, and Putin sure looks like
he has won a very, very big prize.
Someone, please tell me I am wrong. I don't even dare to want to
be right about this.
topics:
Law, Russia, NATO, Energy, Oil
