High-level European officials are furious with the Biden administration and are now accusing the US of profiting from the war in Ukraine while Europe is facing a potential energy crisis.
In comments to POLITICO, a senior EU official said, “The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the US because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons.”
The US-led sanctions campaign on Russia has backfired on Europe as it has ratcheted up energy prices to the point where Europeans may face blackouts this winter. On top of the energy situation, European leaders also fear they will lose out on investments due to unprecedented subsidies included in the US’s Inflation Reduction Act, which President Biden signed into law in August.
The Inflation Reduction Act includes $369 billion in subsidies and tax breaks for green businesses, incentivizing companies to invest in the US instead of Europe. European leaders have publicly criticized the US for the legislation and are considering subsidies of their own, signaling the beginning of a new trade war.
The senior EU official told POLITICO that the double whammy of high energy prices and loss of trade to subsidies could turn public opinion against supporting Ukraine. “We are really at a historic juncture,” the official said. “America needs to realize that public opinion is shifting in many EU countries.”
The POLITICO report said that the Inflation Reduction Act brought Brussels into “full-blown panic mode” and is causing European officials to question if the US is really an ally. “The Inflation Reduction Act has changed everything. Is Washington still our ally or not?” an EU diplomat said.
The EU is also unhappy that it’s purchasing American gas for four times the cost of what it’s sold for in the US, although the difference in price could be explained by transportation costs and the fact that it’s resold by European companies.
While the US government doesn’t control the price of gas being sold to Europe, the Biden administration did pressure Europe to wean itself off much cheaper Russian energy, which in turn benefited American gas companies.
Despite leading the sanctions campaign against Russia, the US takes no responsibility for the high energy prices even though President Biden has admitted the policy would hurt both Americans and Europeans. “The rise in gas prices in Europe is caused by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s energy war against Europe, period,” a National Security Council spokesperson said.
The biggest beneficiary of Biden’s Ukraine policy is the weapons industry, as the US and its allies have shipped tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons into the country. The policy, being led by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, a former Raytheon board member, has depleted Western military stockpiles, leading to a major uptick in orders for US and other Western military equipment.
“It’s not good, in terms of optics, to give the impression that your best ally is actually making huge profits out of your troubles,” the diplomat said.
It looks bad, because it is bad, because the US engineered those troubles for Europe Russia and Ukraine in order to profit off their suffering. Finally the EU is getting a clue.
I don’t think they know what to do with a clue if they got it. The cheering on of this war is still going beautifully. The press is enthousiastically pro-war. Still the same obvious bullshit from morosophes masquerading as “experts” who sold the Iraqi WMD story. Same easily fooled masses eating up the gospel truth. It hasn’t cost them enough yet personally to wisen them up the slightest bit.
Sure, Europe has dug themselves into a hole of serving US interests for so long that they’ll struggle to figure out what to do with the clue they’re beginning to wisen to. Recognizing the US is not their friend and saying so publicly is a good place to start.
I wouldn’t make too much of it. The EU is not in the driver’s seat here. They can protest all they want, like a bunch of gnarly toddlers strapped in the safety contortions to the back seat, they’re going where the US is telling them to go.
Maybe they get away with some more state subsidies to their own domestic major industries, but to the point where the US says it’s enough. They’ll behave.
Nothing lasts forever, just as the U.S. unipolar dominance will come to an end, probably sooner than later, and with the governance that the U.S. has shown, is long overdue.
The EU will do nothing to up set the Americans the same goes for Britain / Europe is still occupied by the US remember , Britain has 18 US Bases past off as British Bases , you won`t hear a British Politician say that.
US many years was a good trade partner of EU, but not ally. All this rhetoric about American military protection from Russia is false. Since 1926 there were no danger to Europe from Russia or from USSR. On the contrary, the working class of EU benefitted a lot from Soviet communist ideology. It scared the capitalists and made them to share a part of their profits with the working people. When Stalin got to the power, one of the first things he has done, was the denouncement of World Revolution. The peaceful coexistence between The West and USSR (and later Russia) was profitable for everyone, including the businessmen. It motivated The West to develop a good welfare system and made The West attractive to the countries of all continents. Unfortunately, MIC oligarchs and the warmongers got the upper hand in US.
What a clueless comment.
The soviet communist party was nothing but a blight of violence and death on every country it touched. To think that these conditions caused welfare schemes in europe is beyond asinine. No, welfarism was accepted in europe grass roots.
It seems someone here is “anti war” in the sense that they’re anti “wars the liberal west is involved in”. The soviets were bloodier than the americans. I don’t excuse america, by any means. NATO has got to go. But to think NATO is bad because the soviets were good is to deny the most basic history of europe and russia.
You are too brainwashed.
“The biggest beneficiary of Biden’s Ukraine policy is the weapons industry.” Absolutely. The US is executing a u-turn from manufacturing consumer goods to one-use military goods. So utterly opportunistic. So devastating in so many respects. The slimy network of policy writers & congress beholden to lobbyists and arms manufacturers is incorrigible and dug in. WWI all over again. (Worse of course, much worse.)
And it is good for our GDP.
Ah, remember the good ol’ days in the 40s? when US GDP was at an enormous peak, and everyone was talking about prosperity while at the same time food at the supermarkets was being rationed? See, the GDP is a great measure of the economic quality of life, because my econ professor told me so.
Of course, US are profiting from the proxy war between NATO and Russia and from the economic war between EU and Russia. Particular American MIC is profiting. US economy also is profiting a lot. Big European business is moving massively from Europe to US. If European politicians will do nothing to stop the process of the deindustrialization of EU, in few years, the living standards of EU citizens and citizens of such countries as Vietnam are going to be the same.
France and Germany have been outspoken about being overcharged (price gouging) for LPG. Their economies are collapsing because of both the energy sanctions, and Federal Reserve policy.
Germany, in particular, is waking up to the fact that its manufacturing base is under siege. Energy intensive manufacturers are shifting production to other countries (and they may never come back).
The Europeans including the ones in countries not in the EU should protest outside of US Embassies, Consulates and Military Bases to end the war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia.
In the US, there should be protests outside of the White House.
Well yeah, the US is doing the war profiteering while the EU is doing the war propheteering. The US is much, much smarter that way. It is not as great an accomplishment as it sounds. The stupidity of the EU is nearing it’s gravitational limits at the moment and might collapse into a black hole.
US profiteering is limited though. Yes some industries do well but the economy as a whole is debatable. And ultimately investing in weapons brings little return for a nation unless it is conquering and pillaging. It doesn’t have the long term effect that investing in infrastructure, education or industries geared for the future does.
The leftist cries out in pain as he strikes you. The leftists are the ones who attack Russia with sanctions, to aid the Biden-paid Kiev regime’s invasion of Donbass as a way to hurt Russia. Russia must be destroyed as it’s conservative, banning pedophile propaganda to children, and aids the pro-Palestinian Syria and Iran. This can’t be allowed. THEN they claim that it’s Russia’s fault that the sanctions hurt the West. Such amazing chutzpah.
It’s nothing new – it’s just like their talk for seven years about “Russia invading Crimea” without mentioning that Russian Crimea broke free after a Biden-financed coup in Kiev. $5 billion dollars, Victoria Nuland bragged. But they ignore their attack on the Russian population, and only show the Russian population’s response.
Your description is good. Only I wouldn’t call American oligarchs “leftist”. Kiev far-right regime which they are supporting, also by no standards is leftist.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f8a2ea611066a656673e65fad3dbb3df1e94e181b27a3cbe5ac09ed3a12c9d5c.jpg
The “GO USA” sign was to hide the fact that he wet himself. But he did spell those words correctly.
i love this sign. You can tell he was so proud when asked to hold it up for the photo.
He misspelled morons. Moron means idiot and Moran is a last name.
Forget the “European Officials.” What bothers me is the European masses not waking up to very basic common sense. The average US population’s living standards are in terrible shape as well and are not “profiting.” The level of stupidity in the west is staggering. If you ask them who’s to blame, they’ll probably blame Russia, China, or Russia and China. They have no clue and no common sense.
“The rise in gas prices in Europe is caused by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s energy war against Europe, period,” a National Security Council spokesperson said.
Over and over and over and it becomes true. As long as their history books open to Feb 24th, 2022. You know how it was Saddam’s fault that we had to kill his people to save his people. The big P.
And miracle, oh miracle, our GDP growth which was negative for the first two quarters of this year has rebounded to a 1.6% increase for quarter three. And that has nothing to do with the Russo-Ukrainian war? If you believe that I have a bridge for sale here in Houston.
Can I have some details on the bridge?…. Just kidding.
“Furious With Biden, Europe Says US Is Profiting Off Ukraine War Officials are unhappy with the Inflation Reduction Act and its subsidies that could drive investment out of Europe”
Throwing Europe under the bus for short term economic gains. Yep that’s the Joey Biden criminal government!
https://slguardian.org/from-g7-to-g20-hollow-talk-show/
Alastair Crooke. From G7 to G20 Hollow Talk Show.
Well, duh.
We profit from a war? No sh*t! Perhaps we should circulate throughout Europe Major General Smedley Butler’s book, War is a Racket, then, they might be on their way to getting a clue
Nobody reads anymore so unless you make into a YouTube video nobody will see it.
The book is on YouTube (among other sites, ie archive.org) as audiobook. But I have a lingering doubt that if by now one hasn’t grasped the basic facts about who profits from and who pays for wars they are definitely not in learning mode.
A fatalist? 🙂
How dare they say this about their boss…?!
Well duh! Farm prices are up, energy prices are up, weapons sales are up..
Up, Up and away!…………………………….
The lady doth protest too much, methinks … I mean, come on, what the hell did these Europeans think this whole thing was about?
From the railroad corporations of the 1860s on to the mining and fruit interests of the 1900s to oil and MIC, the “business of America is business” and always has been.
You are right. It is a trade competition between the countries. Not particular honest, of course. Otherwise, it is a business as usual.
https://www.rt.com/news/567328-poland-american-cemetery-ukraine/
Poland sustains a high Ukraine death count. Looking to “construct” American -style cemeteries.
The MIC to be precise. And the bankers.
Shortly before WW1, the US was the world’s greatest debtor nation, debt that paid for the railroads and the new heavy industry like steel.
Four years later, the US was the world’s greatest creditor nation, leading to twenty years of hard feelings about what they all called “war debts.”
The US then profited even more by lending the money to the Weimar Republic to pay off the reparations, money which funneled back to the US to pay off those war debts of Britain and France.
The US did nothing to instigate WW1, and opposed the reparations schemes, But it did learn the path of profit off Europe’s wars.
It then did it again in WW2, with “cash and carry” rules for war supplies until Britain was totally bankrupt, and only then inventing Lend Lease.
So now the US is doing it again? 100 years of European leaders have lived with this pattern.
Perhaps, just maybe, some countries in the E.U. will come to realize that the U.S. is not your friend, and if push comes to shove, doesn’t have your back, and their actions are primarily to benefit the U.S at your expense. This may be the event that pushes several European countries away from the U.S. and at the least will most likely facilitate a breakup of the E.U.
Not much of an optimist are you?! I see your points though, clearly.
Of course they are! Rah rah Raytheon!
JHC the EU POLITICAL ELITE arn`t exactly the sharpest tools in the box are they lol , why the hell do they think the Americans are telling Z to continue fighting the Russians ? . it`s not because they feel anything for the people of Ukraine it`s the big profits , just as they did in WW2 .
Yes, and as the kiddies say “dah”; though a tad disingenuous as they fully expected to fleece their own populations as well before the jig was up. Anyway, let’s hope this is the end.
Well, the JOKE is on Europe. SUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKERSSSSSS!
With politicians and “leaders” as corrupt as Europe? What could go wrong?
Let us all wait for this winter to see how much the people of Europe suffer as a result of this madness, brought to them by the USA and their own leaders.
Remember, Europe: It was YOUR leaders who decided to tow the line and go to (a proxy) war with Russia. It is the nature of USA to kill and destroy. That is why it spends almost one trillion dollars on its military. It does not see friends. It has NO friends. It is like a monster ran amuck. Allies are NOT friendly nations to US. They are just suckers to the US that WILL be used to ITS own advantage.
So, stop your whining, Europeans! and suck on it.
Congratulations!!!!! It is YOUR WAR! Enjoy!
Funny thing that – this supposed EU frustration is not reflected in any mainstream EU press – it is an opinion you might find in the extreme rightwing circles like AFD and in the far left (where just recently a politician in Germany was shouted at angrily from the crowd for saying that we were to blame for the war in Ukraine – and that at her own party’s party rally).
Most of the EU nations have by now come to see that they do not have a viable alternative to standing up to Putin – so if the joke is on Europe then it is because we thought we could treat Russia as a reliable trading partner and not just an enemy.
The only thing you have to rely on with a trading partner is that they’re serving their own interest. As do you. This mutual understanding is how trading works. What the EU does now is in perfect opposition to that: they are shooting themselves in the lungs in the hope Russia stops breathing.
Sure that is why we should never trade with Russia beyond the extend that we can cut all trade at a moments notice as long as they are no where close to a democratic state – it makes us too vulnerable to their ‘own’ interests.
No we are looking out for our own interests – which is to be free and prosperous – not something we can remain while dependent on Russia and not something we will be able to be if we unleash a new world order where wars of territorial conquest is the new norm.
The issue you have recognizing this is that you probably do not see it as doing that, probably because you see things very different from how most Europeans see them.
Yes of course ‘we’ should never trade with non-democratic states beyond undoing every dependency at a moments notice. Saudi Arabia.
(Trade) dependencies work both ways. Without that the whole point of the sanctions to hurt Russia wouldn’t make much sense even in theory now would it? So if we now are strengthening Europe by economic suicide then by the same token we are creating the conditions to strengthen Russia. If they play this smart, they are much better off than we are. We buy energy at much higher costs with all the inevitable consequences. Increase cost of living, increased cost of utilities, increased cost of services, increased cost of basic necessities, increase costs and scarcity of raw materials, precursors and additives for our industries. All of this is going to result in inflation and a permanent reduction of purchasing power and social standards, and also quite naturally is already increasing inequality despite attempts to mask the effects with one-off compensations for low income households more than doubled, sometimes tripled energy costs (which was already a substantial part of monthly income before.)
The prosperity is exactly what is forfeited here in return for.. well nothing really beyond the symbolism. Next to the empty benefits tab then there’s the endless list of costs. Victory!
I grant you that I do see things differently from most Europeans. You are accurately describing the narrative of the propaganda campaign that dominates the European press: We are at war with Eurasia we were always at war with Eurasia. I know this because I am immersed on a daily basis in this bullshit. They fling it at me each and every day. Falls right off. Doesn’t stick somehow.
I did not make the general point because many states that are not democracies do not represent an unacceptable threat to our national interests even when they are pursuing theirs – thus they represent no threat unlike Russia.
Quite – only people here seem to suggest that the puny economy of Russia can do the much larger EU economy unbearable harm – I acknowledge that given our dependency on gas this at least was the case in February – and thus that we were too dependent on them – feel free to disagree a significant majority of the EU electorates have reached the same conclusion as I.
EU is not committing suicide this is not much worse than the oil crisis in 1973 – unpleasant but a temporary problem which will be solved within about a year – how this will strengthen the Russian economy is not at all clear, could you explain how you imagine this could work out that way?
No they lose revenue or they lower energy prices elsewhere thus allowing EU to buy energy from other providers.
No an increase in energy prices will make the coming recession deeper and lower the usage of raw materials and unless the Russians can do without any oil sale they will sell to other customers thus lowering the oil prices in the world market – but yes if they can make do without the oil revenue then oil prices will go up and consumption down.
Yes that is how more expensive energy will impact our economies
Russia will be broken beyond repair before we will be nearly as poor as we were in the 1980’ties – that will lead to regime change and hopefully a more democratic government with a goal of improving living conditions for their people closer to hart than the wish to dominate their neighbors.
Not seen that propaganda in my country – where do you live?
Does not stick here either mostly because no one is peddling that narrative – what people do believe is what they have been able to see:
1) Putin leading Russia for 22 years
2) Putin having a war with Chechnya
3) Putin having a war with Georgia (2008)
4) Putin annexing Crimea in violation of treaty (the Budapest memorandum) (2014)
5) Putin having a war with Ukraine (2022)
Russia does not pose a threat to us Europe, beyond the normal power rivalry. And the Europe is barely interesting, it’s a giant retirement home, heading for big internal problems for quite a while. We could leave the self-destruction to just go it’s natural course, we didn’t have to deepen the misery and try to speed it up. And if you want to go back to the 80’s please do so on your own accord. Leave me out of that please.
Saudi Arabia however, now they do pose an enormous threat to EU security. They in nearly perfect opposition to Russia infiltrated the EU in every institution. They have their own Salafi politicians elected. Fortunately predominantly in leftist/ green/ progressive parties so they can be mostly contained for the moment, pressed from time to time to do the occasional taqiyya. Should not be too surprising though, the left did the same thing when (then Soviet) Russia did actually infiltrate in European societies beyond the retorical.
This is all exactly following the scripted narrative that you deny being subjected to.
Is it that you deny that the Russians had a war in Georgia, or that they annexed Crimea?
Just asking because that script was written by Putin!
The joke is on Europe and Europeans precisely because they have allowed their institutions to be so utterly corrupted by the USUK that they have no idea what’s going on. Thus, “Putin bad man” is the boob’s only answer to what’s happening to him and his. It’s Brave New World Inc in charge and no mistake.
Nicely said!!!
The joke is only on Europe because we have made ourselves vulnerable to Russian blackmail – I can guarantee you that the vast majority of the electorates in Europe have no problem identifying that the dictator that has led Russia from 2000 to 2022 is the evil that is harder to be free of.
I.e. we’ll prefer US/UK hegemony any day over Putin.
Bloody good rant! Some good points too.
The Russian MOD is disarming NATO (Ukraine was disarmed in March), tank by tank, artillery by artillery, air defense by air defense. What they loose in the Ukraine, they loose for the final NATO global war.
Russia is inflicting a 10:1 kill ratio. And NATO overall has accumulated the following equipment losses;
333 Aircraft, 177 helicopters, 2572 UAV’s, 390 Anti Aircraft systems, 6866 tanks inc. APC’s, 904 multiple rocket launchers, 3624 rocket launchers and 7395 military automotive equipment.
You have to wonder. Dont those European so called leaders think before acting? They were not buying LNG before because Russian energy was cheaper. Germany built the NS 2 to buy Russian gas which led to US sanctions. The US was pressuring Europe to buy more expensive LNG.
So what did the people who are now whining, expect from banning Russian energy?
Europe Says US Is Profiting Off Ukraine War – but, but, that is impossible, that can not be!
The US taxpayer is not profitung from the Ukraine war.