Biden’s Meeting with Putin is a Reminder of his Hypocritical Energy Policies

June 15, 2021

President Biden will be having his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, and while there is likely to be widespread discussion on a number of topics, it will be interesting to see if energy policy is raised. If it is, Putin may want to thank President Biden for imposing a number of policies that will ultimately help Russia and its allies.

In an op-ed published by Fox News today, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urges the President to stand up to Russia and Putin. But at the same time, Pompeo acknowledges that Biden’s energy policies thus far have been everything Putin could hope for.

Biden showed rank hypocrisy in canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline while allowing Russia to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline supplying gas to Germany. This senseless move will cause America’s allies to become more dependent on Russian energy.  

The cronyism stinks, too. The CEO of Nord Stream, Matthias Warnig, was an agent in the East German secret police who reportedly worked with Putin when he was a KGB agent posted in Germany.  

Biden should stop Nord Stream 2 dead in its tracks by imposing sanctions on entities involved in its financing and construction, including Gazprom, the Russian state-owned natural gas giant. 

As Power The Future wrote in a blog last month:

President Biden is now removing barriers to Putin’s pipeline, while continuing to stand by his decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline here in the United States. Biden’s decision on Keystone XL, according to his own labor union allies, cost 1,000 existing union jobs and 10,000 projected construction jobs. It’s a sad day when the needs of American workers are set aside in favor of appeasing radical environmentalists. While at the same time, the Biden Administration will let Vladimir Putin and his “crony” complete their pipeline and reap the economic benefits.

The Green New Deal doesn’t advance a meaningful environmental agenda. It just sacrifices American jobs and ingenuity, and provides ample rewards to our geopolitical foes like Russia and China. No amount of ‘get tough’ rhetoric or bilateral talks can change that reality.