The Homa Files

Heavy dependence on Russian oil.
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NATO’s primary mission is to keep it’s member countries safe … mostly from Russia, right?

But, as we posted yesterday, key NATO nations (think: Germany) are hesitant to spend 2% of their GDP on defense … and are largely dependent on U.S. troops to protect NATO’s eastern flank and police the rest of the world.

Given that Russia is a lot closer to Europe than to the U.S. … why aren’t European nations more energized to defend themselves more aggressively and more visibly against the Russians?

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The answer can be summed up in one word…

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OIL !

The EU — which is comprised most of  NATO  – imports over 90% of its oil needs. Source

The other 10% is North Sea oil coming from the UK and Norway.

Note: Despite being oil-rich, Norway doesn’t meet the 2% NATO spending guideline  for defense.

And, about 30% of of the 90% imported oils comes from where?

You guessed it: RUSSIA.

So, if the European NATO nations take too strong of a defensive stance against Russia, the Ruskies need only shut down the Trans-Siberian pipeline to cripple European economies.

But, wouldn’t that also cripple the Russian economy?

Maybe not, given the increase in Russian exports to China.

Hmmm.

Lie relatively low vis-a-vis Russia … and lean on the U.S. to wear the black hat.

Not a bad strategy … unless President Trump pulls the plug.

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This entry was posted on July 11, 2018 at 6:52 am and is filed under NATO, Oil & Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.