It’s so hard to explain this to Americans, but before 2020, Putin - while not loved - was simply considered a trading partner. Russian new money tourists were flocking to all the european cities, dropping buckets of cash where ever they went. (Yeah, they were rude like only ‘new money’ can be, but no more than Americans.)
And - Russian oil fueled our economies. Our energy expenses (in Italy) were never cheap, but in Germany, cheap Russian oil, received through NS1 allowed Berliners to wear shorts and t-shirts in their homes in the Winter. Here in Italy, our energy costs tripled nearly over night, and with that there has been runaway inflation on everything people need to live.
Europeans didn’t want this war. The citizens here vastly preferred Russian tourists over eastern-European immigrants (that was a lot of what Brexit was about.) Now, because of this war of choice, our economies are being crushed. Not just because of energy, but because of sanctions on investments which Russians were making in our economies, agricultural imports, technology imports, tourism and more.
It’s so hard to explain this to Americans, but before 2020, Putin - while not loved - was simply considered a trading partner. Russian new money tourists were flocking to all the european cities, dropping buckets of cash where ever they went. (Yeah, they were rude like only ‘new money’ can be, but no more than Americans.)
And - Russian oil fueled our economies. Our energy expenses (in Italy) were never cheap, but in Germany, cheap Russian oil, received through NS1 allowed Berliners to wear shorts and t-shirts in their homes in the Winter. Here in Italy, our energy costs tripled nearly over night, and with that there has been runaway inflation on everything people need to live.
Europeans didn’t want this war. The citizens here vastly preferred Russian tourists over eastern-European immigrants (that was a lot of what Brexit was about.) Now, because of this war of choice, our economies are being crushed. Not just because of energy, but because of sanctions on investments which Russians were making in our economies, agricultural imports, technology imports, tourism and more.
President Putin will let Europe know how to proceed. And it will be with or without America, whichever way President Putin decides.