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After a cautious temporization, Washington announced on Tuesday the suspension of Russian oil, gas and coal imports. A counter-offensive that might cost the American president dearly.
Turning the main lever of Russia’s grip on the world economy as a weapon once morest the authoritarian warmongering of Moscow: this is the resolution taken by Joe Biden when he announced on Tuesday the suspension by decree of American imports of oil, gas and Russian coal. “We will not help subsidize Putin’s war” : the speech given on Tuesday from the White House was intended to be imbued with a determination to bring “a powerful new blow” to the despot, in response to the devastation sown from Kharkiv to Mariupol. However, Biden also appeared in a defensive posture vis-à-vis the thorny economic and political repercussions triggered by this decision – hence, no doubt, the cautious temporization of Washington before deciding to adopt it.
Thus, when he reminds his fellow citizens that “the defense of freedom will have a cost, so far in the United States”, the American president knows well that it is to him that the conservative opposition, the consumers and the oil industry will hasten to present the bill, in pecuniary as well as ecological, electoral and symbolic forms. Even so, he insisted, 9,000 drilling concessions already authorized by the State remain to this day unexploited by American crude oil producers, who are posting record profits. In fact, the expected worsening of the global energy shock should, according to him, lead to an acceleration of policies in f…
