of environmental groups oppos- ing energy development,” says James Lucier, an energy analyst with Capital Alpha Partners in Washington, D.C. McMaster told CNBC that


Russia has for years been behind a concerted “disinformation” campaign to disparage the use of natural gas and fossil fuels and encourage the West to focus on green energy. A 2018 report from the House


Committee on Science found that Russia had exploited social media platforms Twitter, Face- book, and Instagram in an eff ort to infl uence the United States’ domestic energy policies. “Russian agents attempted


to manipulate Americans’ opin- ions about pipelines, fossil fuels, fracking, and climate change,” the panel’s GOP chairman, for- mer Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, concluded. “The American people de-


serve to know if what they see on social media is the creation of a foreign power seeking to undermine our domestic energy policy.” Europeans have raised the


warning fl ag. Back in 2014, after Russia’s invasion of Crimea, An- ders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary general of NATO and former prime minister of Denmark, ac- cused Putin’s government of try- ing to discredit fracking. “I have met allies who can


report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with environ- mental organizations working against shale gas — to maintain European dependence on im- ported Russian gas.” Russia, a major source of in-


ternational gas supplies, recently signed a $400 billion deal with China to supply gas for decades to come, and has threatened to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine,


56 NEWSMAX | APRIL 2022


emphasizing its willingness to ex- ploit its dominant position in fos- sil fuel markets for political ends. Russian politician and exiled


dissident Konstantin Borovoi has written an entire book, Rus- sia Against USA: Russia’s Disin- formation Campaign Against USA and Its Citizens, that warns about the extent of Russia’s dis- information activities world- wide. He writes Western leaders


shouldn’t try to negotiate with Putin, whom he called a “crimi- nal power.” Borovoi pointed to the agree-


ment that was reached between former Russian President Dimi- try Medvedev and Western pow- ers after the 2008 war in Georgia. The deal was that Russian forces would leave Georgia, but it never happened. “It looks like before World


War II, when everyone was try- ing to reach some kind of agree- ment with Hitler, and it wasn’t very eff ective, as we know,” he said. “It’s very dangerous to feed wild animals.” Sadly, that is precisely what the West has done with Vladimir


Putin over the last dozen years. While Putin plotted to un-


dermine and eventually invade Ukraine, the West made his job easier by pursuing energy poli- cies that transferred billions of dollars to Moscow’s coff ers while pursuing misguided Green New Deal policies that have left European nations dependent on Russian energy and the U.S. much less able to supply any en- ergy gaps with our own domestic production. Will President Biden and our


European allies reverse course? Many members of Congress


are urging the Biden administra- tion to loosen its moratorium on domestic oil-and-gas lease sales. But so far, the White House


appears to have no sense of ur- gency.


Meanwhile the Russians


are smiling. Putin, the old KGB agent, has vastly exceeded the success of his old bosses in distracting the West from real threats.


John Fund is a columnist and bestselling author. His latest book Our Broken Elections: How the Left Changed the Way You Vote is now available on Amazon.


BIZARRE President Biden canceled a pipeline that would have supplied oil to the U.S. from Canada, yet initially approved the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would have made Germany and other European nations dependent on Russian oil.


MAP©REUTERS


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