USA cornering the energy market in the EU - An astonishing act of greed; UPDATE: America's bullying of Europe continues in the Balkans

  

This is not news; it's been obvious for several years now that America is pushing Russia out of the European gas and oil market so they can move in with more expensive LNG. That it is destroying economies in Europe has no sway on the American government. There is nothing godly in this astonishing greed. It may not be criminal, but it sure as hell is immoral!

US officials working to corner EU energy market – FT

Washington wants to substitute the oil and gas exports to the bloc with its own, the Financial Times has said

FILE PHOTO. ©  Global Look Press / Christian Charisius

The US is moving to push Russian energy out of the EU market and position itself to fill the gap, the Financial Times reported Friday.

Washington has also deliberately blocked a bid by Sweden-based Gunvor Group to acquire the foreign assets of Russian oil major Lukoil, according to the outlet.

Gunvor withdrew its $22 billion proposal after US officials accused the company of acting as “the Kremlin’s puppet.” Earlier in November, the US Treasury warned in a post on X that the company would “never get a license to operate and profit” if it pursued the deal.

The potential acquisition surfaced after US President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions on Lukoil and another Russian oil giant, Rosneft, prompting the former to seek buyers for its overseas holdings.

The bid was announced as “US officials toured Europe as part of efforts to sell American energy and eliminate ‘every last molecule’ of Russian gas from the continent,” the FT wrote. The decision to block the deal came from “high up in the Treasury,” the paper reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Read more

 US ‘ready to displace’ all Russian gas and oil in EU – energy secretary

Afterward, Washington issued a general license enabling other bidders to pursue Lukoil’s international assets, the FT said. Private US equity firm Carlyle expressed interest this week, according to the report.

Lukoil confirmed on Friday that it is in “ongoing negotiations on the sale of its international assets with several potential buyers,” without naming them.

US officials have openly stated their intention to replace Russia in the EU energy market. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in September that the US was prepared “to displace all of the Russian gas that goes into Europe and all of the Russian refined products from oil as well.”

The Kremlin has condemned the sanctions as an “unfriendly step” but maintained it is still seeking “good relations with all countries, including the US.”

The restrictions on Lukoil are already affecting Europe. Earlier in November, Bulgaria curbed fuel exports to its fellow EU states amid supply concerns. Lukoil owns the country’s largest refinery, more than 200 gas stations and a major fuel transport network.

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US pressuring Serbia to expel Russian companies from energy sector – minister

Washington imposed sanctions on the Balkan country’s oil refinery majority-owned by Gazprom

FILE PHOTO. ©  Maxim Konankov/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The US has refused to let Serbia’s only oil refinery resume operations unless the Russian co-owners give up their stakes, Serbian Energy Minister Dubravka Dedovic Handanovic said on Saturday.

The Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), which runs the refinery, was hit with US sanctions last month. Banks have since stopped processing transactions, and Croatia’s JANAF pipeline, Serbia’s key crude oil supply route, has halted deliveries. Earlier, Reuters reported that the refinery can operate only until November 25 without new supplies.

Russian energy giants Gazprom and Gazprom Neft together own 56% of NIS, while the Serbian government owns around 30%.

NIS petitioned the US government for a temporary waiver that would allow the company to continue operating while it negotiates a change in ownership, Dedovic Handanovic said. The US granted only a three-month period to find new buyers, not permission for the refinery to keep running, she added.

READ MORE: Von der Leyen issues ultimatum to EU aspirant

Serbia was “not given even a single day for NIS to continue operating,” the minister said. “The American administration has, for the first time, stated clearly and unequivocally that it wants a complete change in the ownership held by Russian shareholders,” Dedovic Handanovic stated.

She said Belgrade would have to make “some of the most difficult decisions in history” at a government meeting Sunday that will include President Aleksandar Vucic and heads of major state companies. The options include nationalizing NIS and negotiating possible compensation for the Russian shareholders, she said.

The US and the EU have urged Serbia to cut its historically close ties with Russia, which Belgrade has so far resisted. The US also aims to push Russia from the European market, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright saying in September that Washington was prepared to “displace” the importation of Russian oil and gas.

Politics in Europe > The Crisis Gripping the G7 - Lukyanov; EU planning "Maidan coup" in Serbia

 

Fyodor Lukyanov: France is only the front line in a crisis

gripping the G7

The G7’s political systems are entering a moment of truth

By Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and research director of the Valdai International Discussion Club.

Russia in Global AffairsRGA on Telegram

FILE PHOTO: French President Emmanuel Macron arrives at the G7 Leaders Summit on June 15, 2025 in Kananaskis, Canada. ©  Stefan Rousseau - Pool / Getty Images

France is once again in crisis. Francois Bayrou’s government failed to win a vote of confidence in the National Assembly and has resigned. President Emmanuel Macron has promised to quickly propose another candidate. But after calling early elections last spring, he created a parliament with no stable majority. Now he must try to form a cabinet for the third time in little more than a year. If he fails, new elections will follow, and this time not even Macron’s usual tricks may save him. Both the far right and the far left have been waiting for this moment, sharpening their teeth for the embattled president for years.

The spectacle in Paris is not unique. It is part of a wider malaise across the political systems of the G7.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba long insisted he would not step down. Yet his party’s losses in two parliamentary elections left him no choice. In Britain, a scandal forced the resignation of the deputy prime minister and left the Labour Party floundering at approval levels no better than the discredited Conservatives. Nigel Farage’s Reform Party now leads in the polls. In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is recording record-low ratings while the anti-establishment Alternative for Germany remains stable at CDU levels.

Italy and Canada are steadier, but barely. Canada’s Liberals were rescued not by their own strength but by Donald Trump. His coarse attacks on Ottawa provided a rally-round-the-flag effect, sparing them a near-certain defeat. The result was continuity in power, though with Mark Carney replacing Justin Trudeau. As for the United States itself, the picture is clear enough: Trump’s supporters face little resistance. His opponents are simply lying low, waiting for better times. 

Each of these cases has local causes, yet together they reveal something larger. For countries with deep democratic traditions, turmoil is not new. They have endured crises before. But the simultaneity of today’s upheavals makes this moment extraordinary. The world is in open unrest, and no major power is insulated. The question is not whether the turbulence will continue, but how well political systems can withstand the waves.

Read more

 French government collapse: Will Macron learn any lessons?

Here there is a crucial difference between the United States and its allies, on the one hand, and the European Union on the other.

The US, Canada, Britain, and Japan remain sovereign states. Their degree of sovereignty can be debated, but their governments retain legitimacy and can act quickly when circumstances demand it. Those decisions may be good or bad, but they are at least their own, and they can change course if the results prove ineffective.

For the EU states, the situation is different. Their sovereignty is deliberately limited by the framework of European integration. In the second half of the 20th century, this was the Union’s great strength: by pooling authority, its members gained leverage they could never have achieved alone. But the same framework now acts as a brake. In a world where speed of decision is vital, Brussels makes it harder, not easier, to act.

Economic interdependence and ideological constraints ensure that problems not only go unsolved but reinforce each other. Worse, there is no vision of how the system might be changed under current institutional rules. As a result, rather than rethink course, leaders try to bulldoze through with even more energy in the same direction. Opposition forces are excluded even when they win elections. And the Ukrainian issue has been turned into the central pillar of EU politics. Should that issue fade, a mass of uncomfortable domestic questions will come to the surface – and Western Europe’s rulers know it.

Manipulation and muddling through remain possible, of course. France and Germany may once again stagger past their current difficulties. But each time it becomes harder, and the gap between society’s demands and the establishment’s interests grows wider. 

Read more

 Wondering why the EU is so screwed? Just look at its top diplomat

This is why the “moment of truth” for EU politics is approaching. No one can predict what follows. The bloc will not return to the pre-integration era. But the political forces cast as outsiders today may soon be the ones defining the new order.

What we are witnessing is not just a crisis in France, or a resignation in Japan, or a reshuffle in Italy. It is a collective crisis of the G7’s political systems. The American led-bloc still has reserves of strength – above all, its sovereign states can still change course when pressed. But the EU, bound by its own rigidities, finds itself caught. Its governments cannot adapt quickly, and its supranational institutions block meaningful change.

The European project was once the most successful political innovation of the Old World. But it has grown stale. The EU’s cumbersome structure is no longer a solution but part of the problem. At a time when the world is shifting fast, the Union is locked into yesterday’s procedures.

This leaves Western Europe with a stark choice. Either it finds a way to reform – to reconcile sovereignty with integration, flexibility with cooperation – or it will continue to stumble forward, ever more divorced from the societies it claims to represent. In that widening gap lies the real danger.

For now, its leaders may suppress alternatives and manage through manipulation. But the longer they do, the greater the eventual reckoning. And when it comes, EU politics won’t be the same again.

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We know what followed the Maidan Coup in Ukraine - War with Russia. Serbia can expect nothing less.

EU plotting Ukraine-style coup in Serbia – Moscow

The bloc is fueling the protests in order to install a loyal government in the country, 

the SVR has said

Protesters against the ruling party's policies march onto Bulevar Mihaila Pupina and block traffic in Novi Sad, Serbia, on September 14, 2025. ©  Maxim Konankov / NurPhoto via Getty Images

The EU is seeking to orchestrate a Ukraine-style ‘Maidan’ in Serbia by fueling the violent protests that have swept the Balkan country since late last year, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.

The unrest erupted in Serbia in November 2024 after a roof collapse at the railway station in the city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people. The incident triggered public backlash, with activists accusing the government of corruption and demanding accountability. The list of demands later expanded to holding snap elections and the resignation of President Aleksandar Vucic.

The latter has branded the protesters “terrorists” seeking to “bring down the state” under foreign influence. In response to public pressure, the Serbian authorities also agreed to some concessions, including the resignation of several ministers and the publication of documents related to the Novi Sad canopy collapse.

Read more

 Violence erupts during nationwide protests in Serbia (VIDEOS)

In a statement on Monday, the SVR said that the unrest is “largely a product of EU subversive activity,” adding that the main goal of Brussels is to bring “a compliant and loyal… leadership to power in one of the largest countries in the Balkans.”

The agency said EU efforts had radicalized youth, pushing them “from peaceful protests to more revolutionary methods of struggle and violence.” It argued, however, that attempts to reproduce a Western-backed “color revolution” in Serbia were faltering due to “patriotic sentiment, the unifying influence of the Orthodox Church, and memories of NATO aggression and the bombing of the country.”

According to the SVR, Brussels plans to exploit the anniversary of the Novi Sad disaster on November 1 to intensify pressure. It claimed EU institutions were “brainwashing” Serbian youth with promises of a “bright European future” while using supposedly independent media outlets as vehicles for influence.

The goal, the SVR said, is to mobilize protesters and stage a “Serbian Maidan,” referring to a series of Western-backed protests in Ukraine in 2013-2014 that resulted in a coup that ousted President Viktor Yanukovich.

EU officials have said they are closely monitoring the situation in Serbia while denouncing what they describe as excessive use of force by law enforcement.

Politics in Europe > Fico pledges to veto EU anti-energy bill; NATO's Baltic Way plays games with Serbia and Slovakia PMs; Surprise! There are a few intelligent leaders in Europe; But not in the UK

 

Slovak PM makes veto pledge to Putin

Robert Fico has said Slovakia will oppose an EU-wide energy embargo on Russian fossil fuels

Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico during his meeting with President of Russia Vladimir Putin. © Sputnik / Stanislav Krasilnikov

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico pledged to block any European Union attempt to impose a full energy embargo on Russia during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday. He also denounced Western efforts to build a “new Iron Curtain.” 

Fico warned that halting Russian gas and oil deliveries would create instability, particularly for countries like Slovakia, whose refineries are configured for Russian crude. “Stopping supplies could cause technological problems,” he said.

Under the REPowerEU plan, the European Commission aims to eliminate the EU’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2027.

Read more

 Vucic and Fico are heroes – Kremlin

“If the decision requires agreement from all 27 EU member states, we will use our veto right against banning the import of all types of energy resources,” Fico said. He added, “If it’s decided by a majority vote instead of unanimity, then the big states will impose their will.” 

How do they make such a decision. For, certainly, if Slovakia or Serbia promise to veto the bill, then Ursula will make it a majority vote in order to get her way. 

The Slovak leader criticized sanctions on Russia as ineffective and damaging to the EU itself. He also dismissed the notion that nuclear fuel from US-based Westinghouse could replace Russian supplies at Slovak power stations, saying, “It’s simply impossible.” 

Fico also took aim at what he described as increasing efforts by the West to impose isolation. “There is a strong push to build a new Iron Curtain in various forms,” he said, referencing travel restrictions from EU states that he faced en route to Moscow. “I do not support this idea, and we will do everything so that through this curtain we can still shake hands.” 

Fico framed his visit to Moscow as a moral obligation, citing the over 60,000 Red Army soldiers who died during the liberation of Slovakia. “That’s why I considered it my duty to come here and pay tribute,” he said.

Slovak Prime Minister criticized EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas for telling him that he was “on the wrong side of history.” In response, Fico wrote on his official account on X that, as a high-ranking official of the European Commission, Kallas has “absolutely no authority to criticize the sovereign Prime Minister of a sovereign country who approaches all European matters constructively.” 

“How can diplomacy and foreign policy be conducted if politicians are not supposed to meet and engage in normal dialogue on issues where they hold differing views?” he added.

No, Kaja, you are on the wrong side of history. You are on the side of the aggressor - NATO!

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The EU made it difficult for Fico and Vucic to get to Moscow for the Victory Day celebrations. 

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas had warned leaders of member states and candidate countries against traveling to Russia for the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. The renowned Russia hawk urged instead that they visit Kiev.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos reportedly also told Vucic in late April that his presence in Moscow could impact Serbia’s EU accession to the bloc.

Latvia and Lithuania denied airspace access to Vucic’s plane, forcing it to reroute through Bulgaria, Türkiye, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

Estonia refused to facilitate Fico’s  aircraft, despite Slovakia holding a year-round permit to use Estonian airspace for government flights.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna insisted that EU representatives should avoid participating in “propaganda events organized by Russia.”

And, instead, spend their time at propaganda events organized by Brussels.

Ukraine’s cause is ‘doomed’ – EU state’s president

Continued European support for Kiev will only bring more victims, destruction, and lost territory, Bulgaria’s Rumen Radev has said

FILE PHOTO: Bulgarian President Rumen Radev participates in the Three Seas Initiative Business Forum in Warsaw, Poland, April 29, 2025. © Getty Images / Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has openly criticized the EU’s continued military support for Ukraine, warning that Kiev’s path to victory against Russia is “doomed.” He made the remarks in a Facebook post on Friday, timed with Russia’s Victory Day celebrations in Moscow marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Radev called it “the tragedy of our time” that decades after World War II, international disputes in Europe “are once again being resolved by military means.”

“Europe does not have its own vision for the end of the [Ukraine conflict] and the establishment of peace, but continues to invest in a cause that, in my opinion, is doomed,” the Bulgarian leader wrote. He added that “pouring more weapons” into Ukraine would not bring peace closer, calling it a “utopian hope” that leads instead to “the opposite – even more victims, destruction and lost territory every day.”

What I've been saying for more than 2 years.

Radev also questioned the EU’s goals in prolonging the Ukraine conflict.

READ MORE: Putin ‘doing whatever possible’ for Ukraine peace – Kremlin

“Is Europe afraid of the return of peace? Because the return of peace also means returning public attention to the crises that are smoldering within our countries and societies,” he stated, stressing that Europe must learn the lessons of World War II, abandon its militaristic approach, and focus instead on diplomatic solutions.

“Europe must remember that unity and prosperity were made possible by joint efforts to eradicate the rivalries, hatred, and disputes that led to the Second World War,” he said.

Radev has opposed sending military aid to Kiev and is one of the few EU leaders to speak out against Brussels’ hardline stance against Moscow. He previously warned against prolonging the conflict, dismissing the idea of Ukraine defeating Russia as “impossible,” while urging for peace.

Russia has warned against Western military aid to Ukraine, saying it would only drag out the conflict. Moscow offered a 72-hour ceasefire from midnight May 8 to midnight May 11 to mark Victory Day, describing the offer as a humanitarian gesture aimed at paving the way for direct peace talks without preconditions. Ukraine dismissed the overture as “manipulation” and demanded a 30-day ceasefire instead.

Xi calls for root causes of Ukraine conflict to be eliminated

The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine launched multiple attacks of various kinds, including four attempted cross-border incursions into the Russian regions of Kursk and Belgorod, following Russia’s ceasefire declaration.

Britain sanctions 100 Russian shadow fleet vessels

By Doug Cunningham

Britain Friday sanctioned 100 Russian shadow fleet oil tankers oil tankers that carried more than $24 billion in cargo since the beginning of 2024. Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) said increasing pressure on Russia in support of Ukraine is in British security interests. Photo by Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/UPI | License Photo

May 9 (UPI) -- Britain hit Russia's shadow fleet Friday with what Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the largest ever sanction package. 

Up to 100 oil tankers that carried more than $24 billion in cargo since the beginning of 2024 were targeted by the sanctions. 

"Every step we take to increase pressure on Russia and achieve a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine is another step towards security and prosperity in the U.K.," Starmer said in a statement.

Starmer said the sanctions targeting the fleet Russia used to transport oil will add more pressure to Russia's economy.

Related

• French President Macron pledges $2.15B for Ukraine defense
• British government now holds $32.3 billion in frozen Russian assets
• Russia holds WWII Victory Day celebrations in Red Square as fighting in Ukraine rages on

He said, thanks to Western sanctions, oil and gas revenues for Russia have fallen each year since 2022.

"Sanctions and the cost of his barbaric war are causing the Russian economy to stall -- with the wealth fund hollowed out, inflation rising and government spend on defense and security spiraling," Starmer said.

Is he talking about Russia, or the UK?

Starmer said Britain will do all it can to disrupt the Russian shadow fleet and the people behind it, because it's a security threat for Britain.

Good grief! How is that a security threat to Britain?

"The threat from Russia to our national security cannot be underestimated, that is why we will do everything in our power to destroy his shadow fleet operation, starve his war machine of oil revenues and protect the subsea infrastructure that we rely on for our everyday lives," Starmer's said.

Russia's shadow fleet, Starmer said, isn't just bringing in money for Russia. It's being used to damage critical national infrastructure "through reckless seafaring in Europe."  Huh?

The sanctioned shadow fleet vessels will be banned from British ports and could be seized if they enter British waters.

The British sanctions were announced as the Joint Expeditionary Force holds an Oslo summit Friday.

The JEF is a coalition of ten northern European nations supporting Ukraine and enhanced European security.

Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway comprise the security coalition.

Starmer said the JEF is expected to announce a strengthened partnership with Ukraine at the Oslo summit.