“Russian oil and gas smells of Ukrainian blood,”

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba

Reuters @Reuters

U.S., Europeans discussing banning Russian oil imports, Blinken says reut.rs/3HM8fbX

March 6th 2022

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I’m happy to learn that talk of banning imports of Russian oil and gas to the U.S. and Europe appears to be gaining momentum. Staking out this position also appears to go against what I’ve been preaching on Crime and Punishment: that government policies should benefit the poor, not hurt them, both in the short and long term. And if the U.S. bans the import of Russian fossil fuels, both the White House and economic experts claim that gas prices will rise at the pump, which will surely impact the poor and middle class (if one still exists), most directly.

On the other hand, I believe strongly in government actions directed toward the “common good”, and that a participatory democracy like ours should have some voluntary or required public service. I also don’t think it is too much to ask, at least every so often, that the American people be called to participate in shared sacrifice for the greater good of our country and the world. This moment is one of those times.

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I’ll leave it up to you to debate the pro’s and con’s of this proposed sanction in the Comment section below. But first, I’ll share with you this evening some of the recent discussions surrounding this issue as it seems to gain traction.

— First up is this article from The Guardian published earlier today.

“ Earlier this week, the White House publicly rebuffed suggestions from lawmakers that the US ban Russian oil, which made up 3% of all the crude shipments that arrived in the US last year, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration. But Europe is far more dependent, with an estimated 30% of oil and 39% of gas supplies coming from Russia.”

Who says gas prices at the pump have to rise in the U.S. if we stop our 3% imports of Russian oil? The oil companies that make billions in profits each year? And isn’t it a tad hypocritical to give our money to Russia on the one hand, squeeze their economy with economic sanctions and send hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to stop Russia’s slaughter of innocent Ukrainian civilians on the other?

— This piece from NBC News discusses the pros and cons of this particular sanction, explains the Biden administration’s hesitancy and why even the likes of Senator Joe Manchin is in favor of the Russian oil ban.

According to Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., an Afghanistan war veteran, “Those sanctions are going to demonstrate that the free world is behind the Ukrainian people, and they are going to rock the foundation of the Kremlin.”

— This CNBC piece from just today gives me hope in the power of workers all over the world to affect change.

“Dock workers in Britain are taking a stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with ports in the country refusing to unload Russian oil and gas…Sharon Graham, the general secretary of U.K. Union Unite, said that her members will “under no circumstances unload any Russian oil regardless of the nationality of the vessel which delivers it.”

And finally for this evening, a post from Bill McKibben, former New York Times columnist, environmental educator and activist, and now Substack writer.

“The last time a European autocrat sent tanks speeding across the plains to subjugate sovereign nations we (eventually) responded by sending millions of men off to war and sacrificing everything about our domestic economy in order to produce the armaments needed to fight. This time America’s burden involves…paying higher gas prices.”

We’ve known for the last 40 or 50 years that it is dangerous to be dependent on foreign fossil fuels, not because we should be digging and drilling for our own, but because our country must switch to renewable resources to save our planet, and to prevent the near hostage situation we’re in now.

Let’s debate this issue right here. What do you think of the proposed ban on Russian oil and gas? Are you willing to pay more for your energy? Can you guess why Senator Manchin is in favor of banning Russian oil and gas?

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