This week, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Foreign Minister Wobke Hoekstra (no relation) met with Ukrainian leaders in Kiev. The visit was intended to signal Dutch support to the government of Ukraine in the face of Russian build-up provocations on its border. As with other European national security moves, the meeting may be too little too late.
It was a positive step, strongly supported by the Biden Administration as a sign of NATO unity. The visit, however, recalled efforts — such as the one below — by U.S. and European ambassadors to stop Nord Stream 2, the pipeline from Russia to Germany that then connects to much of the rest of Europe. The Russian threat outlined by the Trump administration was very clear — that Russia would then be able to shut off its gas to Europe in the middle of winter, if it chose to, as a form of blackmail, at which point the US might then be expected to save Europe from its own deal — and the long-term policy and security consequences of completing the pipeline were communicated. Put very simply, building closer economic ties with Russia and Putin is an extremely bad and dangerous idea.
Germany will get its Russian gas. NATO is a paper tiger. Time the US ended Europe’s free ride but Biden won’t do it.
