Biden’s Political Myopia Endangering Europe: Allow the EastMed Pipeline

by Burak Bekdil, GATESTONE INSTITUTE  •  February 28, 2022 at 5:00 am

• Biden surprised EastMed partners by abruptly withdrawing U.S. support for the pipeline on January 9, thereby effectively killing the project, preventing a diversified supply of energy to Europe, and further assuring even greater revenues for Russia and its war machine.
• “The Biden Administration’s actions in this matter are particularly objectionable and hypocritical in light of its tacit approval of Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline, which will only deepen Europe’s energy dependence on a volatile adversary.” — U.S. Representative Gus Bilirakis, January 24, 2022.

• As Biden was busy undercutting three staunch U.S. allies in the Mediterranean [Cyprus, Israel and Greece] to appease Erdo?an and a fantasy of “green energy” — that is years from being either ready or affordable — to appease America’s Democrat Party, Ankara would once again prove to be only a part-time Western ally.
• “During the vote [against Russia]… Turkey decided to abstain,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu said. “We don’t want to break off the dialogue with Russia.”
• Biden should immediately reverse his decision and permit the EastMed pipeline.
• In December 2019, Biden had described Erdo?an as an autocrat and promised to empower Turkey’s opposition parties through democratic processes. Was that a joke, or is Biden a crypto-fan of Erdo?an?

President Joe Biden surprised EastMed partners by abruptly withdrawing U.S. support for the pipeline on January 9, thereby effectively killing the project, preventing a diversified supply of energy to Europe, and further assuring even greater revenues for Russia and its war machine. “The Biden Administration’s actions in this matter are particularly objectionable and hypocritical in light of its tacit approval of Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline, which will only deepen Europe’s energy dependence on a volatile adversary,” said U.S. Representative Gus Bilirakis

Once again U.S. President Joe Biden’s strategic miscalculation is coming with a strategic cost: appeasing NATO’s pro-Putin, part-time ally Turkey and jeopardizing Europe’s energy security.

The past several years saw the East Mediterranean turning into a slow-fuse time bomb sitting over rich hydrocarbons claimed questionably by Turkey as a stand-alone regional force versus an alliance of Greece, Cyprus and Israel.

In this tug-of-war, Turkey threatened to take military action if the alliance of rival countries went ahead with its plans to bypass Turkey and transport an annual 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe with a planned underwater pipeline. Turkey alleges that any such pipeline would violate its sovereignty over the Mediterranean and proposes, instead, unsurprisingly, a less costly pipeline carrying natural gas to Europe through Turkish territory.

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