Quote:
Originally Posted by activeStick
I was thinking through motivations. What if this has nothing at all to do with Russia? Well, maybe some of it has to do with Russia, but more to do with China and America's desire to hang on to top spot and prevent China from overtaking them? If the US can create a situation where Europe needs to shift their energy reliance more on the Americans and away from the Chinese (and Russia), while lessening European ties with China, it could be the best way for the US to try to knock China down. I haven't thought this through deeply at all so I'll probably be corrected quickly....
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China doesn't have energy to export, they are a massive net importer of Oil, and have even faced severe power cuts to major industrial centres in the last year due to diminished hyro power capacity. But it is an interesting thought... again, I think the risk is too great. If you #### over an ally to try and ensure defeat of an enemy, all you really do is push the ally closer to the enemy. Why would Germany ever trust US again? Why would other less militarily powerful states trust US not to act like this if it's in their best interest? How can they be confident that the US best interest is aligned with that of their people?
It just diminishes US Soft power FAR too much to be a realistic consideration. This would be a huge unforced error.