Geopolitics: Four central European nations have appealed to the U.S. to increase natural gas exports should Russia cut off its supply to Ukraine. We are the superpower of energy. Time to give Vladimir Putin some gas pains.
Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic sent a letter Friday to House Speaker John Boehner, with a similar letter expected to be sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, asking the U.S. to expedite approval of natural-gas export applications. These nations believe a steady gas supply is key to the region's economic and geopolitical stability.Putin's Russia has used its energy resources as a weapon, and the current crisis in Ukraine and Crimea is no exception. Most of the pipelines taking natural gas from Russia to a dependent Europe run though Ukraine, a fact not lost on fearful Europeans as the Russian bear growls anew.
President Obama says there will be "costs" for Russia's seizure of Crimea, so it's time the administration remembered that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. This is a perfect opportunity to increase our exports, as Obama has pledged to do, and thwart in a non-military way Russia's increasingly expansionist ambitions.
"The presence of U.S. natural gas would be much welcome in Central and Eastern Europe," ambassadors from the four countries wrote to Boehner. "And congressional action to expedite (liquefied natural gas) exports to America's allies would come at a critically important time for the region."



















