An Unsustainable Energy-Price Surge

There are anecdotal reports of energy bills going up five- or sixfold in the U.K. and Ireland.

From the U.K.:

From Ireland:

If these giant increases are at all general or continue to rise as the weather changes in even a handful of European countries, we are going to see governments fall like dominoes throughout the winter.

We may have to come to grips that Antony Blinken isn’t quite ready to match up to Vladimir Putin in a high-stakes geopolitical contest. So far, Russia’s energy war is beating the U.S.-dollar war:

From the WSJ:

Russia pumps almost as much oil into the global market as it did before its invasion of Ukraine. With oil prices up, Moscow is also making more money.

Demand from some of the world’s largest economies has given Russian President Vladimir Putin the upper hand in the energy battle that shadows the war in Ukraine, and has confounded the West’s bid to cripple Russia’s economy with sanctions.