It is a great irony that George Beebe, former Advisor to Dick Cheney, serves as the Director of Grand Strategy at the cross-partisan think tank founded in 2019 by billionaires George Soros and Charles Koch. The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft appears to be the adult in the room on US foreign policy, advocating diplomacy before military interventions in service of ending endless war.
Regardless of who is responsible for the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline, the Texas oil and gas is the main source of energy (LNG -- liquified natural gas) for Europe at a great price to Europeans and Texans. Revisit Part 4 of Paul Robbins' series Come This Winter, for which LIV gave our Energy Series of the Year recognition.
Texas is not only exporting LNG out the yin-yang to Europe, oil and gas operations are also destroying and polluting land and precious water resources in the Permian Basin in Texas. This is an incalculable cost that Texas lobby King -- the Texas Oil and Gas Association -- does not us Texans to consider as a subsidy for their profit. This inconvenient truth explains to us why oil and gas attorney, Sarah Stogner, was so desperate to blow the whistle about it she stripped down to pasties to ride a pump jack to advertise her campaign for Railroad Commission in the 2022 Republican primary.
What Beebe Said in Service of Ending Endless War
Watch the video starting at 37:38 for the two-minute segment. Beebe Excerpt: "Now whether the US did that or not, I think is very much an open question but the old question of who benefits from something like this, there’s no question, the Ukrainians benefited from the destruction of Nord Stream. And the US did as well. We’re now the primary supplier of natural gas to Europe through our own Liquid Natural Gas capabilities at much higher prices to the Europeans and to considerable benefit to the US Energy sector."
Note: Few, including Beebe, believe Russia would blow up its own pipeline. Ukraine, according to Beebe, did not have the ability to pull off such an operation. Apparently, Beebe did not buy the leak by the CIA that it was a Ukrainian General who acted without Zelensky's knowledge.
Seymour Hersh, the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, wrote an extensive article with information from an anonymous source, claiming it was the US. The iconic journalist was forced to publish the article on Substack.
Most Important: Beebe lays out that both the US and Russia have missed key opportunities to engage in the fundamentals required in peaceful international conflict resolution -- diplomacy. We suggest you read Beebe's June 28 article, "Beware a Wounded Putin."
Don't Miss This Report on Pentagon Spending from the Quincy Institute:
More Money, Less Security: Pentagon Spending and Strategy in the Biden Administration
From the Report: "The United States could mount a robust defense for far less money if it pursued a more restrained strategy that takes a more realistic view of the military challenges posed by Russia and China, relies more heavily on allies to provide for the defense of their own regions, shifts to a deterrence–only nuclear strategy, and emphasizes diplomacy over force or threats of force to curb nuclear proliferation. This approach could save at least $1.3 trillion over the next decade, funds that could be invested in other areas of urgent national need. But making a shift of this magnitude will require political and budgetary reforms to reduce the immense power of the arms lobby."
Quincy Institute Update, June 29: Pentagon Authorization Bill Deserves to be Defeated
Ending Endless War in Texas
From the LIV Texas Independent Voter Survey: "On a 1 to 5 scale, 5 is the most agreement, how much do you agree with this statement: If we're serious about ending endless war, Americans must have more political options to vote for that can compete with our two corporate-dominated major parties."
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