Sanctions have always been a "double-edged sword", not to mention that the target of Western sanctions is the country in the world that is most worthy of "large land and vast resources".
As EU continues to impose sanctions on Russia, the European energy crisis is intensifying. It is also the crisis that continues to intensify, and a farce is taking place in Europe.
At the beginning of this month, Russia announced the closure of the Nord Stream No. 1 natural gas pipeline on the grounds of "equipment failure", and the recovery time is to be determined.
Although the EU has prepared for the future and introduced the "Natural Gas Saving Plan", requiring member states to reduce the use of natural gas and fill the storage level of gas tanks to more than 85% before winter, when Russia officially decided to "stop gas", it still put Europe in great pressure.
After all, since the end of World War II , Russia (the Soviet Union) has been the main energy supplier in Europe. This energy dependence relationship cannot be escaped by getting rid of it. Any process needs to be time-based.
EU member states are now facing a grim reality: how to spend the upcoming winter without Russia’s natural gas supply.
For ordinary Europeans, the lack of natural gas means that heating needs cannot be guaranteed. This year's winter is likely to be the "coldest winter " in many of their lives.
Under such a background, coal has also become a hot commodity in Europe.
Starting from the end of August, many Polish people drove their private cars to the coal mine to buy fuel. Some older buyers said that the current situation is worse than when the Soviet Union collapsed , and millions of Polish families are facing the dilemma of " coal-free " in the winter.
By mid-month, because there was no way to buy coal for several months, some Polish people could only go to neighboring countries Czech to rush to buy coal.
Poland has rich mineral resources and is also the largest coal producer in the EU, with an annual output of more than 50 million tons.
So the question is, since the domestic coal production is huge, why do Polish people still have to queue up to buy coal?
The reason is still related to sanctions against Russia.
Although Poland produces more than 50 million tons of coal annually, these coals are rarely sold to individuals, but to power plants (80% of the electricity comes from coal power generation).
Poland imports about 12 million tons of coal for retail annually. Because Russia's coal is large and cheap, about 8 million tons of coal are imported from Russia.
However, as Poland joined the Western sanctions camp against Russia, Russian coal was also pulled into the sanctions list, which eventually led to the dilemma of Polish people who have money but cannot buy coal.
What’s worse is that some illegal Polish businessmen even took the opportunity to launch “national disaster wealth”.
Polsat news recently reported that a resident of Zaverche County, Silesian Province, booked 3 tons of coal, and the seller drove to his door.
At first, the resident thought the seller had a good service attitude, but after a few rains, these "coals" actually faded. finally found that these were not coal at all, but dyed stones. The report also mentioned in the report of
that coal fraud cases have occurred frequently in Poland recently. In addition to the above-mentioned "fake coal" incidents, some people have not even received the goods after paying the money. After the seller collects the money, they quickly disappeared.
Regarding the frequent coal fraud cases, the Polish police said that they advised the public to purchase coal from formal channels to avoid being deceived.
But the problem is that since many people drive in the coal mine to buy coal, the Polish government has asked domestic coal mines to ban the sale of coal to individuals, and coal in the formal market is difficult to buy, and people can only buy coal from unknown channels.
In fact, in many EU countries, not only coal, but also branches have become popular. No wonder some people joked that if the energy crisis in is further intensified, Europeans will really have to go to the forests of Norway to cut down trees .
If Europe eventually gets rid of its dependence on Russian energy, the power of Russia's "energy weapon" will be greatly weakened in the future.
However, Europe's first step towards this goal is difficult, and every step towards this goal is difficult .
If you do this just for the so-called "political correctness", the cost is indeed a bit high.
