Europe is about to implode because of their stupid energy policy.

Imagine requiring all gas stations in your country to accept a common payment card that every one of your citizens can purchase. Now imagine if one of your neighboring countries could just purchase that payment card, and then drain your gas stations of gas. That is essentially what Russia is doing to Germany right now, and it is going to raise the price of natural gas in Germany (and the rest of Europe) to unheard of levels.<br><br>The European Pipeline System was designed so that neighboring countries could purchase natural gas from Russia and sell it to other European countries if their pipelines were destroyed in a war. This would ensure that every country had access to this energy source. But it makes it easy for Russia to purchase gas from Germany and sell it to Poland or vice versa depending on which pipeline was shut down. The result is that the price of natural gas shoots through the roof because the gas is being sold at such a high volume that it creates artificial shortages.<br><br>This was made worse because the Europeans invested so much in solar and wind that their nuclear power plants were decommissioned. And every country in Europe is trying to outdo each other with their green energy initiatives. They should be investing in their nuclear power infrastructure instead. If they had, Russia would not be able to lever the price of natural gas so high.<br><br>The Europeans need to stop this green madness and invest in nuclear power. Otherwise, their people are going to suffer a freezing winter with no power and no heat.<br><br>EDIT: You can prevent this by requiring all purchases of natural gas to come from domestic sources. But that would require Europeans to abandon their green initiatives and invest in nuclear power and domestic gas production.<br><br>EDIT: Or every country in Europe needs to adopt price controls and prevent any of their natural gas from being sold to foreign buyers.