More Fallout From the Nord Stream Pipeline Attacks

Prior to the Nord Stream attacks, there was at least a faint possibility that sanity would prevail and Russian energy imports could resume. Now the extent of the damage means they are unlikely to carry any gas to Europe this winter even if there was political will to bring them online.

Just to recap a little of what that is likely to mean:

• European banks are already stress-testing how they can cope with power shortages and are trying to line up generators so that ATMs and online banking don't go dark.
• Mobile phones could stop functioning this winter if power cuts or rationing knock out parts of the mobile networks.
• Science shutdown as institutes that operate energy-hungry supercomputers, accelerators, and laser beamlines will shutter.
• Hundreds of thousands of excess deaths.

And yet Europe continues to double down, proposing a new round of Russian sanctions on Wednesday. They include tighter trade restrictions, more individual black listings, and an oil price cap for third countries. Hungary, though, says it won't go along with any energy sanctions, and the EU needs unanimity to impose sanctions.

Poland and three Baltic countries are upset the proposed sanctions don't go further.

Speaking of Poland, it's coming up in the world. The Baltic Pipeline that opened Tuesday will bring gas from Norway to Poland via Denmark, but has a capacity of only 10 billion M³ per year. The Nord Stream systems could carry up to 110 billion M³ per year.

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