October 2, 2022 Chris Fry

In the wake of the U.S. Ukraine proxy war against Russia, protests have erupted in Europe and around the world over the sky-high energy and food prices caused by the sanctions that the Biden administration and its imperialist allies have imposed on the Russian Federation. These U.S.-promoted sanctions are designed to seize the lucrative EU energy market from Russia and enrich the U.S. oil companies and banks, on the backs of the workers and poor around the globe. As an article from tasminnews.com points out:

Experts warned that as the energy crisis is eating into Europe’s economy and people’s lives, governments’ hands are tied. “Europeans are now muddling through their days, the coming winter will be a crucial challenge for European countries,” Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times.

Lin pointed out that the tit-for-tat conflict between Russia and Europe only has one winner— the U.S.; “as the U.S. eggs on Europe to take aggressive measures against Russia, and suffer from energy shortages as a result, the U.S. is sparing no effort in selling gas and oil to Europe and making a lot of money,” said Lin.

The U.S. sent nearly three-quarters of all its liquefied natural gas to Europe in the first four months of 2022, with daily shipments to the region more than tripling from last year’s average, Bloomberg quoted the U.S. Energy Information Administration as saying in June.

Europe will be the underdog during the Russia-Ukraine crisis, yet judging by European leaders’ reactions, they are still determined to further decouple from Russia, choosing politics and ideology over people’s lives and the economy, said Lin.

This worldwide upheaval is only bound to increase, particularly in Europe, as the cold blasts of winter set in.

United Kingdom

In July, the year-to-year UK inflation rate hit 10.1 percent in July, with energy prices projected to rise by 80% this winter. The working class has responded with strikes to demand higher wages to offset inflation. In the summer, rail and other transport workers shut down London and the whole country for days at a time. In Scotland, the rubbish workers struck, while in England criminal lawyers staged a walkout. There is talk in the Trade Union Council of coordinated strikes, perhaps even a general strike….