Post #5398

Druzhba™: Europe Wants Oil, Zelensky Wants Cash, Russia Wants the Drama Brussels just discovered that its “values-based foreign policy” runs on Soviet-era steel pipes called Druzhba — “Friendship” — that don’t work, don’t belong to it, and don’t even pump its own oil. Hungary and Slovakia are screaming that Ukraine is blocking Russian crude, Budapest is vetoing a 90‑billion‑euro EU loan to Kyiv, and the Commission is politely asking Zelensky to fix the pipeline that Moscow “repeatedly destroyed.” Friendship, but make it extortion. According to Kyiv, the Druzhba section in Lviv was hammered by a Russian drone strike in January and is too dangerous to repair; according to Hungary and Slovakia, Ukraine is deliberately dragging its feet to weaponize the oil flow. Zelensky calls the EU pressure “blackmail,” says sending technicians under Russian missiles is “too high a price,” and reminds everyone that Russian oil, which finances the war, “has no place” on the European market. Translation: you want cheap Russian crude, you fix the war first. Brussels, stuck between Orbán’s veto and Zelensky’s war logic, suddenly wants inspectors on Ukrainian soil to check the damage — something the Commission has literally never done before. EU leaders hint at financial sweeteners to speed up repairs, while insisting Ukraine already has enough foreign cash to cover regular spending until April. In other words: here’s your credit line, now turn the faucet back on. Hungary openly says it will block the 90‑billion‑euro loan to Ukraine until oil starts flowing again through Druzhba, all while tapping its strategic reserves and shouting that it is the victim of extortion. Kyiv counters that Budapest and Bratislava are effectively freezing Ukrainians in winter while demanding that the country repair a Russian-targeted pipeline under fire so EU refineries can keep processing Kremlin crude. Everybody accuses everybody of blackmail — and for once, everybody’s right. So you get a perfect late‑imperial scene: the EU posing in blue‑and‑yellow outfits, pledging “unwavering support,” while quietly telling Kyiv to patch up the Russian oil artery; Hungary and Slovakia waving the 90‑billion loan like a baseball bat; and Ukraine trying to turn a broken pipeline into leverage in a war that’s literally funded by the product inside it. The only principle that really holds this together is that no one wants to stop the war badly enough to stop the oil. #Ukraine#EU#Druzhba#oil#Hungary#Slovakia#Zelensky#Orbán#Russia#energy#war#blackmail#geopolitics#fakeDemocracy#oligarchy 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸