Countries are, in general, selfish entities due to their governments being in charge, and those put in charge of governments are human beings. Countries think for the good of themselves and their own people, rather than the good of all people of the Earth. They are selfish entities. Thus, one of the most interesting concepts is a country's search for self sufficiency. For a country to be able to provide for all its citizens, it must have enough resources for goods and services to supply to the public. Agricultural goods are seen to be in easy supply due to farmers and corporations supplying those with food, but they are hard to come by in some places in the world, and the same can be said with water, medical services and supplies as well. However, energy dependence is one of the biggest issues, especially when it comes to first world countries gaining self sufficiency. An entire first world entity with this issue is the European Union and their energy dependence on Russia.
The countries within the European Union are, for the most part, seen as rich countries due to their euros having a greater worth than the dollar. For the most part, these countries can provide for themselves, with food, clean water, great health care systems, etc. However, they have trouble with developing energy alternatives. They cannot depend on fracking, solar power, wind turbines and oil rigs to help them get energy, whether it be electric or oil. This is a disadvantage for these European countries because the majority of their weather climate is unpredictable, they do not have enough land to be able to consider fracking without putting citizens at risk, and they are in areas where developing an oil rig seems more expensive than depending on a Russian pipeline. So, the European people decide to depend on the Russian oil.
The European Union has become reluctant for the most part when it comes to the creation of energy alternatives. Due to the contracts set by Russia so these countries can gain energy from them Russia, they have made their plan known, for European countries to be tied to Russia’s growth. Europe is limited to create new energy tactics because of their contracts with the country giving them energy. Russia wants these European countries to be dependent upon Russia for as long as they can because Russia wants to be seen as the dominant country within the region. So, European governments have given in to the creation of new oil pipelines within Eastern Europe and Western Europe to Russia. This can be seen today, with the creation of the Nord Stream Pipeline which goes from Russia directly to Germany through the Baltic Sea. This was a very debatable project due to the pipeline going through the ocean and the possible environmental catastrophe that could have occurred if something went wrong. However, the Nord Stream Pipeline was created and thus a new relationship between Russia and Germany has formed.
Now, this dependence on energy from Russia may seem one sided but it has become mutual. Russia has a large energy market within the European region, which it does not have anywhere else and because of Russia’s business with Europe, it is more friendly when it comes to trade with Europeans. When Europeans sell a good, Russia is more likely to be willing to buy it and promote it to its people rather than an American good. Due to Russia and European ties becoming more close and as energy has become one of the most powerful sectors within the world, Russia has made a drastic statement. Russian is now able to proclaim its hold over energy which no other country can compete, thus Russia has become a superpower that the world must take seriously because nothing can be done globally without them.
