Today, The Patriot Daily Wire is reporting that Russia is flaring $10 million worth of natural gas rather than send it to Germany. Meanwhile, Germany is struggling to store enough natural gas to get through the winter.

The article reports:

As Germany struggles to store enough natural gas to get it though the coming winter, Russia has cut the flow of gas through the Nord Stream I pipeline several times. As of the end of July, the pipeline was only transporting about 20% of the supply Russia had agreed to in contracts.

…So what happened to all of the gas that Russia stopped sending to Germany? Well, some of it is being flared off near the start of the Nord Stream I pipeline along the border with Finland. Estimates suggest Russia is just burning $10 million per day worth of natural gas possibly just to send a message.

The article quotes the BBC:

As Europe’s energy costs skyrocket, Russia is burning off large amounts of natural gas, according to analysis shared with BBC News.

They say the plant, near the border with Finland, is burning an estimated $10m (£8.4m) worth of gas every day.

Experts say the gas would previously have been exported to Germany.

Germany’s ambassador to the UK told BBC News that Russia was burning the gas because “they couldn’t sell it elsewhere”…

The first signs that something was awry came from Finnish citizens over the nearby border who spotted a large flame on the horizon earlier this summer.

The Russians are claiming technical problems for the failure to fulfill their contract.

The article concludes:

Given that Russia has been lying about technical problems for months now, the claim that this is another technical problem seems unlikely, especially since they’re making a point of flaring this gas near the border where it can be seen rather than where it was produced. Putin is sending a message that he’d rather burn the gas off into the air than deliver it as promised. This is a big, glowing middle finger to the Germans.

When America was energy independent, we could make up the shortfall in natural gas being sent to Germany. Unfortunately, the Biden administration did not value energy independence and shut down the things that make it possible very quickly after taking office. If America wants to play a major role in world politics, we need to reestablish our energy independence quickly.