One of the great paleo-conservative thinkers of the pre-Reagan era is WND columnist Pat Buchanan. I had the privilege of meeting and sharing a stage with him as a young Christian activist in Oregon around 1990, and have always benefited from the insights and observations in his writings. The main issue that separates paleo-conservatives from neo-conservatives is war-policy: the paleos are the original America First champions, firmly against unnecessary foreign wars, and the neo-cons seem to have never met a war they didn't like. Pat's piece this past week was about the geopolitics of oil and natural gas pipelines, specifically Russia's pipeline to Germany, and thus all Europe.

The main reason the neo-cons joined with the leftists to take down President Trump's presidency was his opposition to foreign wars and his successful pursuit of domestic energy independence. The leftists hate Trump for many reasons, but the neo-cons have primarily one. You see, the wars of at least the past half-century have almost always been related to the projection of American military power to control oil and gas resources on foreign soil.

Pat Buchanan wrote: "Issue: Nord Stream 2, the Baltic Sea pipeline Vladimir Putin is building to complement his Nord Stream 1 and carry more natural gas from Russia to Germany, and from there to other NATO nations. … What is behind American opposition …? First, the pipelines bypass Ukraine and Poland, cutting those countries out of the transit revenue. Second, we want Germany to buy our own shale-produced natural gas." The rest of the article focuses on the question of whether Germany is wrong to partner with Russia in this. He reveals his own view, writing, "[Post Glasnost] Russia was no longer the largest captive nation of communism but a nation reaching out in friendship to the United States. … [But] Having won the Cold War, and unable to find a new mission, we started a second Cold War to contain the new [significantly shrunken] Russia – this time at the borders of Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia, as we had once contained the old USSR at the River Elbe."

I would add that the second Cold War ran rather lukewarm until, as secretary of state under Obama in 2009, Hillary Clinton presented a "reset button" stage prop to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to signal a new season of cooperation between our nations. But, in retrospect, that season of thaw appears to have been just another Clinton Crime Family scam, in this case to enrich themselves through such deals as the Uranium One scandal.

One of the great paleo-conservative thinkers of the pre-Reagan era is WND columnist Pat Buchanan. I had the privilege of meeting and sharing a stage with him as a young Christian activist in Oregon around 1990, and have always benefited from the insights and observations in his writings. The main issue that separates paleo-conservatives from neo-conservatives is war-policy: the paleos are the original America First champions, firmly against unnecessary foreign wars, and the neo-cons seem to have never met a war they didn't like. Pat's piece this past week was about the geopolitics of oil and natural gas pipelines, specifically Russia's pipeline to Germany, and thus all Europe.

The main reason the neo-cons joined with the leftists to take down President Trump's presidency was his opposition to foreign wars and his successful pursuit of domestic energy independence. The leftists hate Trump for many reasons, but the neo-cons have primarily one. You see, the wars of at least the past half-century have almost always been related to the projection of American military power to control oil and gas resources on foreign soil.

Pat Buchanan wrote: "Issue: Nord Stream 2, the Baltic Sea pipeline Vladimir Putin is building to complement his Nord Stream 1 and carry more natural gas from Russia to Germany, and from there to other NATO nations. … What is behind American opposition …? First, the pipelines bypass Ukraine and Poland, cutting those countries out of the transit revenue. Second, we want Germany to buy our own shale-produced natural gas." The rest of the article focuses on the question of whether Germany is wrong to partner with Russia in this. He reveals his own view, writing, "[Post Glasnost] Russia was no longer the largest captive nation of communism but a nation reaching out in friendship to the United States. … [But] Having won the Cold War, and unable to find a new mission, we started a second Cold War to contain the new [significantly shrunken] Russia – this time at the borders of Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia, as we had once contained the old USSR at the River Elbe."

I would add that the second Cold War ran rather lukewarm until, as secretary of state under Obama in 2009, Hillary Clinton presented a "reset button" stage prop to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to signal a new season of cooperation between our nations. But, in retrospect, that season of thaw appears to have been just another Clinton Crime Family scam, in this case to enrich themselves through such deals as the Uranium One scandal.