The rudiments of this potential shift are already in place. They consist of the fracking revolution in North America, which has led to a sustained glut of cheap natural gas, and new energy infrastructure being constructed or contemplated in Central Europe. Most promising is a major terminal nearing completion at the Polish port of Swinoujscie. Once finished next year, the facility will be able to receive liquefied natural gas by ship and regasify 175 billion cubic feet of it annually -- a large chunk of the 640 billion cubic feet Poland consumed last year. Expansion is possible and there is talk about a "North-South Corridor" that would carry gas from ports in Poland in the north and Croatia in the south into Central Europe.
North American and allied governments should see to it that this is just the beginning. Instead of squandering billions of foreign aid on anti-Western hotbeds like Pakistan, we should provide grants, loans and loan guarantees to a broad network of gas infrastructure in Europe -- shipping terminals and pipelines -- that is free from Russian influence.
We can even make money in addition to reaping the political and security benefits of undermining Moscow. At current export-by-ship prices, were the U.S. to provide a quarter of Ukraine and Poland's gas needs, it would earn America's economy $6.6 billion each year and reduce the trade deficit. Money that would have gone to Russia would come here instead.
While some of Swinoujscie's initial gas imports will come from Qatar, Poland's government has expressed an interest in American natural gas. Last November, Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said: "Poland is one of the countries who think that for the sake of environment and for the sake of our economies in Europe and in Poland, we should explore and produce shale gas, and gas should flow to our [Swinoujscie] terminal also from the United States."
Indeed, shipping liquefied natural gas from Houston to Swinoujscie means traveling 5,392 miles over about 25 days -- a savings of 1,474 miles and four days over the trip from Qatar's terminal in Doha. Furthermore, the trip from America doesn't involve the nuisance, expense and increasing risk of transiting the Suez Canal.
When Sikorski made his pitch for American natural gas, he was standing next to Secretary of State John Kerry. More akin to speaking than listening, Kerry and the administration he serves ignored the idea and its radical implication. From Obama's five-year foot-dragging on the domestic Keystone gas pipeline to Kerry's recent rumination that climate change is the "world's most fearsome weapon of mass destruction," to Hillary Clinton's failed "reset" of relations with Russia, today's Democrats are nothing if not ignorant of energy and its implications for economic and national security.
But it is never too late to stop playing the fool. Washington can approve Keystone, speed natural gas export permits, share U.S. technology and successful regulatory practices to frack oil and gas, bring together North American and Central European governments in an energy partnership and repurpose foreign aid to this partnership in order to improve both our national security and our economy.
Don't expect Putin to take this lying down. Moscow previously looked like it was defeated in Ukraine when the 2004 Orange Revolution swept aside Yanukovych the first time, only to see him rebound. Moscow will continue its attempts to dominate what it considers its "near abroad" in Europe and Asia, including by holding out sweetheart energy deals that only later turn sour. But we can beat Putin at his own game.
