What happened: Russian dictator Vladimir Putin topped Politico's list of "power players behind Europe's green agenda."
Seriously? Yep.
That's messed up: Yeah, it is.
Why? Politico argues that the war in Ukraine has been great for the environment because it "forced Europe to finally break its fossil fuel addiction" and helped speed up the continent's "green revolution." By launching his brutal invasion and manipulating energy markets to keep oil prices high, Putin has "achieved something generations of green campaigners could not."
But war is bad, right? Depends on whom you ask. Left-wing climate freaks would argue anything that leads to higher gas prices is good because it makes so-called clean energy sources relatively less expensive. Former president Barack Obama, for example, favored an energy policy under which "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket" due to the elimination of coal-fired power plants.
They'd also probably say that humans contribute to climate change, and the war in Ukraine has killed thousands—civilians and soldiers alike—which is good for the environment. New York Times columnist Ezra Klein says his readers are constantly asking whether it is morally acceptable to have children "knowing they will contribute to the climate crisis the world faces."
Never let a crisis go to waste: Just weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, liberal activists in the United States urged President Joe Biden to use the war as an opportunity to "accelerate the transition to clean energy."
The bottom line: Thanks, Politico. The wives and mothers of Ukrainian soldiers will be pleased to know their loved ones died for a righteous progressive cause. Russian conscripts are understandably reluctant to fight and die in what seems like a pointless war. Morale should improve once they realize they are fighting and dying to heal the planet by facilitating a "green revolution" in Europe, where civilians bracing for a brutal winter amid soaring energy prices will take comfort in the fact that their suffering is making a difference in the world.
