The European quarter of the Belgian capital went into a particularly strict period of lockdown on Thursday as Joe Biden arrived in Brussels for not one, not two but three international summits.
If it were not for the thick layer of pollution plaguing the rain-starved skies of Brussels these days, you would have been hard pressed to make out any blue among the swarm of helicopters that were keeping a watchful eye on the city.
Top of the agenda was how to wean Europe off of its dependence on Russian energy imports, which are helping to fund Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros every day.
EU countries have flinched at the thought of voluntarily cutting off the oil and gas flows overnight but may have less say in the matter if the Kremlin decides to jump the gun and nix exports unilaterally.
Putin has already decreed that state-run energy firm Gazprom should stop accepting payments in anything but rubles, while...