I feel like I’m missing something here. US doing that would have made them much stronger against China. I mean just imagine how much more robust the European economy would be if all the gas going to China was going right to Europe.
Though in typing that out I may have answered my own question. Is it really just because US wanted to European market to themselves? This seems incredibly short sighted.
Because to paraphrase Michael Parenti, “capitalists don’t want a lot of things, THEY WANT EVERYTHING”. There were still a few state assets the US/ Europe backed oligarchs and expats weren’t able to grab for pennies on the dollar after Soviet collapse and it keeps them up at night.