STEELE CITY, NE — In a desperate bid to secure employment, laid-off American construction workers are disguising themselves as Russians to work on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Allen Brokeson, 51, a former Keystone XL Pipeline laborer, donned a traditional Russian Ushanka hat as he practiced a Russian folk dance. He is preparing for a lengthy journey—shipping container to the Baltic Sea, rail to Moscow, and then by yak-pulled wagon—to reach the pipeline company’s employment office. “I just want a job,” Brokeson said, “and thanks to President Biden’s lifting of Russian sanctions, I can chase my passion of laying pipes for powerful oligarchs.”
CNN has praised Biden’s sanction relief as ‘2D Chess,’ highlighting its potential to create American jobs while contrasting it with the economic consequences of former President Trump’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline.
When journalists asked Biden about the workers’ unusual tactic, he joked about Soviet pipelines running through starving villages. Despite the lack of laughs—except from a New York Times reporter—Biden quipped at the press for their lack of humor.
At press time, Brokeson had said farewell to his family and joined a group sneaking into a shipping container marked “Burisma Holdings,” ready to embark on the pipeline mission.
This unusual story reflects the lengths to which unemployed US workers will go amid shifting political and economic landscapes affecting the energy sector.