That is even more true with respect to what you have said about Poland. You quote the Poles as saying that the reason why the Poles are afraid of the Baltic pipeline is because the Poles want to be able to make sure that if Russia cuts off its supplies for political reasons, it can cut the connection between Russia and the rest of Europe. You argue that this somehow shows that Poland is an unreliable transit country. But again, you have argued that Russia would never cut gas supplies, so that means that Russia and Germany don't need to worry about Poland's reliability. You have also argued that the corruption in Poland's energy sector makes it an unreliable partner, but there's even worse corruption in the Russian energy sector - so if this makes Poland unreliable, why doesn't that apply to Russia?
Either the Poles are simply being paranoid about Russia, in which case the Baltic pipeline is just a waste of money and a way in which the Russians and Germans further hurt both of their relations with Poland. Or the Poles really do have reason to be worried. Which is it? If it is the first, well, in the long run no big deal, though it would be if Poland's current government weren't already so hostile to the EU. If it's the latter, then Europe is preparing the ground for either a complete breakdown in relations between the EU and Russia, or for the worst intra EU crisis in history.
What you're saying is that Poland is reliable - although (even though?) - it siphons off gas for its own use without paying for it. I guess Russia is supposed to be grateful that Poland doesn't take 100% of the gas?
The Poles have only themselves to blame for the Germans and Russians building the pipeline around them. They got too greedy.
The Poles have been extracting actual cash out of Gazprom, lots of it, taking advantage of its weakness a few years back when it was literally the back against the wall. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
In any case I really don't think that that is the main concern of the Poles. Any such cooperation between Germany and Russia bypassing Poland is going to make Poles rather upset - two centuries of history and on the Russian side, though not the German one, a disturbing understanding of that history.
What makes it obvious that they have not been behaving reasonably is how keen the Germans are to go via the Baltic pipe. They have never shown the same kind of worry about Ukraine, for instance. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
