Certainly have appreciated the writings here @EuroTrib over the many years and have added some of Jerome a Paris to my hotlist.

Check this comment from 2005 ... the beginning of a fissure opening between NATO and Russia where energy would be used as leverage. Both Poland and the Ukraine were given keys to close the spigots and cut Russian gas flowing into "Old Europe".

The situation today feels as bad as the Arab oil crisis of 1973.

Re: All Quiet on the Western Front

Thanks for this diary, and welcome on eurotrib!

Ukraine is always a topic of interest to me, as I wrote my PhD dissertation in 1995 on the independence of Ukraine, and I have little to add on your description of the overall situation.

On the gas situation, I'll refer you to my recent front page stories on various pipelines, one of which was the Ukrainian gas situation:

3 Items of note on the topic of pipelines this morning

I don't think the Russians will manage to increase the price of gas shipped to Ukraine.

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Tue Dec 20th, 2005 at 01:14:47 PM PDT

Russian-Ukrainian gas deal - what's behind it?

Iraqi Oil - the $250bn gift to Saudi Arabia and Russia

Additional reading ...

Can Russia Really Solve Europe's Gas Woes on Its Own? | Carnegie Moscow - Oct.21, 2021 |

Russia's Gazprom controls gas transport to Europe, SE Asia and China

Supplier and customers are interdependent, Gazprom and Putin do want to be partner based on longterm contracts. Playing politics in US Congress and the White House produces a lot of noise and uncertainty. NATO's Stoltenberg and the US Commander should just shut up. The EU Commission in Brussels have taken a rumble seat.

'Sapere aude'