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To: Starboard
Putin’s reality is his control over substantial flows of oil and gas, especially to Germany.

Yeah, and what is Putin going to do with all that oil and gas? Sell it to someone else, freeing up supplies elsewhere? Stop producing, throwing a big chunk of his population out of work and stopping cash flow to his oligarch buddies? The best he can do is cause a price spike just as the winter heating season is winding down. Putin's problem is that he essentially has a colonial economy based on extracting natural resources and selling them abroad. He needs foreign markets as much, if not more, than they need him.

105 posted on 03/05/2014 9:31:17 AM PST by Bubba Ho-Tep ("More weight!"--Giles Corey)
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To: Bubba Ho-Tep

I wouldn’t be dismissive of Russia’s energy advantage or underestimate Putin’s resolve to effectively re-constitute the old Soviet Union. Its a very complex geopolitical situation for sure, with a lot of moving parts, but EU is dependent on Russia for a lot of its energy. Putin could inflict a lot of pain on the continent and many of the EU countries are already in an economically weakened state.


119 posted on 03/05/2014 1:50:48 PM PST by Starboard
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