And the Russians would also be bankrupt as their economy would be devastated without the sale of oil and gas to Europe. They don’t have the infrastructure in the short term to sell the same volume to China or Japan.
March17, 2014 - “To the surprise of most speculators gas and oil pipelines crossing Ukraine have operated normally since the incursion, according to officials from Gazprom and OAO Transneft, Russia’s oil-pipeline operator. Russian crude flows through Ukraine via the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline, which carried about 300,000 barrels a day last year, according to data from Ukraine’s energy ministry. That’s a fraction of the 3.05 million barrels of crude and 1.02 million barrels of refined-oil products that Russia exported daily to Europe last year”
Can the US provide Europe with 3 million barrels of crude and 1 million barrels of refined-oil products per day, and 40% of its natural gas needs, THAT is the question.