Putin Cuts Off Gas Supply To Six European Countries Without Warning

Forbes ^ | 1/18/2015 @ 4:03PM | Paul Gregory

[DesertRhino]

“can’t immediately pivot west to China and won’t be able to until next decade”

This decade away thing, where does it come from?
A decade to save the earth. A decade for oil drilling to make any difference. A decade for Iran to build a bomb. A decade to build a single pipeline system into China across land.

Think of 1941, and what all was built in 3.5 years. Then think of a single pipeline in 2 countries with no EPA, no endangered species act, etc etc.
It could actually be very very fast.

[FreeReign]

Which is why I make the point, that Russia can't immediately pivot west east to China and won't be able to until next decade.

No -way- it’d take a decade.

No, when I say "next decade", I mean 2020 which is five years away.

As bad as it is for the EU to depend on Russia for its supplies, its that bad for Russia to be tied to one main customer that is hostile and has spent a decade undermining you.

Actually it has been pretty well documented here for ~15 years that Putin is the one who is undermining Ukraine.

And now the race is on who can pivot quicker, the Russians or Ukraine and the Europeans.

[BobL]

Interesting...somehow it’s keeps popping up.

Thanks.

[elhombrelibre]

Some of the putinistas don’t care if it makes sense as long as the bully and president for life Putin can appear STRONG.

[Paul R.]

In China, homes and offices burn coal for heat. I expect most of its air pollution problems come from small, inefficient and dirty heating systems, rather than power plants.

According to my brother, who spent considerable time in China a few years ago, it's both.

Also, do not forget mercury. If you study EPA's own data carefully, you'll find that most of the mercury in the AVERAGE body of water in the USA is drifting here from China. I'd guess power plant stacks are much more efficient at pushing pollutants up high enough that some can drift here, than a home or shop's furnace. Either way, China's local pollution problems are obviously much worse than what drifts to the USA. The same would be true of Euro's burning coal* vs. what would get to Russia, for the most part.

*Most of the mercury can be scrubbed out of power plant emissions, of course, but, I suppose the question is whether OLD coal fired power plants in Eastern European countries have good scrubbers.

[trebb]

Looks like he’s trying to create a crisis of supply which may cause enough of a stir to boost prices. Probably not large enough scale to do what he wants/needs. He will likely cause a number of issues to ensure others feel the pain of his spasms.