Cold War Lite

[HT:BN]
Vladimir Putin's ambition of re-establishing Russia's Cold War empire ought to have been curtailed by the precipitous economic collapse of his country's oil-centered economy. Instead, as is so often the case with dictators, failure has made him more desperate and hence more belligerent.

Hence Russia's decision to cut off supplies of natural gas to Europe. As the article below explains, the target isn't Western Europe but the middle-man, Ukraine, through which the natural gas pipelines pass. Ukraine is the last of the former Soviet Republics (not counting tiny Georgia) to have a relatively free system of government and to align itself with the West, and Putin wants to destabilize it.

As a result, the Europeans are going to learn a lesson about allowing themselves to become so dependent on Russian fuel supplies. Putin has put the "cold" into Cold War Lite, and millions of Europeans will spend a dangerously cold winter as a result.

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