[Southack]

These analysts aren’t running the full game simulation. The flip side is that Europe has no compelling alternative to Russian natural gas this Winter if Putin embargoes them by shutting the pipelines off.

Ditto for Russia ceasing to sell its 7 million barrels of oil per day.

Oh golly, Moscow’s budget won’t balance...gee, they can talk to DC about that one.

[elhombrelibre]

Russia's very dependent for its revenue on its oil exports in ways that the US government and our economy are not. The USA's gross domestic product is eight times Putin's GDP. By way of contrast, Russia's GDP is just twice that of the (17 million people) tiny Netherlands.

People can say how swell things are in Russia all they want. And they'll be right that it's better than it was, but Russia is still a vast and poor country. The average Russian earns around $800.00 month.