“Other than, of course, that would make all of Europe subject to “leverage” vis a vis Russian interests, such as its desire to restore the Russian empire. Which was Trumps point. What, do you disagree with Trump? Are you in with that pack of smarmy Germans?”
Agree, but that was Europe’s choice - the problem is that they tried to have it both ways (get very cheap energy from Russia, while still being puppets of the Neocons). No way that would work.
In other words, anytime Europe differed with Russian policy they would have that hanging over their heads. This was a very stupid thing to do. One does not become so dependent on a sole foreign source of something vital without severe consequences.
Btw, see the excessive global dependency on China for another not unrelated set of problems.
Putin obviously thought that dependency would matter in 2022. It almost did, he was just...premature.