[Arkinsaw]

Cool, let's imagine also Russia, cutting the supplies of the natural gas to all of Europe in return, with the G-7 reduced to G-0 in no time. No gas-supply Marchall's plan this time.

So, forget it. The Pandora's box had been opened with NATO-US military follies in Kosovo, enthusiastically aided by the european socialist apparatchiks. One eats, what one cooked, they say.

Let's see how things go in Russia when it's cuts off natural gas sales for political reasons.

Russia's resurgence is specifically because of the level of integration with the West that it has achieved so far. If that level of integration collapses then the "resurgence" will collapse with it.....and those KGB billionaire thugs will find themselves very unpopular again very quickly.

The Chinese government has managed to find a way to suck off the capitalist tit while still being brutes at home. The Russians seem to think they can suck off the capitalist tit while being brutes internationally. That is a far more unlikely combination than China's.

[COBOL2Java]

The editorial alluded to that very thing:

In the world of global commerce, reputation matters. China has calculated that its own ambivalent reputation can only gain from staging the Olympic extravaganza. The glow of the Games is money in the bank. By contrast, the Putin government has embarked on a strategy that seems to believe its power grows in sync with its reputation as an international pariah, an outsider state.

[Nowhere Man]

Let's see how things go in Russia when it's cuts off natural gas sales for political reasons.

Russia's resurgence is specifically because of the level of integration with the West that it has achieved so far. If that level of integration collapses then the "resurgence" will collapse with it.....and those KGB billionaire thugs will find themselves very unpopular again very quickly.

The Chinese government has managed to find a way to suck off the capitalist tit while still being brutes at home. The Russians seem to think they can suck off the capitalist tit while being brutes internationally. That is a far more unlikely combination than China's.

I think Russia/USSR would end up cutting their nose off to spite their face, yes they can cut off energy to Europe but unless they find another buyer, they will return to a poor country with nukes One thing about Red China, they seemed to have achieved what Lenin hoped to do with the New Economic Program in the 1920's or what Gorbachev tried to do in the 1980's. How long they can keep it up, I don't know.

[Words]

Let's see how things go in Russia when it's cuts off natural gas sales for political reasons.

So, making eurothreats to Russia is cool, getting ones in return - not cool. Interesting.

Russia's resurgence is specifically because of the level of integration with the West that it has achieved so far. If that level of integration collapses then the "resurgence" will collapse with it.....and those KGB billionaire thugs will find themselves very unpopular again very quickly.

Won't happen.

The Chinese government has managed to find a way to suck off the capitalist tit while still being brutes at home. The Russians seem to think they can suck off the capitalist tit while being brutes internationally.

Say, like ... the US in the Balkans?