“a confrontation with a country that, in economic terms and excluding the energy sector, belongs in the global third division.”
That “energy sector” is the MOST important one of all, and Russia has Europe by the stones because of it.
“Going Green!” has a real cost, and now Europe is going to have to pay it, either by bowing down before Russia, or admitting that they screwed themselves by depending on Russian energy, and destroying their own.
Guess which of the two is the more likely....
I want to be as close as I can ... Thought is Polish.
At this point the Ukraine has access to the sea, although they lost the Crimean ports. And they have prospects of large gas production, they signed a contract with Chevron for the exploration just before the current mess began.
If the Ukraine gas is developed and they can work with Poland which is more economically stable, they could be a match that makes sense. Your enemy is my enemy? Both Poland and the Ukraine have had extremely bad treatment by the Russians in the past.
Will they make it work? I don’t have a clue, but suspect it could.
And if the U.S. rights it’s political ship in November and guts the Communists from government we might be able to trade with both of them. But neither the Polish nor the Ukranians should look for any help while Obozo is in office.
Putin will take Gdansk if the west doesn’t do something. Putin KNOWS he only has 3 more years to get everything he wants while Obama is the weakling “leader” of the free world. Estonian ports will be a warm up and a test. If nothing happens then there goes Gdansk. Of course it will be under the guise of protecting poor ethnic Russians from those mean old Poles, just like Crimea, Abkhasia, and South Ossetia. Gdansk is where the humiliation of the soviet union began and an important sea port.