and his 'nuclear' option of turning western Europe's gas off.
And this is where our own self-interest comes into things. A lack of self-sufficiency in energy is something of an incredible lack of foresight from our political masters. Maybe they thought that by doing business with Russia, we could buy some influence over their actions. Now, we're in a hard place. In theory, so are they, as they will not want to lose that cash. But I think Putin is a much better gambler than his western counterparts, particularly Obama; the latters "there will be costs" line sounds incredibly lame. And he is not even reliant on the gas...we are.