RE: The US should not intervene in Ukraine!
April 10, 2014 at 11:58 pm
(This post was last modified: April 10, 2014 at 11:59 pm by Heywood.)
(April 10, 2014 at 10:39 pm)Chuck Wrote: 1. I don't think the EU/NATO will endure the loss of natural gas.
Russia cannot turn off the spigot without enduring some serious economic consequences itself. Further, last time they did it(2006 and 2009) caused Europe to start diversifying its gas sources and spurred the production of facilities to stock pile gas.
Countries like Germany now have huge stock piles of gas and could send gas to other countries like Ukraine for a while. Also we're in April and Europe needs a less gas then if we were in the middle of winter. The United States is preparing to star exporting gas to Europe in 2015 and those plans are probably being accelerated and expanded. Europe is in a better position now than it was in 2006 and 2009 to endure a short term gas disruption.
Russia's position is strong in this game but not as strong as you think.....especially over the long haul. Sure they have a loaded gun but they have to be concerned about shooting themselves in the foot. In the long run Russia needs to sell gas and they have to worry about creating a need in Europe for it to develop infrastructure that will allow it to boycott Russian gas when it wants.
