rcm, been having the same sort of thoughts, but in re oil & gas. West is rightly worried sick about monopoly-enabled punitive pricing, but what about a complete cut-off?

Putin, having started fresh after Russia went belly up and defaulted on its debts, now has 3rd largest foreign reserves in the world –so clearly the natural resources trump everything else, and regardless of what they do, the market is there for them.

Russia in current ”f-you, west” mode, could just experiment with it, just give ”no oil & gas for you” a try –and ride it out indefinitely. Russia & China both have rapidly growing domestic markets, and oil is a finite resource.

And if such a ploy doesn’t work to their satisfaction, they can just change their minds and reopen the valves –nobody will complain much –be too happy to have it back on line.

Lessee, hmm, do we remember how to properly grovel?