> All sounds rather simple and commercial to me That seems to be because you haven't economic studied history. The Soviet Union used its natural resources, and

> All sounds rather simple and commercial to me That seems to be because you haven't economic studied history. The Soviet Union used its natural resources, and gas in particular, to exert control over its satellites whenever diplomatic methods failed to achieve desired results. Central European countries have not forgotten this, and it behoves us to understand their experience. Moreover, through the person of Schroeder in particular, Germany already has a lite version of that history. Whatever Putin needed done, he had and used an important lever in the form of gas to make Schroeder dance.