Russia Wipes Opposition Sites From The Internet

[Benton D Struckcheon]

34. Won't be long before Putin's Russia collapses.

The fact is that Europe depends less on Russian gas than Russia depends on European gas consumers. The rest is politics.

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2014/03/12/europe-can-wean-itself-off-russian-gas/

(There was a DU thread about this, but I honestly don't remember it anymore; if someone can post the link to that, it would be appreciated.)

He sells the most primitive commodity imaginable, stuff to burn, and thinks that makes him powerful. In a few years, as more renewables come on stream and as alternate sources of gas and oil continue to be found, Russia will be irrelevant. Sanctions will hurt Europe in the short term, but they have the better hand to play on any time horizon that exceeds a couple of years.
It really is pathetic, how these leaders of countries that sell a single, primitive commodity on the world market think that should make everyone take notice of them. No one cares, except that these guys can irritate in the short term. In the long term, the world will spin on without their useless selves.