The (Ex) Washington Realist

Over at the New Atlanticist, James Joyner argues that even if the current spat between Russia and Ukraine is resolved in Moscow's favor, things are unlikely to get much better for Russia. He thinks this may be the spur to get Europe to really diversify beyond Russia as a hydrocarbon supplier but also beyond hydrocarbons as a whole.

I've argued, also at New Atlanticist, that Ukraine (and by extension the West) still have done too little to make Ukraine more energy efficient and to develop Ukraine's own indigenous energy sources, a post which drew a lengthy response billed as a "Siberian's perspective" on the whole issue.

Chris Brose over at Foreign Policy was kind enough to solicit my views on Gazprom's motivations for their new feature The Argument, part of a new series of blogs and online commentators (including a number of NI contributors). I think that while politics is never absent, business reasons are a growing and contributing factor.