New Cold War? Ukraine Crisis Signals Shift In Global Energy Politics

The European Union will threaten Russia with a new cold war and a “far-reaching” economic blockade if Vladimir Putin annexes Crimea. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, warned Russia that the EU would agree to go further than sanctions against Russian officials, politicians and businessmen involved in the destabilisation and break-up of Ukraine. –Bruno Waterfield, The Daily Telegraph, 17 March 2014

Whatever comes out of this week’s sanctions meetings, there is no going back to the status quo ante. Europe will seek to liberate itself from Russian oil and gas supplies as fast as possible. Fresh investment in Russia will collapse. Putin has grossly misjudged how vulnerable Russia really is to an economic showdown with the G7 but cannot now change course. It is a new international order. As Dmitri Trenin from Carnegie Moscow says, we are already in a new Cold War. The last 20 years were merely a truce. –Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Daily Telegraph, 17 March 2014

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