Russia’s ace card - Dependency untenable

Attempts to impose sanctions on Russia in the wake of the MH17 murders in Ukraine have been utterly ineffective and will remain so, because Europe is so dependent on Russian energy.

This dependency is Vladimir Putin’s ace card, one Europe cannot trump.

Ireland is especially vulnerable as we still import around 90% of our energy. It may be overly optimistic to imagine that such a small country with — relatively — so little influence, and at the end of a very long supply chain, could continue to rely on imports at this level in a world where sanctions are imposed.