That's a fair point about Russia being beholden to their largest customer
too. Something maybe we should keep in mind when screaming about "trade wars" with China btw.
But I do think Trump is right. Energy is different. Being more dependent makes it more difficult to stand up to Russia, or cut them off. Witness our actions in the ME the last 50 yrs or so.
As for confirming Trump's point, I was talking about 1) increasing their dependence on Russia and 2) increasing their enrichment of the country viewed as the biggest threat to NATO, and thus their ability to threaten. Both of those are true. Which goes to his point 3), and what I think he cares most about, paying your "fair share" to combat that threat which you are going to enrich further. Ultimately I think that was his goal in all of this. And here we sit arguing about how to define the % of dependence they have. While that dependence still increases, and Russia get richer to be a stronger threat.
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In response to this post by hoolstoptheheels)
Posted: 07/11/2018 at 1:55PM