Apropos of the latest gas beef, I can't resist posting this image. It's from a book I bought at a used bookstore that is a Georgetown institution - and that is having a half-price sale this weekend. I bought it partially for the title page you see above and partially with an eye towards dropping a see generally cite to the book in a paper I'm writing this semester about the various types of force Russia uses in the "near abroad" - seems like it might be worthwhile to mention that some of the moves used by Putin & Co. are from an old-school playbook. On the other hand, I still hew to the belief that market pricing for gas will only hasten CIS countries' departure from Russia's orbit. Once the leverage of subsidized gas is gone, Russia has much less to offer.
