Putin's war on Ukraine has blown up in his face. Or has it? Is it a gas & oil heist? (Page 1/1) rinselberg MAR 30, 12:25 PM EXCERPT quote Suppose for a moment that Putin never intended to conquer all of Ukraine: that, from the beginning, his real targets were the energy riches of Ukraine’s east, which contain Europe’s second-largest known reserves of natural gas (after Norway’s). Combine that with Russia’s previous territorial seizures in Crimea (which has huge offshore energy fields) and the eastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk (which contain part of an enormous shale-gas field), as well as Putin’s bid to control most or all of Ukraine’s coastline, and the shape of Putin’s ambitions become clear. He’s less interested in reuniting the Russian-speaking world than he is in securing Russia’s energy dominance. "What if Putin Didn’t Miscalculate?" Bret Stephens for the New York Times; March 29, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/202...raine-war-putin.html MidEngineManiac MAR 30, 02:55 PM Meh, he could have just slant-drilled like Saddam did !