re: Is it a reasonable expectation that Russia will retaliate?

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If this happens, talk about a dark and cold winter in Europe.

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It's a pipeline to take N. Sea gas to Poland...had been in works for years as a big push for years prior by Poland to get off Russian gas...apparently the Poles saw the danger well ahead of the Germans:

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Piotr Naimski and his colleagues in Poland’s Energy Ministry had been racing to fully cut Russian gas imports late this year after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. But Russia’s abrupt decision to stop deliveries this week is forcing Poland to go it alone months ahead of schedule.

Poland’s success or failure in coping without Russian gas will help guide other European nations that are facing similar breaks with Russian energy — either by their own choice or the Kremlin’s.

“We are prepared,” Naimski said in a Polish radio interview Wednesday morning, hours after Russia informed Poland it was ceasing deliveries. “We have the ability to bring enough gas to Poland, so that there is enough for everyone. We can remain calm.”

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In an interview at his Warsaw office late last week, Naimski sketched out his grand plan — more than 20 years in the making — to switch to gas from Norway, the United States and other allied nations.

Gesturing toward a wall of maps, the 71-year-old secretary of state for energy infrastructure showed off a nearly completed network that Poland has spent years building: a multibillion-dollar terminal to import liquefied natural gas via ship, a spiderweb of pipelines crisscrossing Poland and connecting it to friendly neighbors, and an undersea pipeline from Norway scheduled to be opened Oct. 1.

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