[This article illuminates the geopolitical background and implications of the continuing Russia-Ukranian gas dispute whose reverberations extend across Western Europe and beyond. Many market analysts regarded Russian President Vladimir Putin's early January decision to threaten cutting gas supplies to the Ukraine (and by extension, Europe) as insane. The business press filled with claims that Putin was shooting himself in the foot and that he had embarrassed Russia just as it was slated to assume leadership of the G-8 in January (on a platform of energy security, no less!).