The theft of Natural Gas has begun.  The EU have seen dramatic drops in Gas pressure, in some places as much as 25%.  As blame is being shifted back and forth between Russia and Ukraine, one thing is for certain, sending Natural Gas through Ukraine is an impossibility for Russia.  It is dire that Russia quickly build new gas routes circumventing Ukraine.

This, of course, will be detrimental for Ukraine because Ukraine taxes Russia $Billions annually for this semi-reliable transit route. 

One thing that bothers me more than anything is that there are no international monitors on the Ukrainian borders.  Why wouldn't Russia or Ukraine want Czech monitors on the borders to ensure that the proper amount of Natural Gas is being sent, and find where the Natural Gas is disappearing.  It is fully possible that Russia is simply not sending the Gas in order to frame Ukraine, and it is equally possible that Ukraine is stealing the Gas.  The problem is that neither side wants these monitors.  This leads me to believe that both sides are stealing, and neither side wants proof of their theft.

As usual, the only ones that truly suffer are the people.  The Ukrainian People are being confronted with the possibility that towards the end of winter their natural gas supplies may dwindle.  If this conflict continues, the European people may be confronted with the same problem.  The gas companies may loose some money, but when you take into account how many billions they already have, a few million here and there will not not affect the company officials too much ... maybe one less Bentley this year, but their Black Caviar supply will hardly falter.  Politics is a dangerous game, but energy is far more dangerous.  When will the people learn that the energy companies are our enemies, and we need a more renewable source of energy to meet our needs.