Russia is unable to increase its exports without cheap gas from Central Asia to compensate for a deficit on its domestic market.

Russia is saying you can't have your cake and eat it. If you're in the Russian sphere of influence, you get cheap energy. If you aren't, you don't.

Russia is risking losing credibility as a reliable energy supplier by cutting off supplies to an external customer on the same day it takes over as leader of the G-8.

Russia is using strong economic levers. With the growth of oil and gas exports it has become much richer than it was in the 1990s and it is translating this economic might into political influence and power.

I think Russia has made a serious mistake. It has demonstrated its willingness to use its gas as a political and economic tool.

A tax cut to compensate for a tax increase is not a cut - it's a con.