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Reading George H. Wittman's article in the main line-up about why Russia and Ukraine are energetic in their energy troubles, I couldn't understand for the life of me how the structure is set up. So I made a visual.

Well, okay. That clarifies it a bit. Except Wittman excluded the part that the "Swiss" part of RosUkrEnergo is alleged to be Ukrainian businessmen that may or may not have criminal ties. Just wait till you read about how these companies interact with Belarus. At least Ukraine has a democratic government -- Belarussian president Lukashenko has said that the opposition in Belarus is "not needed" because it is financed by foreign entities, and holds referendums all the time that miraculously prolong his tenure.

The thing I find most interesting in the article, though, is the grandfather clause aspect of these pipelines. The reason the Russians have them in the first place is because they forced their way through the markets via invasion and plunder. They also received financial backing from European countries who liked the idea of cheap gas (thanks to low labor costs!), namely Germany and France. This is the "untold" story of Soviet imperialism -- they were buying partial allegiance from our own allies.