Hacker News Reader

I really hope the world comes down hard on Russia with sanctions and support for Ukraine, but I’m afraid that so much of Europe depends on Russian gas that they won’t risk getting cut off. Which begs the question: how did Europe allow itself to come to depend so heavily on Russian energy? And how quickly can Russia pivot to buy energy from elsewhere (for a reasonable price)?

View on HN

And how did the entire world allowed itself to depend on China for... pretty much everything? Middle-eastern oil too.

It is globalization, which, in principle, is a good thing. Maybe nor for climate change since we are talking fossil fuels, but if a country has an abundance of resources, it would be a shame not to trade. If Russia needs the world and the world needs Russia, there is more chance for the conflict to end with diplomacy than by killing millions.

To be clear, my grievance isn’t trade in general, but complete dependence on resources from a country helmed by a hostile dictator (to that end, I completely support weaning ourselves off of China).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com