In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Alasdair discuss:
- Europe's Quizzical Acquiescence
- Acting like the junior partner to the US agenda
- The Significance of Russian Energy
- Europe has no real Plan B if Putin turns off the gas
- The Role of Gold
- Russia has been dramatically increasing its gold reserves. To what end?
- The Vulnerability of the Global Economy To Russian Hardball
- Russian defaults would ripple through the banking system
Chris sits down with Peak Prosperity European correspondent Alasdair Macleod in attempt to make sense of why Europe is willing to side with the US' intent to poke the Russian bear with as sharp a stick as possible. Europe is much closer to Russia as well as much more engaged in trade with it, and as a result, stands to lose much more if things devolve from here.
As a European, Alasdair is similarly puzzled, though he feels that, for now, Europe is playing its oft-derided "junior partner" role to America's strong hand. He thinks (hopes?) that there's a point at which the EU could begin to distance itself from the US agenda if Russia begins to retaliate, but he fears that might be too late after the line is crossed.
He does think it madness that the West is persecuting Russia in general, and Putin specifically, with so little convincing evidence as justification. He notes that Russian retaliation
by hughk 
