An irritating 13-year-old boy will pinch the garden hose hoping you will peer down the dry tube. Russian’s president is craftier. He pinches the gas hose to ‘teach’ Europeans how much they need Nord Stream 2. Of course, they don’t. Over lunch this week, an EU diplomat estimated to me that, with Nord Stream 2, Russia will have 50% over capacity of pipelines to Europe. Russia’s monopoly is artificial. It keeps Central Asian gas out of its half empty pipelines. It lobbies against Turkey’s Canal Istanbul, seeking to keep Persian Gulf LNG out of the Black Sea. With this summer’s prices sky high, don’t be surprised if relief appears on the western horizon: a flotilla of LNG cargo ships from the US Gulf of Mexico. With Best Regards, Jim Brooke.