U.S. and Western European sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his cronies, however just their cause, risk undoing what more than half a century of American presidents sought to foster — continued division and distrust between China and Russia. So far, the sanctions are weak and unlikely to cause much change in the financial relationship between Europe and Russia, but if they are strengthened, as President Obama is suggesting, the calculus in Moscow and Beijing could change rapidly.
Some European leaders understand the danger of uniting Eurasia's largest resource-rich nation with the world's most populous nation or, at least, the permanent disruption it could cause in both military and economic terms.
This week, the French newspaper Le Monde published on its website a chilling interactive map of the ties that bind each European country to Russia, which Obama archly dismisses as merely a "regional power."
In fact, for so many of its neighbors, Russia is the godfather of regional powers. Finland, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic buy virtually all their natural gas from Russia, while Poland, Austria, Latvia, Bulgaria and Greece, look to Russia for a half to three-quarters of their gas. Even Europe's economic powerhouse, Germany, relies on Russia for 40% of its gas supplies.