Forbes: The crisis in Ukraine has provided the West with a stark reminder of an inconvenient fact: Many of Europes liberal democracies are heavily dependent on Russia for their energy supplies. The latest move by Vladimir Putin in his campaign to destabilize the fragile elected government of Ukraine came this week, as he announced that supplies of natural gas to the country would be cut off at the end of May unless Ukraine pays for them in advance.
Ukraine owes Russian gas giant Gazprom $3.5 billion,...