[gsserge]

> It was not nearly as obvious 15 years ago, as it is today, but all the signs were there. We (I include myself here) were just not listening closely enough to the countries that knew Russia the best: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine.

After living in Western Europe for almost a decade it's still shocking to me how much people here do not understand Russia.

[creato]

In my experience, right here on HN the dominant narrative was that opposing Russian gas infrastructure was just American protectionism for frackers.

Similarly, opposing Chinese built telecom infrastructure is just seen as an attempt at American protectionism. Hopefully that continues to be a viable position, unlike depending on Russian gas.