It’s hardly a secret that the past decade of Russian foreign policy has been focused intensely on increasing its political influence in Europe, whether through pipelines, exploration deals, ownership of infrastructure assets, or massive procurement contracts.  Not many people would dispute their success either – just a cursory review of business deals their accompanying political proxies with France, Germany, and Italy, and you already have the realization of what Janusz Bugajski called “pragmatic reimperialization.”

It’s no small irony that as right as Europe is looking hat in hat toward Russia for a bailout, the long-awaited Nord Stream gas pipeline goes online today. The controversial $10 billion pipeline—a joint venture with Germany designed to bypass transit countries like Ukraine and Belarus and rewrite the EU-Russia energy relationship—is as fraught with geopolitical and economic concerns, as a buffer zone is created in Eastern Europe which may come to define how energy dependence can impact political sovereignty.