Yep, I read yesterday a financial analysis saying that if Europe is truly committed to a trade and financial blockade war against Putin (like Obama is calling for), in spite of all the catastrophic predictions about Europe's dependence on Putin's natural gas, Europe will win this war hands down and rather fast, and Russia's economy will be thoroughly destroyed much before Europe feels any sizable effects, indicating that Putin would blink way sooner, or be ousted by outraged former allies (the Russian oligarchs).
I thought this evaluation was a bit optimistic... [and no, unfortunately I didn't keep the link - short of going back to it by my browsing history - and I browsed dozens and dozens of sites yesterday and don't feel like going through all the trouble to find the link right now]... but it is interesting to have a contrary opinion to all the fearmongers in Europe who think they can't touch Mr. Putin or else the natural gas pipes will shut down and Europe will crumble to pieces.
After all, Europe is a very diverse economy, while Putin is a mono-economy based almost exclusively (in every way that matters in macro-economic terms) on selling energy to European buyers.
Oh sure, Putin would try to sell elsewhere... but there isn't any infrastructure to send the goodies to other buyers in short notice.
The source predicted a hugely damaging collapse of the Russian economy with the domestic market rebelling against Putin, regardless of how far away Russian elections are scheduled (2018). The source said that the only thing stopping this from happening is the excessive timidity and fear of European leaders.
