The most
important story of the year is this one. The state-controlled energy conglomerate Gazprom is no longer selling gas to the Ukraine.
Putin and his buddies in power were not pleased when Yushchenko's Orange Revolution come to power and brought democracy to the Ukraine, nor were they pleased by his attempts to decrease Ukraine's dependence on Russia, so now they are getting back at him by sending heating prices through the roof and likely destroying any hope of him getting reelected. Democracy is great and all, but it doesn't keep you warm during a long winter.
I wonder if there's any way we could siphon off some of those billions of dollars in Iraqi oil sales that are currently being used to pay for reconstruction...oh wait...that never happened.