The Bear's market

It's that time of the year again, the annual row between Russia's Gazprom and the Ukrainian government. And it's the same old dispute with Gazprom claiming it is owed millions and Ukraine says it paid its debts. The row has led to the shutting down of gas lines through Ukraine and that's got several European countries squawking. The problems are what they always are: 1) Russia keeps unilaterally raising rates on gas to Ukraine and 2) Russia is miffed over that fact that Ukraine politically tilts westward. Interestingly enough, the Germans and the Italians account for almost half of the gas that comes into the European Union. The EU is demanding that talks over the dispute resume immediately and at least one Ukrainian official is traveling to Moscow on Thursday. Sadly, Ukraine's political leadership is not up the challenge even as this latest dispute occurs in the dead of a bitter winter. With the Eastern Orthodox Christmas arriving quickly, one hopes that the all the parties to the dispute will only find a lump of coal in their stockings.