US sacrificing friends to defeat its supposed foes

Russia's threat to halt energy exports to countries that carry out the latest European Union sanctions is a serious development that didn't occur even at the height of the Cold War.

Besides the immediate pains that would be inflicted and the adjustments to the global energy landscape that would occur if that happened, it would also consolidate the new Cold War that is forming.

And, if the present pattern of mutually escalatory actions by Russia and the West continues unchecked, the prospects may be far bleaker than the last one.