Eastern and Central Europe and the economic dependence it implies.  It also has an interest in maintaining a high price for gas in Europe in general since it is the largest single supplier.  This is not a hot war, there are no shootings and nobody dies.  Russia does not seem to attempt to stop shale gas explorations in the United States, and even if it did try, it would be hopeless.  The United States does not try to influence Russia's energy policy, and even if it did try, it would be hopeless.  So this new Cold War, as the old one, is over countries in the middle, countries like Germany, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria.  The conflict is not over which type of regime these countries have, but over how dependent they are on Russian energy supply.  The more dependent they are, the less able they will be to defy or challenge Russian interests. Energy independence requires diversification of sources.  The most obviously safe and by definition independent energy source is domestic.  Here is where shale gas comes into play.  Almost all the countries in Europe have some shale gas that may be commercially exploitable, some more and some less.  We will know the quantities more precisely only once they start drilling.  The other issues are the pipelines and LNG.  Each side to this new Cold War wants its pipes to be independent of the control of the other.  LNG terminals may allow Europe to buy its gas from outside