Thus The New York Times today. “Work on a major pipeline beneath the Black Sea has stopped, as Bulgaria finds itself torn between the European Union and Russia in the conflict over Ukraine,” explains the newspaper. The Bulgarian port of Varna was supposed to be the gateway of the South Stream pipeline in question, which was to go via Serbia and Hungary to Austria, but the European Union had recently demanded that the project be halted because it breached the region’s rules. America promptly joined the Union in this demand. They, too, want to break Putin’s stranglehold on energy supplies. As it happens, the South Stream is the biggest energy project caught in the political crossfire. The North Stream, which runs undersea from Russia to Germany, has been in operation since three years ago. Returning to Bulgaria, its politicians are now puzzled what to do, for they expected many benefits from the pipeline. Straddled between Brussels and Moscow, they are of two minds about the whole thing. Besides, experts say that stopping a project of this magnitude is easier said than done. It is like stopping a hurtling train, one of the experts is quoted in the article. So, which way will Bulgaria go? Given all the givens, I would bet for Moscow. Brussels is a ghost town, anyhow.