Thus the Financial Times today. “Moscow and Beijing signed an agreement to supply gas from western Siberia to China, in a deal that could eventually see more of Russia’s gas flowing to its vast eastern neighbor than to its traditional European markets,” explains the newspaper. Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, signed the deal in Beijing just as Barack Obama arrived in the Chinese capital for the meeting. In other words, it was a slap in his face, as well. The new deal involves thirty-billion cubic meters of natural gas a year on top of the recent one involving nearly forty-billion cubic meters a year. In not so distant future, the overall export of gas to China may well exceed supplies to Europe. The new deal is also a step in sidelining America’s exports of gas to China. In fact, Russia and America are in direct competition for a growing Asian market. And so on, and so forth. One thing that is perfectly clear in the geopolitical gambit that is now unfolding is that Europe is rapidly turning into a backwater. Sooner or later, it will emerge as the only victim of economic sanctions against Russia. Sic transit gloria mundi.