That it worked fine for decades is no excuse. Europe should have been building nuclear reactors all day and night long instead of waiting until it inevitably stopped working - and/or allies stop helping. Maybe it's not as economical as renewables but at least it's actually capable to replace the gas.
So Europe should have spent trillions building a massive nuclear capacity and switching to all electric just because? Presumably every other country or trade block that imports energy needs to do the same? Seems a bit extreme no?
But that's the situation everyone is in isn't it? If the Saudis and Iran stop pumping oil then all developed economies will be in the shit. But I don't see any nation radically building vast nuclear facilities... The same goes for China and cheap consumer goods or Taiwan and semiconductors.
The only place that's even close to independent is North Korea...
Saudi cut their pumps last year didn't they? After 40 odd years of OPEC prices they can afford to just pour money out like a fire hose for a long time...
