"I don’t think Russia is blind to what is going on and it must indicate to them that the West does not really have the stomach for a painful fight over Ukraine.”
The West will help Ukraine but not too much. As we've seen with SWIFT, it's still possible that this decision will be overturned.
Also, in the case of the United States, Canada and Germany our energy dependency on Russian oil is entirely self-inflicted. There were other options but the short-term optics of environmental concerns superceded the desire for energy independence - now we are seeing the implications of those decisions.
The best we can do is a huge, rapid expansion of import capacity from other countries.
No, it's just a "want" (based on price point) like the other commenter said. Europe has other needs, like long-term security and stability. If these become threatened, it can easily (enough) find ways to offset the rise in prices caused by climbing down from Russia's teat.
They need to sell it to us.
On that point you are absolutely correct.
