There are two great weapons Vladimir Putin uses to leverage the West and push his foreign policy. One is nuclear weapons, and the other is natural gas. Thanks to the American energy revolution, Russia’s control of the European energy market is slipping, and may wind up gone altogether.

The United States is set to become the world’s leading exporter of liquid natural gas (LNG), and that is welcome news to the countries that have been dependent on Putin’s politically perilous pipelines and are eager to find a new supplier.