Hardball's Chris Matthews may have to change the name of his TV show to Softball. It's being reported that another political enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin may have been assassinated Read about it here. If you recall, last month it was a Russian journalist Read about it here. Friends, if the suspicions about Putin are true, what we're seeing is the real hardball.

Of course, Putin denies responsibility. And, no matter what the truth happens to be, Putin knows that the energy starving EU leaders can't afford to not believe him -- at least publicly anyway. In fact, notice in the picture that I took today who Putin is sitting beside. It's the holder of the current EU Presidency, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.

As I've been reporting, the EU is facing a severe energy crisis. And, instead of being the helpful partner that they all hoped for, Putin decided to use Russia's energy supplies as a foreign policy weapon against them. As a result, he's really had the EU's 25 little heads squirming. And, just as they thought that a deal had finally been reached, one of their newest little heads got stubborn Read about it here. Now, on top of everything else, the EU heads may have to swallow what's left of their democratic principles and cut a deal with a possible tyrant.

If you are a regular here at FP, you know that I've been trying to figure out what was going on behind the scenes regarding the EU's new, super Foreign Minister post. You see, although the EU's new constitution was never ratified, I knew that some of the structural changes that were allowed under existing treaties were already under way. The official reason was to provide the coming Foreign Minister a "soft landing" once he arrived. But, I also knew that some of the more important structural changes couldn't be made without the constitution entering into force. Well, thanks to a member of our discussion board, I found a document that reveals what's been going on. It turns out they've been busy trying to find a way to give their High Representative -- currently Javier Solana --  a presence within the Commission without making all the structural changes. In other words, the EU heads are wanting to give Solana powers equal to the new, super Foreign Minister, without actually creating the post. 

Another thing interesting is one of the primary reasons for them wanting to do this, which is so Solana can oversee more completely certain important foreign and security external programs -- such as their New European Neighborhood Policy. Here's the report for you to examine EU pdf report.

I'm now wondering how some EU states will respond to this strange mix of new circumstances. For example, what will the UK do if they believe Putin is responsible for these recent political murders? Will they still want to deal with him? If not, how will the other EU states respond? Are you getting the picture? Due to some member state's desperate need for energy, could we be seeing the stage being set at this coming EU summit for the subduing of three kings?

Yes, everyday the world is becoming more dangerous. Lebanon appears to be on the brink, Iraq appears on the brink and Gaza appears on the brink. Here in America, it's the first day of our holiday season. We're all off Christmas shopping.

And the world is playing real hardball.