Here are the reasons Russia will turn the gas back on for Germany after the 10-day maintenance shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which would normally be expected to end the middle of this week. German newspapers and politicians have been fretting that Vladimir Putin will make the shut-off permanent, sending the German economy reeling.

Mr. Putin won’t shut off Germany’s gas because it wouldn’t improve his position. He understands democratic society well enough to know that no elected government can be seen submitting to naked blackmail by a foreign dictator. In wrecking the German economy, Mr. Putin would only earn for Russia 100 years of German hostility, and we know how that goes.