Quantum mechanics, popular science books often assure us, implies that a cat trapped inside a closed box can be simultaneously dead and alive. At best, this is half-true: a process known as decoherence means that large physical objects – including Erwin Schrödinger’s unfortunate kitty – are astronomically unlikely to exhibit any quantum weirdness.
The current dispute between Kyiv and Budapest over the Druzhba oil pipeline, a Soviet-era conduit that transports Russian crude to Hungary via Ukraine, occasionally feels just as confused – and confusing – as pseudoscientific explanations of modern physics.
On the one hand, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán claims that the pipeline is not damaged, but that Ukraine is intentionally blocking oil deliveries to bolster support for opposition leader Péter Magyar ahead of parliamentary elections on 12 April. The spat has also led the Moscow-friendly leader to veto a €90 billion EU loan to Kyiv that he had previously greenlit…
