If the Germans don’t know about losing energy bets, nobody does. Old Vlad better listen up.
Putin has gambled away gas leverage, says German vice-chancellor – Robert Habeck says ‘half of our eggs were in the basket of Putin’ but Germany is now recovering capacity.
Vladimir Putin has gambled away his gas leverage over Europe, Germany’s vice-chancellor has claimed as he sounded a note of cautious optimism over his country’s energy supplies during a visit to Norway.
If the Bundeswehr had any, that is.
German defense minister lambasted over NYE Ukraine message – German media has mocked a “tone-deaf” video put out by Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht. She was slammed for discussing the war in Ukraine as people set off fireworks.
“The speech about the war with New Year’s Eve firecrackers in the background only crowns her series of embarrassments.”
And defense for free (from Dire Straits, sort of).
Our German Ally: Tanking.
Putin has given any number of reasons (all of them nonsense) to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One of them was that Russia was “threatened” by NATO’s expansion. That is, to put it mildly, unconvincing. Russia’s grumbling about Ukrainian independence dates back to the Yeltsin era, long before (the special case of the vanished East Germany aside) NATO had expanded to include any countries in the former Soviet bloc.
A more convincing explanation (so far as the Kremlin’s attitude to NATO was concerned) was that Putin had seen the alliance’s weakness and concluded that it would present Moscow with no problems in the event that Russia took back control over its neighbor. An important reason why the Kremlin might have seen things that way was the position of Germany, a supposedly key member of NATO, but one that had a distinctly, uh, nuanced view of what membership of the alliance meant.
One obvious sign of that was the country’s neglect of its armed forces throughout Angela Merkel’s dismal chancellorship.
Now that the COVID pandemic is finally over.
Germany: New Year’s Eve fireworks for sale again after ban – People in Germany will be allowed to legally purchase fireworks to celebrate New Year’s Eve. They had been banned for the past two years to avoid injuries that could overburden hospitals during the COVID pandemic.
Hundreds of thousands of young people start smoking.
Cigarette boom in Germany – Last year, the proportion of smokers among 14- to 17-year-olds almost doubled, a new study reveals. Health Minister Lauterbach is horrified.
That means complacency or smugness.
A long and highly valued German state of mind.
I still recall the sardonic, patronizing response I received in the German Chancellery around 2010, when I tried to warn my interlocutors about the danger of Russian hybrid warfare tactics—the cocktail of disinformation, economic coercion, subversion, espionage, and threats of force that Russia uses against its neighbors. “You are not seriously saying that Russia would conduct these operations against the Federal Republic of Germany?” my hosts asked, incredulously.
“Duh, yes,” I replied.
Scholz publicly hankers for a return to Europe’s “pre-war peace order,” suggesting that the lessons of 2022 have yet to sink in.
Because things are looking better.
Because once things start looking better, they can only get worse.
German businesses expect only mild recession as disruptions ease – German companies expect only a mild recession next year despite headwinds from the energy crisis, raw material shortages and a tepid global economy, a survey of major associations published by Reuters on Tuesday showed.
There have been growing signs that the German economy could stave off the worst of an economic downturn triggered by a plunge in energy supply from Russia after the Ukraine invasion.
Inflation to 11.3% in November from a high of 11.6% the month prior as energy prices eased. The German government has predicted the economy will grow by 1.4% this year and next year.
100% Christmas. Take it easy. Relax. Eat, drink and be merry. Without inhibition. And: keep smiling!
What does it matter that the EU can’t even control its own borders, create a common defense, organise vaccines, agree on a data protection law, control money laundering, unite properly over practically all major issues, agree on one location to seat its government, sanction its own misbehaving members, actually get rid of daylight savings time after having announced it got rid of daylight savings time many years ago… And so very, very much more?
Its bureaucrats, technocrats, kleptocrats and all the other crats mean well and have their hearts in the right place. So, sure, who could be better qualified to place Twitter under direct supervision? Other than Big Brother himself. I mean herself. You know what I mean. Whatever kind of self Big Brother might have these days.
EU should put Twitter under direct supervision after missteps: German official – A senior German official said on Thursday Twitter should join other tech firms in being directly monitored by the European Commission, saying the company’s erratic behaviour under new owner Elon Musk posed a threat to free speech.
“The power of the big platforms over public discourse needs necessary safeguards so that fundamental rights are effectively protected.”
Observing Hermann 