Yes, You Can

July 13, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy Tags: Diplomacy, EU, G7, Germany, Putin, Russia, Talks, Ukraine Leave a comment

But you better be polite. The Germans are thinking too much. Again.

Can You Speak To a War Criminal?

Russia has tens of thousands of lives on its conscience in Ukraine, yet calls for diplomatic initiatives are growing louder in the West. In Germany, a growing number in both the governing parties and the opposition would like to see talks with Moscow.

When the German chancellor speaks to Vladimir Putin by phone, the Russian president is always extremely polite. People familiar with the calls say that his voice it rather soft and that the tone is less preachy than in his public appearances. Putin usually speaks a few sentences of German as a greeting before switching to Russian, with an interpreter then jumping in to translate…

“You can’t negotiate with this Putin right now.” Annalena Baerbock, German foreign minister.

German Of The Day: Implodieren

July 12, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: Dogma, German, Germans, Germany, Greens, Ideology, Language, Leftists, Nuclear energy, Renewables, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

That means to implode or implosion.

Germany’s Nuclear-Power Implosion – The eco-left eschews reliable, clean power in an energy crisis in favor of coal and hope.

Europe’s climate obsessions have led to an energy crisis, and who would have thought the Germans would choose to make it worse. That’s what happened last Thursday when the Bundestag voted to shut down the country’s remaining nuclear power plants by the end of the year.

German Of The Day: Runterfahren

July 11, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Gas, German, Germany, Language, Nord Stream, Pipelines, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

That means to shut down. Or shut off. Or turn off. Or put on warm clothing this winter.

Ukraine Latest: Russian Gas Shipments to Germany Due to Stop – Russian natural gas shipments to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany are due to stop on Monday for planned annual maintenance, and Western allies fear President Vladimir Putin will use the opportunity to cut off flows for good.

Germans To Stop Bathing

July 8, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: Energy, Gas, Germany, Inflation, Oil, Pipelines, Renewables, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

As long as they might like to. It’s for the good of the country or something.

Germany dims the lights to cope with Russia gas supply crunch – Fears of winter energy crisis bring calls for shorter showers and cooler swimming pools.

Germany is rationing hot water, dimming its street lights and shutting down swimming pools as the impact of its energy crunch begins to spread from industry to offices, leisure centres and homes.

A huge increase in gas prices triggered by Russia’s move last month to sharply reduce supplies to Germany has plunged Europe’s biggest economy into its worst energy crisis since the oil price shock of 1973.

Germans In Hot Water

July 7, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Dependency, Energy, Gas, Germany, Oil, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

But not for very much longer.

Germans may have to ration hot water if Russia cuts off gas supply – Germany and other European countries depend on Russian oil and natural gas.

Germany is hunkering down for the possibility of Russia cutting off natural gas supplies, and some cities are preparing for the scenario that hot water for private households will need to be rationed going into winter.

German Of The Day: Notfallplan

July 6, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: Dependency, Energy, Gas, German, Germany, Language, Oil, Pipelines, Russia, Ukraine, Uniper Leave a comment

That means emergency plan. Another good one is Schutzschirm. That means protective shield.

But both euphemisms point to another one: Staatshilfe, meaning state support or government assistence. And all any of this means, of course, is taxpayer money. In this particular case, the government burning taxpayer money to fix a problem it created in the first place (see German dream world energy policy).

German Of The Day: Handelsbilanzdefizit

July 5, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hurt Feelings Tags: Defizits, Exports, German, Germans, Germany, Imports, Language, Trade Leave a comment

That means trade deficit.

Germany warns of ‘historic challenge’ as trade slides into deficit – Soaring energy prices and trading disruption push balance €1bn into the red for May.

Imports increased 2.7 per cent to €126.7bn from April to May while month-on-month exports fell 0.5 per cent to €125.8bn, according to data released on Monday by the federal statistical agency.

“In the past. Germany could always rely on strong exports to revive the economy and today’s numbers show the trade balance will not return as a positive element for growth for at least the next couple of years,”

“Some Rooms Can Be A Little Colder”

July 3, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: Dependency, Energy, Gas, Germany, Oil, Pipelines, Renewables, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

Or maybe even a whole lot colder, this winter.

But don’t worry. We’ve got everything under control.

Regulator urges Germans to prepare for possible gas shortage – Fearing Russia might cut off natural gas supplies, the head of Germany’s regulatory agency for energy called on residents Saturday to save energy and to prepare for winter, when use increases.

“Families should start talking now about whether every room needs to be set at its usual temperature in the winter — or whether some rooms can be a little colder.”

German Of The Day: Rationierung

July 2, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: Dependency, Energy, Gas, German, Germany, Language, Oil, Pipelines, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

That means rationing.

German regulator hints at gas rationing priorities, Funke reports – Germany’s energy regulator has listed priority areas that would have protected access to power if there are severe gas shortfalls this winter, ranging from households and hospitals to pharmaceuticals companies and paper producers.

German Of The Day: Staatshilfe

July 1, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: Energy, Gas, German, Germany, Government Waste, Greens, Language, Oil, Pipelines, Renewable energy, Russia, Ukraine, Uniper Leave a comment

That means state support or government assistence. And that means, of course, taxpayer money.

And this is ususally needed, as in this case, after the state and/or government burning the taxpayer money got the company that needs it into this situation in the first place (see “renewable energy”).

Germany in bailout talks with Uniper amid gas crisis – Germany’s Uniper (UN01.DE) is in talks about a possible government bailout as the financial fallout from dwindling supplies of Russian gas reverberates across Europe, sending shares in the energy company sliding.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Category Archives: Heconomy