Germany

March 13, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hi-tech, Hypocrisy Tags: Arms, Arms Industry, Exports, German, Germans, Germany, Profit, Russia, Ukraine, Weapons, Weapons industry Leave a comment

Beautiful German weapons sale of the week.

Because somebody has to admire them.

Thanks, Russia! Germany will now be selling tons of weapons to Germany for once.

Sensing a feeding frenzy, German arms makers jockey for position – Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Feb. 27 proposal to ramp up defense expenditures by tens of billions of euros, spurred by Russia’s war on Ukraine, has defense officials in Berlin scrambling to identify spending opportunities that promise fast results, according to several company officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

In A Quandary?

March 10, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: Coal, Dependency, Energy, Gas, German, Germans, Germany, Oil, Pipelines, Russia, Sanctions, Ukraine Leave a comment

Germany is in a quandary over its dependency on Russian energy?

Quandary: a state of perplexity or uncertainty, especially as to what to do; dilemma.

When 50% of your oil, gas and coal comes from Russia, that’s no quandary at all. That just means you’re screwed.

Germany in a quandary over Russian energy – Germany has rejected a complete ban on Russian gas and oil imports over Russia invading Ukraine, but voices are growing louder for Berlin to ditch its economic imperative to take a moral stand.

Well, We’ve All Been Wanting To Lose Weight Anyway

March 8, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Health, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking Tags: EU, Exports, Food, G7, Germany, Inflation, Russia, Shortages, Ukraine, Wheat Leave a comment

Always look on the bright side of Russian invasions – of one of the world’s top wheat exporters.

Germany to host G7 meeting on Ukraine invasion’s impact on food security – Germany will host a virtual meeting of agricultural ministers from G7 countries on Friday to discuss the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on global food security and how to best stabilize food markets, the government said.

“The provision of foodstuffs in Germany and the European Union is safe but greater shortages can be expected in some countries outside the EU – especially where scarcity already reigns today due to issues like drought,” German Agriculture Minister Cem Oezdemir said in statement.

“Price hikes for agricultural products cannot be excluded in industrialized nations either.”

Bad American Fracking LNG Suddenly Not That Bad After All

March 6, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Dependency, Energy, Fracking, Gas, German, Germans, Germany, Greens, LNG, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

In Germany. Not nearly as bad as it was a few days ago, in fact. Just like that. It’s magic or something. It’s fracking inexplicable!

Germany Goes Ahead With First LNG Terminal to Cut Dependence on Russian Gas – Germany unveiled more details Saturday on its plan to build its first liquefied natural-gas terminals as it seeks to wean itself off its dependence on Russian gas.

The terminals are the latest step in Berlin’s diversification efforts that have been urgently ramped up in recent days following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Germany gets around 55% of its gas from Moscow and has long been resistant to diversifying away from cheap and plentiful Russian energy supplies.

Germany last week halted the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 project, which would have doubled the capacity of an existing pipeline traveling along a similar route. The government also announced plans for gas and coal storage and commissioned its gas market trading hub to buy LNG for 1.5 billion euros, or the equivalent of $1.64 billion, from outside Russia.

Good Times

February 28, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: Defense, German, Germans, Germany, NATO, Putin, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

The old days. When Germany could elegantly or less elegantly wiggle out of paying for its own defense (spending 2% GDP for defense like it had promised to pay many, many years ago).

Suddenly, inexplicably, now it’s possible after all. Mysterious, don’t you think? We need to find some experts to explain to us just how this change of heart was made possible.

Putin Accidentally Started a Revolution in Germany – The invasion of Ukraine is triggering a dramatic reversal of Berlin’s grand strategy.

In seven days, Germany has axed its biggest Russian energy project, imposed sanctions that will cause significant pain at home, and instituted a course that will make Germany the largest European defense spender, with the most advanced aircraft and a growing forward presence in Central and Eastern Europe. One can wonder whether Germany’s dedicated detractors in Washington will notice. How did it happen so quickly, when German officials had so tenaciously defended their status quo policies for so long?

Tough As Nails

February 25, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy Tags: EU, Germany, Putin, Russia, Sanctions, SWIFT, Ukraine, War Leave a comment

Or as Jell-O, at least. Here’s the latest “Money Makes The World Go Around” going around in Germany (some still refer to it as “the EU”).

Cutting off Russia from the SWIFT global interbank payment system should not be part of the second EU sanctions package against Russia that EU leaders will decide upon at a meeting on Thursday in Brussels, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

He’s right, of course. Doing that would be one of the only things that would actually hurt Putin & Co. and that would be counterproductive.

Die Swift-Keule kommt nicht zum Einsatz.

Money Makes The World Go Around

February 23, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy Tags: Exports, Germany, Law, Russia, Ukraine, Weapons Sales Leave a comment

And there’s a big demand for military machinery in Russia these days.

So German business can just jump right in to fill that gap.

Germany indicts man for sale of military machinery to Russia – Germany has indicted a businessman on suspicion of breaking arms control laws by helping Russia purchase sophisticated machinery that could be used to make chemical weapons...

Prosecutors allege that a Russian company the suspect had business relations with was a front controlled by the intelligence agency to cover up purchases by Russia’s military industry.

Bundesanwaltschaft klagt Deutschen wegen Lieferungen an russischen Geheimdienst an.

“Historically Low Levels”

February 22, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: Dependency, Gas, Germany, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

Regulate the gas you failed to store in advance? Because of your insistance to remain dependent on Russian gas – even after the Russians refused to give you more? For months now? Yeah. Go ahead and regulate that.

Germany must regulate gas storage to secure supplies – Habeck (The Greens).

Germany’s gas storage facilities are at historically low levels and fears that a possible war between Russia and Ukraine could worsen an energy crisis in Europe has raised the pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to secure supplies.

German Of The Day: Cyber-Attacke

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

That means cyberattack.

An oil storage and a supply firm? Why would anybody attack oil storage and supply firms in Germany these days? And who could have possibly done it?

Germany: 2 oil storage and supply firms hit by cyberattack – Two companies involved in storing and supplying oil and other materials said Tuesday they have been hit by a cyberattack that has impacted operations in Germany.

Oiltanking GmbH Group and Mabanaft Group on Saturday discovered what they called a “cyber incident affecting our IT systems” and launched an investigation together with external specialists, the companies said in an emailed statement. They did not elaborate on the nature of the incident or address who might be responsible, and said they are working to understand its “full scope.”

This Is CNN?

February 1, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy Tags: Blackmail, Dependency, Energy, Gas, German, Germans, Germany, Media, North Stream 2, Pipelines, Putin, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

How refreshing or something. What others (conservative voices) have been warning about for years and years has finally gone “mainstream” – as in North Stream 2.

Why Germany is so vulnerable to Russian blackmail – Roughly half of Germany’s natural gas imports come from Russia. That reliance will become increasingly important in coming years as Germany embarks on a simultaneous phaseout from coal and nuclear energy. Russia is also an important destination for German exports. And for historical reasons, German leaders have long desired close relations with Russia.

Slowly but surely, Germany has maneuvered itself into a position of vulnerability vis-à-vis the Kremlin.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Category Archives: Heconomy