When it comes to standing up to Vlad Putin himself. Hey, dependency has its price.
German energy firm Uniper ready to meet Russian pay demand – One of Germany’s biggest energy firms has said it is preparing to buy Russian gas using a payment system that critics say will undermine EU sanctions.
Uniper says it will pay in euros which will be converted into roubles, meeting a Kremlin demand for all transactions to be made in the Russian currency.
Other European energy firms are reportedly preparing to do the same amid concerns about supply cuts.
And it sure is reassuring to know that a big European war like that could never, ever happen again. Cold or otherwise. Right?
The situation in Germany after World War II was dire. Millions of Germans were homeless from Allied bombing campaigns that razed entire cities. And millions more Germans living in Poland and East Prussia became refugees when the Soviet Union expelled them. With the German economy and government in shambles, the Allies concluded that Germany needed to be occupied after the war to assure a peaceful transition to a post-Nazi state.
What the Allies never intended, though, was that their temporary solution to organize Germany into four occupation zones, each administered by a different Allied army, would ultimately lead to a divided Germany.
“Only over time, as the Cold War eroded trust between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies, did these occupation zones coalesce into two different German nations.”
That means to be obedient, servile, to be in bondage or a slave, etc.
You know, as in “Germany is in bondage to Putin?”
For weeks, Olaf Scholz (63, SPD) has been hesitant to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons. In an interview on Friday, he spoke about his reasons: Concern about World War III and a nuclear conflict.
This has met with sharp criticism not only in Germany, but also in Europe. And in the U.S., too, people are reacting with displeasure to the chancellor’s lurching course. “What must happen for Germany to finally stand up to Russia?” the Los Angeles Times now asks in a commentary.
And Green Germans, of all Green people everywhere, are now allowing gas drilling to proceed in one of Germany’s most controversial territories. This is odd. Even rätselhaft (puzzling), as Green Germans normally preach to the rest of the world how humanity should follow their example as they bravely march down the renewable road to the coming Green utopian future.
Something serious most have happened. Something very serious must have brought about this change of Green heart. Something real-world-like. I bet you dollars to solar panels it was something real-world-like. The real world always raises its ugly little head eventually. Reality just ain’t fair, in other words. Much less Green.
Germany To Drill For Gas In North Sea To Reduce Reliance On Russia – In a concerted move to move away from its heavy reliance on Russia amid the Ukraine crisis, Germany authorities have finally given in and allowed gas drilling to proceed in one of its most controversial territories.
On Wednesday, a German regional authority responsible for the Wadden Sea Islands gave the green light to a Dutch company to drill for gas in the North Sea above the Wadden Islands.
To be in the Zwickmuhle is to be in a predicament, to be on the horns of a dilemma.
As in Germany’s neighbors (see Ukraine and Poland) despising the pro-Russian policy it has been following forever, bypassing and ignoring them in the process. The punch line: Now the Germans are surprised, even offended that everyone is so upset about it. But it’s not much of a “dilemma,” if you ask me. It’s quite straightforward, really: The Germans went it alone, yet again, placed all their money on Putin & Co., and lost.
The reason for the rejection (for German President Steinmeier being unwelcome in Ukraine) is clearly Steinmeier’s course in recent years, which Kiev considers too Russia-friendly. As foreign minister, he had, among other things, always pushed for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. “The warnings, it’s true, from our Eastern European partners we should have taken more seriously. Especially as far as the period after 2014 was concerned and the expansion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. And that’s why holding on was certainly a mistake,” Steinmeier had admitted last week. But despite the admission of mistakes and errors: The extent to which Germany’s Russia policy in recent years has caused disquiet and upset in Kiev is only now becoming really clear.
Otherwise known as the SPD Formula. It’s quite simple: Take a loaded handgun, point it at your foot, and then fire.
Angela Merkel HERSELF adopted the formula HERSELF. But her “conservative” CDU/CSU was more SPD than the SPD ITSELF so it’s quite understandable why she would have. Sort of.
Ukraine snubs German president over past ‘close ties to Russia’ – Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejects request by Frank-Walter Steinmeier for meeting in Kyiv, Bild reports.
“My sticking to [the Baltic Sea pipeline project] Nord Stream 2, that was definitely a mistake,” he said in Berlin on 4 April. “We held on to bridges that Russia no longer believed in, and of which our partners warned us.”
He added: “We failed to build a common European house. I did not believe Vladimir Putin would embrace his country’s complete economic, political and moral ruin for the sake of his imperial madness.”
As in “The German parliament just failed in its attempt to push for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations.” This is getting scary, people. Imagine. This means that non-vaccinated German citizens will be able to decide for themselves whether they will be vaccinated or not. The horror or something.
Germany’s Scholz says he will not make second push for vaccine mandate –German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was disappointed the lower house of parliament on Thursday voted against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for people over 60, but would not launch a second attempt to push for a mandate.
Germany’s vaccination campaign is faltering, with around 76.6% of Germany’s population having received at least one dose – less than the more than 80% in other western European countries such as France, Italy and Spain.
A cross-party proposal had envisaged a bill requiring citizens aged 60 and over to be vaccinated against COVID-19 from Oct. 15, in an attempt to avoid another wave of the virus in the autumn.
Or is it more like escape to the future? Because your plans aren’t panning out now?
Germany unveils plans to accelerate green energy expansion – The package envisages green energy accounting for 80% of the power mix in Europe’s biggest economy by 2030, up from about 40% now and a previous target of 65%.
Sure. It’s easy to set future deadlines for things you haven’t been able to do yet. The tricky part is setting these deadlines for things you’ll never be able to do. Like creating a Renewable German Green Utopia. Here just a few fun facts that nobody here wants to look at:
Renewables in Germany contributed to electricity prices rising 50 percent since 2007. Electricity prices here are 45 percent higher than the European average and the highest in Europe. Now. And in that Brave New Future?
Wind and solar renewables are unreliable, requiring 100% backup (you need two expensive energy systems, coal and gas in this case because nuclear is still verboten). They are also energy-dilute, that is, not -dense, meaning they require huge tracts of land, transmission lines, mining, etc.
An example: If the U.S. was to generate all the energy it uses with renewables, 25% to 50% of all land in the U.S. would be needed. Today’s energy system needs just 0.5 percent of land in the U.S. (Smil, Power Density: A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses).
In other words, running Germany on renewable energy ain’t never gonna happen.
Take Berlin, for instance. Practically all of it’s energy is produced using Russian gas. It took the German government(s) many, many years of hard work and the steadfast disregard of warnings from its partners in the West to become this dependent on Russian gas, coal and oil (50%). Now deal with it. Too bad I’m going to have to live/freeze through it, though. Stock up on warm clothing for next winter while the supplies still last, people!
What if the Gas Is Cut Off? – German Industry Prepares for Worst-Case Scenario – German industry and the government in Berlin are ill-prepared for a possible halt in supplies of natural gas from Russia. A new emergency plan is being developed to prevent an economic meltdown if deliveries cease.
Ever. But who cares? I’m just the President of Germany.
I got Putin wrong, says chastened German President – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, long an advocate of Western rapprochement with Russia, expressed regret for his earlier stance, saying his years of support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline had been a clear mistake.
Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who served as Foreign Minister under Chancellor Angela Merkel before being elevated to the presidency, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine meant he and others had to reckon honestly with what they had got wrong.
Observing Hermann 