More Than Double?

For the country that already pays the highest energy prices in Europe?

Why The Latest Russia Crisis Might Be Worse For Berlin Than Moscow And Kyiv – Germany is wedded to Russian oil and gas. If things got hot, what would Russia do?

“In the hypothetical event of a full-blown conflict between Russia and Ukraine, we would expect the main impact on the eurozone economy to stem from higher gas prices. We would expect gas prices to more than double. Eurozone inflation would hit over 6% by the spring and remain elevated longer than in our base case.”

German Of The Day: Freedom Day

That means Freedom Day. And they’re celebrating Freedom Day – in Sweden.

Remember Sweden? The country that never had any COVID19 lockdowns or suffered from accute mask or vaccination psychosis? You know, the country that was never in the news? Of course you don’t remember Sweden. You’re not supposed to.

We never divided the people – No lockdown, hardly any rules: Professor explains why the path has been successful.

“Hopefully, research will soon show which actions were good and which were bad. Many decisions were made by politicians who wanted to demonstrate decisiveness. But health authorities also often had no knowledge base for their decisions. I think Sweden could have done a better job in the first weeks of the pandemic. For example, when it came to letting people come to work who had just arrived from abroad. But I’m glad we were never in a lockdown.”

If Houseplant Olaf Can’t Say It…

Then Houseplant Joe will – after being handed a carefully prepared script, of course. In really big letters. With arrows and stuff pointing to the really important parts.

Biden threatens: No gas pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine – In a flurry of diplomacy across two continents, President Joe Biden met with Germany’s new leader Monday and vowed the crucial Nord Stream 2 Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline will be blocked if Russia further invades Ukraine. Russia’s Vladimir Putin retorted that the U.S. and its allies are the only ones talking invasion.

German Of The Day: Enttäuschend

That means disappointing.

Olaf Scholz goes to Washington. Hope he’s not too disappointed with all the disappointment there.

The German government’s actions to date with respect to Ukraine have been disappointing at best. All of us in NATO are doing what we can to help Ukraine. And I think many of us believe that a country of Germany’s importance and capabilities could and should do a lot. Especially at a time that will be so important for the future of the European security order. I hope the German Government will decide to do the right thing.

The Invisible Man

Impossible to find when hard decisions need to be made – concerning Russia.

Hey, once a Sozi (Social Democrat mini-Socialist pinko), always a Sozi.

Germany’s new chancellor Olaf Scholz is waving goodbye to the honeymoon period of his tenure, as his “inaudible” stance over the brewing crisis on the Ukrainian border is failing to impress not just Russia-hawks abroad but also more ambivalent voters at home.

Scholz, whose liberal-left “traffic light” coalition was sworn in less than two months ago, has been criticised by Kyiv and other east-central European capitals for sticking to his country’s restrictive stance on weapons export to crisis regions and looking slow to spell out the potential sanctions that could be triggered by a Russian invasion into Ukraine.

German State Broadcasters Take Russian State Broadcaster Off The Air

They have enough state broadcasting to do on their own as it is, thank you.

The Russian state broadcasters will retaliate by taking the German state broadcaster off the air, of course. Oh why oh why can’t we learn to state broadcast together in peace?

Russia to target German media in response to German ban on RT TV – Russia will retaliate against Germany for banning the German-language service of Russian broadcaster RT, and the response will impact German media accredited in Russia and internet “intermediaries”, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

German Of The Day: Cyber-Attacke

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?

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.