Is 55% Dependency?

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

55% percent of your energy needs coming from Russia?

Might be. But don’t worry for Germany. The government has “a plan” if Putin turns off the supply. And the government, as you know, is from the government and they’re here to help. Just like they helped you get into this mess in the first place.

German officials are quietly preparing for any sudden halt in Russian gas supplies with an emergency package that could include taking control of critical firms.

The preparations being led by the Ministry for Economic Affairs show the heightened state of alert about supplies of the gas that powers Europe’s biggest economy and is critical for the production of steel, plastics and cars.

Russian gas accounted for 55% of Germany’s imports last year and Berlin has come under pressure to unwind a business relationship that critics says is helping to fund Russia’s war in Ukraine.

12 Monkeys I’ve Heard Of

May 5, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Dependency, Gas, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Oil, Putin, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

And seen (great flick). But 12 Germans? That movie title just doesn’t have enough punch.

By the way: Affe (monkey) in German is also used as an insult when calling someone an “idiot” or a “fool.”

12 Germans who got played by Putin – There’s no shortage of politicians, business leaders and intellectuals who have appeased Moscow over the years. Here are a few of them.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has thrust Germany’s establishment into the throes of a tortured process of introspection, self-doubt and recrimination.

After years of lecturing the West that a bit of Ostpolitik was all that was needed to keep Russia in check, Germany’s political, media and academic elites are now obsessing over a new question: How could we have been so wrong?

German Of The Day: Bremser

May 3, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Bans, Dependency, EU, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Oil, Pipelines, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

That means brakeman or somebody who drags his feet and won’t get with the plan.

Germany, a world-class Bremser, has now dropped its opposition to an EU ban on Russian oil because, well, 1) they want to improve their image of being a Bremser and 2) they know that this ban won’t happen anyway because Hungary and Slovakia, being even more dependent upon Russian oil than Germany is (which is saying a lot), are being even bigger Bremser than the German Bremser is and for the ban to take place, all 27 EU countries must agree to it.

Two senior ministers in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government on Monday said Germany would be ready to back an immediate European Union ban on Russian oil imports, and that Europe’s biggest economy could weather shortages and price hikes.

As Tough As Jell-O

April 29, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Dependency, Energy, Gas, German, Germans, Germany, Pipelines, Putin, Rubles, Russia Leave a comment

Jermany is.

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.

It’s Magic!

April 27, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: Dependency, Energy, Gas, Germany, Greens, Oil, Pipelines, Renewables, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

Not black magic. Green magic.

Why didn’t anybody think of doing this before? Then all this embarrassing talk about Germany being dependent on Russia for it’s energy needs (50%) wouldn’t have been necessary.

Germany aims to find alternative to Russian oil within days – Germany hopes to find a way within days to replace Russian oil with supplies from other sources, Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) said on Tuesday, adding that Germany could then cope with an EU embargo on Russian oil imports.

German Of The Day: Unverbesserlich

April 24, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Dependency, Gas, Gerhard Schroeder, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Lobbies, Lobbyists, Nord Stream 2, Oil, Pipelines, Putin, Social Democracy, Socialists, SPD, Vladimir Putin Leave a comment

That means incorrigible, unreformable, incurable, dyed-in-the-wool.

Take Gazprom Gerd, for instance. Please. The Germans have pretended to be upset by his post-chancellorship antics but have secretely admired him all along, handling him with kid gloves (anyone who stands up to evil US-Amerika is a hero here). Now, with this little Ukraine thing going on, the bill finally has to be paid and everyone’s upset and wondering how they got here. Will there be consequeces for him? Of course not. Gazprom Gerd is Gazprom Gerd, after all.

The former chancellor who became Putin’s man in Germany – On the evening of Dec. 9, 2005, 17 days after Gerhard Schröder left office as chancellor of Germany, he got a call on his cellphone. It was his friend President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

Putin was pressing Schröder to accept an offer to lead the shareholder committee of Nord Stream, a Russian-controlled company in charge of building the first undersea gas pipeline directly connecting Russia and Germany.

“Are you afraid to work for us?” Putin had joked. Schröder might well have been, given the appearance of possible impropriety; the pipeline he was now being asked to head had been agreed to in the final weeks of his chancellorship, with his strong support.

He took the job anyway.

Seventeen years later, the former chancellor, who recounted the events himself in a pair of rare interviews, remains as defiant as ever.

German Of The Day: Umweltschädlich

April 21, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Dependency, Drilling, Gas, German, Germans, Germany, Greens, Language, North Sea, Oil, Renwables, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

That means environmentally harmful.

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.

Back To The Future

April 7, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Coal, Dependency, Energy, Gas, Nuclear, Oil, Renewable energy, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

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.

“Ill-Prepared?”

April 6, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Health, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: Berlin, Coal, Dependency, Energy, Gas, German, Germans, Germany, Oil, Pipelines, Putin, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

That’s the nice word for it.

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.

Just Like I Got Everything Else Wrong

April 5, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: Dependency, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German, Germans, Germany, Nord Stream 2, Putin, Russia, Social Democrats, SPD, Ukraine Leave a comment

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

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Tag Archives: Dependency