Tag Archives: Oil

Germans To Stop Bathing

July 8, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , 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 in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , 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 in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 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).

“Some Rooms Can Be A Little Colder”

July 3, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , 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 in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , 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 in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 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.

We’ll Just Jump Straight To Phase 3 Instead

June 23, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Sheer panic.

Ministry denies Germany set to declare Phase 2 of emergency gas plan.

This economic minister belongs to a political party (the Greens) that won’t even consider the possibility – under Germany’s present catastrophic, self-inflicted energy situation – of extending the lives of Germany’s three remaining nuclear power plants past the end of this year. Thank goodness this has nothing to do with ideology and ideologues. He’s just from the government and he’s here to help.

Germany declared the first phase of the emergency plan on March 30, calling for crisis team meetings of energy suppliers, operators and government authorities to assess the energy security situation for Europe’s biggest economy.

In the second alert phase, the market would still be expected to handle the disruption without government market intervention.

I Didn’t Do Nothin’

June 22, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The other kids were jumping off the bridge. What, me worry?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not only revealed the willful ignorance of German politicians, businesspeople, and voters to Vladimir Putin’s regime, it has cast a dark backwards shadow over the tenure of former chancellor Angela Merkel.

Merkel’s lack of regrets illustrates the fallacies of Germany’s Russia policy – Russia’s war of annihilation against Ukraine and the unhinged rhetoric of its elites raise urgent questions about the future for Europeans, for the trans-Atlantic alliance, and for global order.

For a generational cohort of German politicians, some of whom are retired and some still in power, it also raises urgent questions about the past. What could they have known, or at least predicted? What bloodshed could they have prevented?

What’s 40%?

June 16, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

“We’ll just build some more of those solar windmill thingies to compensate and make Germany greener than ever,” an unnamed German Green government minister said. “The rest of the world really marvels at our green energy utopia here, you know,” he added. “They’re like totally green with envy.”

Russia‘s announcement that it would reduce natural gas flows through a key European pipeline by roughly 40% appears to be a political move rather than a result of technical problems, Germany’s vice chancellor said Wednesday.

The reduced flows follow Russia‘s halt of natural gas supplies to Bulgaria, Poland, Finland, Netherlands, Denmark as Europe works to reduce its dependence on Russian energy amid the war in Ukraine. Gas demand has fallen after the end of the winter heating season, but European utilities are racing to refill storage ahead of next winter with prices high and supplies uncertain.

“We Were All Wrong”

June 2, 2022 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hideology, History, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That’s right. All you Germans were.

‘We were all wrong’: how Germany got hooked on Russian energy – Germany has been forced to admit it was a terrible mistake to become so dependent on Russian oil and gas. So why did it happen?

Why? That’s easy. Because Germans always want an Extrawurst (an extra sausage, as in special treatment). Well, they’re sure getting special treatment these days.

When Putin invaded Ukraine in February, Germany faced a particular problem. Its rejection of nuclear power and its transition away from coal meant that Germany had very few alternatives to Russian gas. Berlin has been forced to accept that it was a cataclysmic error to have made itself so dependent on Russian energy – whatever the motives behind it. The foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, says Germany failed to listen to the warnings from countries that had once suffered under Russia’s occupation, such as Poland and the Baltic states.

And then, of course, there were the warnings from EVIL US-Trump-Amerika itself. Those just had to be ignored. Well, wake up and smell the Kaffee is all I can say now.