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.
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.
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.
Germany “will be poorer” because of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, the government’s economy minister has warned, as soaring energy prices fuel record inflation and threaten to tip Europe’s biggest economy into a recession.
“It is not possible that this ends without costs for German society, it is unthinkable,” Robert Habeck told public broadcaster ZDF on Wednesday. “I believe that we are ready to pay this price which is small enough compared to the sufferings in Ukraine.”
Or the end of the beginning? Or just the start of the next big ugly mess – once Putin turns the gas off.
Germany: G7 rejects Russia’s demand to pay for gas in rubles – The Group of Seven major economies have agreed to reject Moscow’s demand to pay for Russian natural gas exports in rubles.
“Payment in ruble is not acceptable, and we will urge the companies affected not to follow (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s demand.”
Pass a law that mandates gas storage facilities be filled by winter.
Only, what are you going to fill these storage facilties with? If Vladimir Putin turns off the gas, I mean. Oktoberfest beer?
Germany approves law mandating full gas storage before winter – The Bundestag lower house on Friday approved legislation requiring Germany’s privately-operated gas storage facilities to be full at the start of the next winter, to try to avert shortages in the event of a halt in Russian gas imports.
But not over her? How convenient. Even that saluting soldier down there can see that something ain’t kosher with her.
Talk about Teflon. But even the Germans will scratch it all off eventually, Mutti. Get those memoires out ASAP!
Merkel’s Legacy on Russia Casts a Shadow over Her Party – Angela Merkel had been fully aware of just how brutal Vladimir Putin could be. She even admitted the Nord Stream 2 pipeline had been a “devil’s project.” But why didn’t she do anything to change Germany’s energy dependence on Russia – and why is her party so quiet about it now?
Grab a pencil and a piece of paper and I’ll explain to you: She systematically bumped off anybody in her party who dared to have an opinion other than hers. See Friedrich Merz, the guy who came back in from the cold to run the party now. They’ll get around to dismantling her eventually, once they’re in power again.
PS: Personally, I think she was a Russian mole. But maybe that’s just me.
Germany to continue buying Russian-provided oil, gas, coal – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday again dismissed calls to boycott Russian energy supplies in the wake of the attack on Ukraine.
Scholz said sanctions already imposed on Russia were hitting its economy “and this will only get more dramatic every day.”
At the same time, Scholz said the sanctions were designed to be “tolerable” for those imposing them, including in the long term.
“That is why Germany’s position on this question (of an energy boycott) remains unchanged,” he said.
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.
Observing Hermann 