If the Germans don’t know about losing energy bets, nobody does. Old Vlad better listen up.
Putin has gambled away gas leverage, says German vice-chancellor – Robert Habeck says ‘half of our eggs were in the basket of Putin’ but Germany is now recovering capacity.
Vladimir Putin has gambled away his gas leverage over Europe, Germany’s vice-chancellor has claimed as he sounded a note of cautious optimism over his country’s energy supplies during a visit to Norway.
And defense for free (from Dire Straits, sort of).
Our German Ally: Tanking.
Putin has given any number of reasons (all of them nonsense) to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One of them was that Russia was “threatened” by NATO’s expansion. That is, to put it mildly, unconvincing. Russia’s grumbling about Ukrainian independence dates back to the Yeltsin era, long before (the special case of the vanished East Germany aside) NATO had expanded to include any countries in the former Soviet bloc.
A more convincing explanation (so far as the Kremlin’s attitude to NATO was concerned) was that Putin had seen the alliance’s weakness and concluded that it would present Moscow with no problems in the event that Russia took back control over its neighbor. An important reason why the Kremlin might have seen things that way was the position of Germany, a supposedly key member of NATO, but one that had a distinctly, uh, nuanced view of what membership of the alliance meant.
One obvious sign of that was the country’s neglect of its armed forces throughout Angela Merkel’s dismal chancellorship.
The kind of December
When gas was there and temps so mellow…
Nobody said “saving the planet” would be easy.
Snow covers Germany amid gas crunch – As Germany experienced its coldest December in a decade, the government implored residents to exercise restraint on turning up the heat.
“Germany is still very, very far from having its gas needs totally covered for the next two years. Because of this, in spite of the cold, I implore you to exercise restraint with gas use.”
That means blackout.
Blackout risk – Germany’s gas storage facilities are 94 percent full, but the level is steadily declining in view of the cold weather.
“Everyone is preparing for it…” He pleads for a factual discussion without scaremongering, but warns against possible acts of sabotage – and explains what emergency supplies citizens should stock up on in case of an emergency.
Our solar panals don’t seem to be working properly here in Germany at the moment. It’s all dark and cloudy or something. And white. Geez. Why is it so cold all of a sudden?
This “saving the planet” stuff can be a real ice-cold bitch.
Germany at risk of gas shortages as consumption cutting target missed – Country has scrambled to open up new sources of energy since start of Ukraine war.
Germany is saving less gas than necessary to rule out shortages this winter, the head of the German grid agency has said, as the country missed its crucial target of a 20% cut in consumption last week amid dropping temperatures.
But where did this massive rise in energy costs come from? Who is responsible?
I know. We’ll ask the government to help us!
1 in 10 Germans had not yet heated by November despite cold weather: Survey – Germans have significantly changed their heating habits due to massive rise in energy costs, research finds.
That means energy price stop sign.
This is a brilliant new German invention (both the word and the concept) meaning that energy providers must first explain why they will be raising prices before going ahead and raising them anyway. Thanks German government (the ones who created this energy crisis in Germany in the first place), German citizens are most certainly saying, we wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly at night without you.
Germany to force energy providers to justify future price hikes – The German government plans to allow energy providers to raise prices next year only if objectively justified, the economy ministry said on Saturday, denying a media report that Berlin planned a ban on all energy price hikes for consumers.
When he signed the 15 year LNG deal with Qatar? They were a big deal here for a few minutes last week.
Don’t the Greens normally love making empty gestures and sending symbolic symbols (Zeichen setzen)? Germany’s Green Economy Minister set two symbols with the deal: 1) We don’t give a damn about the human rights blah blah we claim to give a damn about and 2) Nasty LNG gas may not be green enough for our standards but it’s just green enough to “save the planet,” as long as it saves Germany first – from the catastrophic energy policy the Greens got Germany into in the first place.
German minister satisfied with 15-year Qatar LNG deal – German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Tuesday he was happy with the length of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply deal struck with Qatar, as Berlin pursues new energy partnerships after a plunge in gas from Russia.
Like the cold of winter? Unaffordable energy bills? Renewable energy pipe dreams that will never succeed? You know. Stuff like that? That’s why.
Why can’t Germany break up with nuclear energy? – Germany has spent 25 years flipflopping on nuclear power. An energy crunch caused by the war in Ukraine is the latest reason to reconsider the technology.
“Really, I think of myself as against nuclear energy, but I have to admit that you see the situation a bit differently now.”
It doesn’t stink anymore either these days, for some reason.
Germany finishes construction of its first LNG import terminal – Completion of project in just 200 days eases fears of gas shortage amid cut in Russian supplies.
Liquefied gas is to secure the energy supply in the coming years. The first plant has already been completed in Wilhelmshaven, but terminals are also likely to follow at other locations.
Observing Hermann 