Posted on 07/27/2022 9:48:45 AM PDT by Cronos
A decade after its government admonished southern European states to “do their homework” of painful fiscal changes to end a sovereign debt crisis, Germany is slowly adapting to the humbling reality of being worst-in-class when it comes to reliance on Russian gas.
As EU countries in recent days sought to agree on emergency proposals to curb their gas demand ... A deal was finally agreed on Tuesday.
“They cannot demand a sacrifice from us for which we have not been asked for an opinion,” said Spain’s minister for ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, adding: “We have not lived beyond our means in terms of energy.”
While Germany as of the end of June remains reliant on Russian imports for about a quarter of its gas needs and scrambles to expand infrastructure to import liquefied natural gas (LNG), Spain has massively expanded its LNG structure and is now barely reliant on Russian gas imports.
...The turning of tables in the bloc of European states has not gone unnoticed in German media. “Some states suffered heavily during the financial crisis and had to bear the lectures of the Germans,” wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. “And now they are meant to massively save gas to bail out those same Germans, who have brought this situation on themselves with a misguided energy policy.”
The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper said: “The collateral damages that several [German] governments have left behind in the EU are too big. In building [the pipeline] Nord Stream 1, they ignore the energy and security interests of Poland and other central and eastern European states. And they always had to know best, most recently during the taxonomy disagreement over nuclear energy.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
So sad that the master race has fallen so far
> said Spain’s minister for ecological transition <
I’ve got a new goal in life. I want to be a minister for ecological transition.
According to recent remarks from Putin Poland had to pay 3-4 times as much for Russian gas than Germany did because Germany had a very long term contract.
He mentioned this when news came out that Poland was getting Russian gas from Germany because that was cheaper than they could buy it direct.
Germany has given up a lot to participate in “the biggest sanctions program in history.” Most likely including industrial losses.
The Germans willingly put their head in the Russian noose and shafted their NATO and EU partner Poland as well as Ukraine to do so, and after decades of warnings from the US. Now they whine that Putin is pulling the noose tight. My guess is that Scholz is also deliberately slow-walking weapons deliveries to Ukraine to keep the Russian gas tap open.
The EU leadership with few exceptions is totally incompetent. It is actually hard to believe that none of them understood the ramifications of their “biggest sanctions program in history” prior to turning a loaded gun on themselves.
It wouldn’t matter even if they were willing to equitably share the misery. They still would be losing.
This whole debacle is a great demonstration of why a multi-polar world will be a benefit for all nations. “America First” for America; “Germany First” for Germany; “Hungary First” for Hungary. Leaders should act for the benefit of their own citizens.
The Fourth Reich is minus Merkel is headed for the trash heap faster than the 3rd Reich.
The only thing better would be if Merkel was still in power to suffer the full repudiation of her policies after all the years of her being in power.
This is the result of installing communist East Germans to run the country. The Germans figured they could benefit from their cozy relationship with the former Soviet Union. Look no further than the slimy, odious Gerhard Schroder, who just so happens to be a board member of Gazprom, the very same company that is cutting gas to Germany. Watch for Schroder to seek asylum in Russia. soon.
Schroder is actually in Moscow right now. He told the press he is vacationing because Moscow is a beautiful city...:-)
When the press asked Russia if they were going to meet with Schroeder they said there were no plans to at the moment.
Pundits think he is there to try to get a meeting with Putin to talk about negotiations.
“sanctions”
Most Russians are used to hardship from the withering of the Soviet Union and the struggle of Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
In the Soviet Union, if there was meat on the table to eat, then life was good.
Stuffing an SUV with Chinese-made chattels nearly every weekend is an American lifestyle thing.
What this doesn’t really lay out is that the EU is trying to push some cockamamie scheme whereby the Southern European countries would effectively be sending a portion of their natural gas which they obtained from their suppliers to Germany.
Surprise Surprise, they’ve all balked at this. They remember the Germans lecturing them and making them accept some stiff economic terms for financial assistance during the Eurozone Crisis. Now they’re asking why they should have to suffer to bail out the Germans who irresponsibly chose to make themselves so dependent on Russia.
It was the same thing with the EU trying to strong arm central and eastern European countries to take a share of the muslim rapefugees Germany chose to let in. They’re still very butt-hurt toward Hungary and others for refusing.
The Germans need to pay the price for their own failings. That’s the only way they’re going to learn.
Gerhard Schroeder is a total scumbag but even he wasn’t as stunningly incompetent as Merkel.
She was responsible for such decisions as:
Millions of muslim rapefugees who don’t speak our language, have no job skills and who hate our culture? Why...let ‘em in! Millions of ‘em. We can do it!
a couple years later its “all you other European countries have to take a share of the rapefugees we alone chose to invite in. We’ll have a giant temper tantrum if you refuse.”
Then there was “let’s just shut down all of our nuclear power plants AND shut down our coal fired power plants while we’re at it. We can just make ourselves Russia’s beyotch. What’s that? Trump’s warning us this is a really bad idea? Screw him. He’s stupid. What a joke.
a couple years later its “none of us can even dare think of reducing our sacrifices to Gaia. No nuclear power plants for us and don’t build any coal fired power plants either. Save da Erf (and our economy by sending us a big chunk of your natural gas). Save Da Erf!”
Maybe it was pure luck, incredible foresight or amazing coincidence but she got out just before it all came crashing down leaving the next fool to deal with her incompetence
It would be good if you told your President Putin to resign and also leave Ukraine.
Well, technically the 3rd Reich lasted only 12 years.
There hasn’t been a 4th Reich.
“Why a multi polar world will be a benefit for all nations”.
Repeating Putin’s claptrap.
So you support Ukraine first then, and for Ukraine to get not only Donbas but Crimea.
And China first, so that you give back vladivostok to them.
And Finland first so you give back karelia to them.
And Chechnya first, so you free them.
“Most Russians are used to hardship from the withering of the Soviet Union and the struggle of Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union”.
Russians under 30 don’t recollect those days.
And they don’t like to have to give up regular life in order to fan Putin’s ego.
No one is invading Russia, rather Russia is invading its neighbours
It was sarcasm but you could say Merkel’s entire time in power was the 4th Reich
If it means a medley of aggressive great powers pursuing their own interests by force, then we're merely setting up the conditions for yet another World War.
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