Posted on 09/09/2022 8:37:29 AM PDT by george76
One of the German diplomats who snickered when then-President Donald Trump said Germany would “become totally dependent on Russian energy” didn’t respond to a question on whether his views have changed as rising energy costs amidst the war in Ukraine seem to prove Trump right.
Trump made the remarks during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in Sept. 2018.
Trump said during the same speech: “Reliance on a single foreign supplier can leave a nation vulnerable to extortion and intimidation.”
At the time, Germany and the United States disagreed strongly about the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline to Germany.
Germany maintained that the project was strictly commercial, while American officials worried Russia could use a new pipeline to place geopolitical pressure on Europe.
Now, four years later, the clip has resurfaced on social media.
To many who heard it again, Trump’s warning sounds prophetic.
Driving Up Energy Prices..
Sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine have helped drive up the price of energy around the world, inflicting some of the greatest pain on Germany. Before the war broke out, over half of the country’s natural gas came from Russia.
German energy prices exceeded $1,000 per megawatt-hour for the first time on Aug. 29, following months of rising prices for households and businesses alike.
In mid-August, the German government introduced a new natural gas tax—2.4 cents per kilowatt hour—on consumers to go into effect in October as temperatures fall and demand rises with the approach of winter.
Chancellor Olof Scholz also announced plans to decrease the value-added tax on natural gas to 7 percent from 19 percent.
Nord Stream 2 was effectively canceled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In July, Gazprom paused the operation of Nord Stream 2’s predecessor, Nord Stream 1, for maintenance.
That Russian state-owned company has continued turning down the spigot of gas to Europe. In recent weeks, it has cut the volume in Nord Stream 1 to just 20 percent of its capacity.
The pipeline was temporarily shut down for maintenance again on Aug. 31.
Maas’s Curious Non-Response Back in September 2018, one member of the German delegation was described as not only laughing but also “shaking his head in disbelief” at Trump’s comment.
That skeptic was Heiko Maas, a member of the left-wing Social Democratic Party of Germany.
At the time, Maas was serving as the country’s foreign minister under then-prime minister Angela Merkel.
He left that role in 2021 and is now a member of the Bundestag.
Maas’s 2018 speech at that U.N. General Assembly did not explicitly address Trump’s comments.
He did, however, criticize climate action “based solely on nationalism, with the objective of ‘putting my country first’”—an apparent jab at Trump’s America First agenda.
Maas later told reporters that Trump’s claim regarding the pipeline “does not correspond to reality,” saying that “Germany is not dependent on Russia, especially not on energy issues.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Maas to see if he had reevaluated Trump’s comments.
In an Aug. 31 email, a spokesperson for Maas said that the politician “will not comment on foreign policy issues.”
That would be a global warming alarmist’s wet dream.
Freezin’ Fritz...
Those crazy chermans.
They need to build bigger, faster, windmills.
President Trump is vindicated, again.
5.56mm
Hm. Didn't stop him from commenting before. Wonder what made him change?
Ahhh...yes, Germans; born followers who believe they’re smarter than everyone else.
I'll bet it has. And following the usual pattern for a "we are never wrong" proggie, there's no comment.
Ask the smug bastards every single day until they acknowledge that PRESIDENT Trump was RIGHT.
humiliate them till they cry, then laugh at them for crying...
I think we’re going to need a bigger boat.
We’re gonna need a bigger windmill.
“It proves that you wealthy college boys don’t have the education enough to admit when you’re wrong.”
Nice one Cap’
I wonder how many recognize it?
Sorry, but he is far, far worse.
Politically, he would make Bernie Sanders look like Barry Goldwater.
Sir, could I borrow those words?
They are so true :-)
We know it will never surface in the Commie Media.
Several of us did.
Kneecapping is appropriate....
This. NEVER allow them to bury it. Bring it up over and over and over and over and over again. Throw it in their faces to an absolutely obnoxious degree. Then do it some more.
Show the voters there, here and everywhere that Trump was right. The problem’s they’re having now were not only predictable, they were in fact predicted.....by Trump. The ruinous costs are the result of Gaia worship. All the consequences that flow from it like businesses failing, unemployment, inflation, shivering in the dark, etc. None of this had to happen. This was caused by the Green Party, by Greta, by the media which pushes this BS narrative, by NGO’s which push this BS narrative. They are to blame. They will keep wrecking everything as long as you listen to them.
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