Free Republic

Today I am risking being too glib, but my excuse is aspiring to meet the Einstein standard, “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” It’s not hard to see that as rough as economic conditions are now, they are set to get worse. And it’s not hard to see that despite the considerable blowback from the sanctions against Russia, the West is not going to relent. Here’s a simple baseline forecast. Russia wins in Ukraine. The West may try to define it somehow as not a victory, but it’s hard to see how Russia does not take the...

The Germans aren’t laughing now. In fact, gas prices are so high in Germany today that wood-burning stoves and firewood have become scarce nationwide. German citizens are loading up on wood to heat their homes next year — just like they did in the Middle Ages.

Some landlords in Germany are rationing hot water and will turn down the heating as Europe's largest economy battles soaring energy costs due to reduced supplies of Russian natural gas. German real estate company, Vonovia, said it would lower tenants' heating during the night to cut costs. In a statement sent to Insider, the company said the move was designed to "save as much gas as possible," adding that reducing temperatures between 11pm and 6am would reduce heating costs by about 8%. Some tenants in Dippoldiswalde, Saxony, will only be able to take a hot shower between 4am and 8am,...