Re: Germany News and Discussion
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2021 8:28 am
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(Eurasia Review) There have been much speculations on the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis, and the extent of its impacts. Many only vaguely understand them to be “no less serious than those of September 11 attacks”.
Much of the consequences of Putin’s war in Ukraine will, of course, not manifest immediately but rather gradually. However, at least one major change is becoming apparent and noticeable, and this is re-emergence of Germany in global geopolitics. Looking back at the past, Germany has always been a lion of Europe, indeed a powerful and formidable force, even one that is regarded to be able to contend with the ambitious Russia. To be sure, this country famed for its refined industries has been, historically speaking, the only continental power feared by Russia. Compared with Germany, other European countries are more akin to jesters before the Goliath that is Russia.
Now, Putin has awakened the giant force known as Germany. Before that, this force had been in dormant for decades after the end of the Cold War.
In Germany now, tens of thousands of people gathered in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, some holding placards that read “Russia Hands Off Ukraine”, “Putin! You Need Therapy!” and the like. Such zealous spirit of the Germans has never been higher. Europe shares the same sentiment against Russia and this can be seen in major cities in Europe, from Rome to Prague, from Istanbul to Madrid, or from Paris to London. The solidarity born out of loathing against Putin’s Russia is unprecedented in the history of modern Europe.
Noteworthily, just a few weeks ago, the Germans’ attitude towards the influence of Russia on Europe was more or less restrained, hence such change within a short time is something worth pondering.
(ProPublica) Last October, I sat in the office of Klaus Emmerich, the chief union representative at the Garzweiler brown-coal mine in western Germany, as he shared his misgivings about the country’s celebrated plan to stop burning coal. Germany’s build-up of renewable energy was lagging and, given that coal accounts for more than a quarter of its total electricity supply, that meant it would have to rely on another energy source for the time being: natural gas, which came mostly from Russia. “We’re giving ourselves over to the Russians,” Emmerich told me. “I have a bad feeling about it.”
Five months later, Emmerich’s premonitions have borne out, powerfully. President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has unleashed civilian and military carnage, ravaged cities and sent some two million people fleeing the country. As its effects have rippled across Europe and the world, one consequence has gone underexamined: The invasion has upended the political and economic policies of Germany, where the government has reconsidered its long-planned energy transition; undone a congenial political stance toward Russia that lasted for half a century; and reversed a policy of military minimalism that dates to the end of the Second World War. In many ways, Germany has rethought its place in the world — all in two weeks.
At the heart of the shift is Germany’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels, which until recently was not seen as problematic by German leaders. Quite the opposite: It was part of a deliberate, decadeslong effort by Germany to maintain comity with the huge, nuclear-armed neighbor with whom it fought in two bloody 20th century wars. Germany chose its dependence on Russia because it saw the economic links created by fuel imports — physical links, in the form of pipelines through Eastern Europe and under the Baltic Sea — as integral to keeping peace and integrating Russia into the rest of Europe.
On Feb. 22, Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, announced a curtailment to that dependence on Russian energy. The country was halting Nord Stream 2, a new gas pipeline from Russia that would be capable of providing Europe with 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year at a time when the rest of the Continent’s gas production is declining.
https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-was-a- ... a-61205221The claim that a Russian youth was beaten to death by a "mob of Ukrainian refugees" in the German city of Euskirchen was published in a video addressing Russians in Germany. However, the incident never happened.
In the video, a woman recounts in Russian the alleged events in the video, describing how a 16-year-old was severely beaten into a coma. The women admits that she does not know the boy personally, but that a friend told her about it.
In the video, translated by DW's Russian Service, she claims that "in the city of Euskirchen near Cologne, at the train station, a boy was beaten up. A group of Ukrainians beat him up half to death — so that he was taken to intensive care. He was in a coma. These bastards were simply taken by the police to the home where they lived. So far nothing has been done to them."
...
On Monday, a second video surfaced in which the woman in the first video who described the alleged incident appears to be apologizing for her claims, saying: "Today I found out that it is a fake."
"I want to apologize to everyone who has seen my video for not turning out to be the truth. I wanted to ask today when the funeral will take place and found out that it had all been lies," she says in the video. She goes on to recount that the person she mentioned in the first video who told her about the alleged attack "hates Ukrainians and decided to harm them through this story."
https://www.businessinsider.com/germany ... ?r=US&IR=TApr 14, 2022
Germany could lose 220 billion euros ($240 billion) in economic output over the next two years if Russian gas were halted immediately. That's according to a joint economic forecast, called the Gemeinschaftsdiagnose report, released Wednesday by economic institutions advising Berlin.
Europe's largest economy has come under increasing pressure to ban Russian energy imports amid reports of Russian atrocities in Ukraine. But Germany is heavily reliant on Russian gas, which accounted for 55% of Germany's gas imports in 2021 and 40% of its gas imports in the first quarter of 2022, Reuters reported.
An immediate embargo on Russian oil and gas supply would send Germany into "a sharp recession " with a 6.5% hit to its annual economic output, according to the Gemeinschaftsdiagnose report.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ge ... 022-04-20/BERLIN, April 20 (Reuters) - Germany will stop importing oil from Russia by the end of the year, said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock after a meeting with her Baltic counterparts on Wednesday.
"I therefore say here clearly and unequivocally yes, Germany is also completely phasing out Russian energy imports," said Baerbock.
"We will halve oil by the summer and will be at 0 by the end of the year, and then gas will follow, in a joint European roadmap, because our joint exit, the complete exit of the European Union, is our common strength."