An interesting part:
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“In the last 20 years we have shut down every alternative,” says Birnbaum. “The Germans didn’t want anything . . . no hard coal, no lignite, no nuclear, and all of a sudden we were overdependent [on Russia].”
Meanwhile, on the ground here… Just talked with a coworker whose Ukrainian flag should arrive today and he’s excited to support. Another co-worker talking to us then let us know he’d love to do the same, but because he lives in a neighborhood (in a small village) with a large Russian population his wife won’t let him hang one, because it’s dangerous for them to do so apparently. My mind is absolutely fucking blown on this. In Germany, Germans are in danger from immigrants if they show support for a foreign country – not to mention how the Ukrainian refugees might feel in a similar neighborhood. I just…. Someone please make this ok for me, justify this somehow please. I’m an American German struggling real real hard to keep what I guess is my more aggressive American side under wraps, but I’m kinda seething over this, just conceptually even. That Germans let themselves be treated like that, not to mention that the people want the government to be more decisive on Ukraine (pretty unanimously according to my every day interactions) but don’t lift a finger to do something about it… The pacifism has been engrained dangerously deep, and I honestly wonder if we would even resist were Russia to come to us next.
Sorry, end rant, thanks for your patience. Reddit is a better place to vent than the work place, I’ll probably delete this later.
German ban nuclear power, Ban coal power, Ban Russian gas… what next
Really? Remember when Germany was split in half and one half had to drive little cars made of toilet seat material?
[deleted]
As a German i can say that these fucking corrupt politcians and there shady deals with various energyindustries is why we are here now.
You just cant make money of free energy, thats why we have all this shit in the first place.
Prediction: In the next 3 years Germany will do a 360, realize it lacks a proper CO2-compatible energy policy, and still do nothing because nuclear bad.
And in the 3 years after that it will experience a blackout, do a 180, and then change its energy policy because then nuclear good.
7 comments
An interesting part:
>
“In the last 20 years we have shut down every alternative,” says Birnbaum. “The Germans didn’t want anything . . . no hard coal, no lignite, no nuclear, and all of a sudden we were overdependent [on Russia].”
Meanwhile, on the ground here… Just talked with a coworker whose Ukrainian flag should arrive today and he’s excited to support. Another co-worker talking to us then let us know he’d love to do the same, but because he lives in a neighborhood (in a small village) with a large Russian population his wife won’t let him hang one, because it’s dangerous for them to do so apparently. My mind is absolutely fucking blown on this. In Germany, Germans are in danger from immigrants if they show support for a foreign country – not to mention how the Ukrainian refugees might feel in a similar neighborhood. I just…. Someone please make this ok for me, justify this somehow please. I’m an American German struggling real real hard to keep what I guess is my more aggressive American side under wraps, but I’m kinda seething over this, just conceptually even. That Germans let themselves be treated like that, not to mention that the people want the government to be more decisive on Ukraine (pretty unanimously according to my every day interactions) but don’t lift a finger to do something about it… The pacifism has been engrained dangerously deep, and I honestly wonder if we would even resist were Russia to come to us next.
Sorry, end rant, thanks for your patience. Reddit is a better place to vent than the work place, I’ll probably delete this later.
German ban nuclear power, Ban coal power, Ban Russian gas… what next
Really? Remember when Germany was split in half and one half had to drive little cars made of toilet seat material?
[deleted]
As a German i can say that these fucking corrupt politcians and there shady deals with various energyindustries is why we are here now.
You just cant make money of free energy, thats why we have all this shit in the first place.
Prediction: In the next 3 years Germany will do a 360, realize it lacks a proper CO2-compatible energy policy, and still do nothing because nuclear bad.
And in the 3 years after that it will experience a blackout, do a 180, and then change its energy policy because then nuclear good.