The anatomy of Germany’s reliance on Russian natural gas: The Americans warned Germany, as did the Eastern Europeans. But Germany just continued buying more and more natural gas from Russia. The addiction stretches back several decades, and it is full of misjudgments and errors

11 comments

  1. Germany wanted to have russian gas, even at the cost of dishonor. Funding Putin’s murderous war machine.

    They will have no gas and dishonor

  2. The German government arrogantly ignored Obama’s warnings and they unprofessionally and publicly laughed at Trump’s warning.

    I bet they’re not laughing now are they?

  5. ya bla bla. I hear Eastern european warning us all the fucking time. Then why didnt they stop importing coal, gas and oil earlier?

  6. Good read, but it reeks of feigned ignorance and self-exonerations from the sources. It reads a bit naive..

    How can they say they “never thought about strategic aspects” when Russians themselves wrote and talked extensively about it in their publications? Where was the German intelligence apparatus to let them know what the Russians idea was?

    Highly recommend these two articles by French historian Francoise Thom, whose great advantage is that she sources them largely from Russian think tanks and politicians, who spells out what the goals of the gas power really is.

    https://en.desk-russie.eu/2021/09/24/nordstream2-an-economic-project.html

    https://en.desk-russie.eu/2021/10/08/the-energy-partnership-with-russia.html

    > For the long-term perspective, let’s go back to the 2009 analysis quoted above: “Nordstream will allow Germany to become not only the final recipient of Russian gas, but also the main transit country, which will considerably strengthen the geopolitical link between Russia and Germany and serve the cause of the true unification of Eurasia into a single financial and economic entity.” Thus Nordstream cements the German-Russian couple through which Moscow intends to dominate the Eurasian continent: “The collapse of the EU in its present US-centric form will lead to a strengthening of the influence of Germany — not the US — and is therefore beneficial for Russia. (…) This is why Russia is helping Germany to become a European leader.” **Germany, firmly held on a leash by Nordstream, will become the main vehicle for the finlandization of the rest of Europe.** The Kremlin is already so convinced that it will control Germany no matter what happens, that the prospect of the anti-Russian environmentalist Annalene Baerbok as German Foreign minister, in the event of a coalition between the SPD and the Greens, is not a cause for concern: she “will not be able to completely spoil relations with the Russian leadership, because the last word will always belong to the more pragmatic ‘top comrades’.”

  7. time has ran out , but it was a good time. Germany used the russian gas while its industry is still strong and its demographics allowed it. At least it will enter the decline with full coffers

  9. “The Americans warned Germany”… while destroying several alternative sources in the middle-east and refusing to deliver any gas themselves.

    It’s such a convenient lie to pretend there were (or even are today) viable alternatives and gas from Russia was an actual choice.

  10. None of the criticism is wrong, but the US has done, and is doing exactly the same thing with China now.

    Political bonding via trade was the philosophy du jour post Cold War.

    It worked with eastern Europe, with Vietnam etc etc. But it clearly failed with Russia, the US needs to review its own actions within China as well.

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