I don't think that they are laughing today. Wall Street Journal: How Germany Is Racing to Sever Dependence on Russian Energy
You can hate Trump, and despise everything he stands for, but even a broken watch is right once in a while. And he was right about Russia. (Remember when Obama laughed about Russia being the greatest foreign policy threat? He isn't laughing either, as far as I can tell. Though he paid no price for being spectacularly wrong.)
Days after taking office as Germany’s vice chancellor and economy minister in December, Robert Habeck asked his most senior officials for a detailed assessment of his country’s dependence on Russian energy. The result shocked him.
The country heavily relied on Russian hydrocarbons to power vehicles and factories and heat homes, and there was no contingency plan to secure other supplies, Mr. Habeck said. The government had no viable alternative to Russian imports.
Habeck goes on to describe the situation as a catastrophe. One easily seen, if you could look at Russia with clarity, and not through the American mainstream media. Or European media (for the most part) as well.
Russian companies controlled Germany's energy infrastructure, not just the supply. Refineries in Germany were not interested in refining non-Russian oil. It goes on from there.
“We’re suffering the consequences of allowing a Russian energy company to obtain such a strong influence on our supply,” a government report concluded this month, referring to Rosneft.
So, how did Germany react when President Trump pointed to these problems in 2018? FLASHBACK: Trump Warned UN About Relying On Russian Oil, Was Laughed At By German Delegation.
“Here in the Western Hemisphere, we are committed to maintaining our independence from the encroachment of expansionist foreign powers,” Trump continued as the camera then panned to the German delegation, who appeared to be laughing.
So how many of those laughing Germans are still in government? How many got promoted? How many will get promoted figuring out how to fix the mess that they thought was oh so funny, a few short years ago?
I would love to feel sorry of Germany, but like so many bone-headed decisions that were made under Merkel, they brought all this on themselves. As things stand, they are facing a recession for lack of energy, or from high energy prices.
Hell, Reagan warned them in the early 1980s. Fools.
ReplyDeleteThere was a brief moment in the 1990s, after the Soviet Union broke up that it was possible to see Russia as something other than a threat. Once Putin came to power he made no secret of his ambitions to rebuild empire.
DeleteThat is why I couldn't understand how clueless the Obama administration could be when he invaded Ukraine - specifically the Crimean Peninsula. He had only been talking about invading the former states of the Soviet Union for 20 years (more or less).