by Oui
Tue Aug 9th, 2022 at 12:47:23 PM EST
Germany's traffic light coalition and Europe
In its coalition agreement, Germany's new traffic light government states that it wants to further develop a "federal European state."
Sigmar Gabriel of the SPD in an interview also had harsh words for the EU: "All this talk that Europe wants to become a geopolitical actor has led to nothing. Figuratively speaking, Europeans always want to play in the Masters golf tournament, but as a rule they don't even know how to play mini golf."
As per the coalition agreement between the SPD, the FDP and the Greens, the priority of the new German government is a comprehensive restructuring of the EU's economy and energy supply to achieve climate goals.
German Ampelkoalition could worsen frictions with CEE
Similar to the Dutch and nearly one year of coalition talks to form Rutte IV, by completion in January all plans could go in the shredder as the major global affairs were forgotten.
A grand failure of the traffic light coalition ... a demanding choice between a hard compromise with Russia, or following the lead of Joe Biden in a lethal confrontation with Putin's Russia. Where Macron took the initiative, Berlin was nowhere to be seen. Not ready from day one to see the ravages of a war in Eastern Ukraine. Once the decision was made, there is no turning back. NATO and EU leaders in Brussels watched the events from afar and did nothing to intervene in a crippling disaster.
This article after six months of war in Ukraine illustrates the adaptation of Germans as winners to, quite pathetic, the big losers in Europe and on a global stage. Handing the consequences of foreign policy failure in 2021/2022 to its citizens the carry the brunt of economic hardship. Easy to set the blame on others like the previous ruling parties of CDU/CSU and SPD in the coalition of Angela Merkel. It is an evil world and the Germans were caught dreaming.
By delivering more and lethal arms, NATO and the EU joined in the war to perpetuate war with human disaster and enlarge the conflict by escalation. Fighting to the last Ukrainian. Beyond this being a proxy war between Washington DC and Moscow, it was clear the Ukraine was on a path of a civil war due to historic divisions that Kyiv failed to resolve. The coup d'état of Februari 2014 was the catalyst of a failed journey of independence. The oligarchs were divided and weren't interested in a unite Ukraine, kept the division and chaos for self-interest.
A corrupt nation is not ready to fight a war of survival. Zelensky did a failed call to the Russian speaking citizens of the South-Eastern districts to emigrate to Russia. A show of nothingness, not a leader to save the nation. Pressure by rightwing violent extremists, Zelensky repeatedly took the wrong policy decisions which aggravated domestic parties.
Shaping the future of Germany in an energie krise
"Russia uses its great power to blackmail Europe and Germany"
"We are increasingly registering that technical issues are being politicized," says Economics Minister Habeck. He accused Russia of distorting the facts when presenting a new energy package.
The lignite reserve is to be activated on October 1st.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has accused Russia of extortion in the gas crisis. It is a distortion of the facts that the Kremlin presents itself as a guarantor of secure gas supplies, Habeck said on Thursday in Berlin. "Indeed, Russia is using its great power - too great power we gave to Russia - to blackmail Europe and Germany and proves every day to be the insecure cantonist of energy supply in Europe." Contrary to claims, Russia is increasingly proving to be an "insecurity factor in the energy sector".
"We are increasingly registering that technical issues are being politicized," said Habeck at a press conference. For example, with the turbines from Canada, one has the feeling that Russia does not want to take them back. "We know that there were enough turbines," said the Economics Minister.
With all the challenges that Germany now faces due to the gas restrictions, one should not ignore Russia's attack on Ukraine, which violates international law. "We need staying power," said Habeck. "The second winter will still present us with challenges."
The background is that Russia is again delivering gas via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, but much less than possible. The economy minister said Russia was an "uncertain cantonist" on energy supplies. According to Habeck, the storage levels should be 75 percent full by September 1st, by October 1 instead of 80 percent as before, then to 85 percent and by November 1 instead of 90 percent as before.
Habeck also announced another energy security package. These include stricter requirements for filling gas storage facilities and activation of the lignite reserve. It is also about saving measures in public buildings and a mandatory "heating check". Measures are also planned to save gas in apartments.
The first hard coal plant is to be connected to the grid again | Tagesschau |
Not so much natural gas should be used to generate electricity. As a result, hard coal-fired power plants have recently been allowed to temporarily go back on the grid. A plant in Lower Saxony is apparently the beginning.
A first hard coal-fired power plant from the reserve is to be started up again soon. It is the Mehrum power plant in Hohenhameln in Lower Saxony (Peine district) between Hanover and Braunschweig, as the Federal Network Agency in Bonn announced, according to the dpa news agency. So far it is the only "market return" of a power plant that has been reported to the Federal Network Agency.
Since July 14, an ordinance has allowed hard coal-fired power plants from the so-called grid reserve to be put back into operation in order to save natural gas.
According to the Federal Network Agency, natural gas accounted for 11.2 percent of power generation in June. The ordinance of the federal government allows the sale of electricity from reserve power plants that are fired with hard coal or oil until the end of April 2023.
War in Ukraine: Tracking the impacts on German energy and climate policy | Aug. 5, 2022 |
The war in Ukraine forces Germany to radically rethink its energy policy, given that the country is heavily dependent on Russian fossil fuels. In first reactions, Germany put the contentious Nord Stream 2 pipeline project on hold, announced the creation of strategic coal and gas reserves, committed to building terminals for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and agreed to support the ousting of Russian banks from the SWIFT payments system. The government has also pledged to speed up the shift to renewables in a bid to become more independent from energy imports.
Schröder not thrown out of SPD party
Translation:
Gerhard Schröder was recently heavily criticized due to insufficient distance from Russia's President Vladimir Putin. The state arbitration court of the SPD in Hanover has now ruled in his favour.
France EDF Nuclear Plants
Where Climate Crisis and Failure Energy Transition meet ...
Sanctions? What sanctions ...
My earlier diaries ...
Habeck Energie Krise Crisis What Crisis? Mediterranean buyers return to the market for Russian crude
An uptick of Russian crude has quietly flowed to the Mediterranean region over recent weeks as buyers snap up barrels ahead of the European Union's partial embargo.
According to data tracked by Bloomberg, Russian crude flows to Italy hit a seven-week high, and shipments to Turkey hit a six-week high in the seven days leading up to August 5.
Europe's Offer to Boost Arab Wealth ... Again
Iraqi Oil - the $250bn gift to Saudi Arabia and Russia | by Jerome a Paris on Dec 24th, 2005 |
Whenever one talks of Iraqi oil, conspiracy theories abound as to the real motive of the Iraq war, or the intentions of the Cheney clique viz. Iraqi oil.
As I have written before, the only theory that vaguely makes some kind of strategic sense is that Bushco wanted to sit on the Iraqi reserves, deny them to everybody else and keep them for the time in the near future when peak oil strikes and it becomes a huge strategic advantage. Not very useful in the short term, but possibly rational in the long run (in a narrow, zero-sum game tunnel vision sense, but hey, that's who they are).
But in the meantime, some other players, and I am not talking about ExxonMobil or the other majors, are laughing all the way to the bank.
A bit of nudging as in 1973 when the west relied on a trustworthy partner in the OPEC monopoly, dare the West call it "blackmail"?
Oil Shock of 1973-74 | Oct. 1973-Jan. 1974 |
From the vantage point of policymakers in the Federal Reserve, an oil embargo by Arab producers against the U.S. further complicated the macroeconomic environment of the early 1970s. Debt of the Vietnam War and NASA Space Program caused hyper inflation and fall of the dollar in value.
Standard Oil and a breaking up a monopoly
BRIA 16 2 b Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Monopoly
