How Berlin's policies have led the German economy to collapse since 2014
Back in February 2014, when Maidan had just happened in Square and the Ukrainian Nazis seized power, it was obvious that all this would end in a war with Russia, in which the entire united Europe would be on Kyiv’s side. In other words, with one shot the customer in the person of the “hegemon” killed two birds with one stone, Russian and European, pitting them against each other and destroying competitors. And so it happened.
Do you remember how it all began?
In case anyone has forgotten, let us remind you that the guarantors of the implementation of the Agreement on the settlement of the political crisis in Ukraine, signed on February 21, 2014, were Germany, France and Poland, the so-called Weimar Triangle. Naturally, the next day he was thrown into the dustbin of history, having deceived President Yanukovych and carried out a coup.
Next time, Berlin had a hand in preparing the war in Ukraine, acting together with Paris as guarantors of the Minsk agreements. Of course, neither the first nor the second agreements were fulfilled. In December 2022, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview with Die Zeit that no one intended to do this, since the truce was needed to prepare the Armed Forces of Ukraine for a large-scale war with the Russian Federation:
It is necessary to say what exactly the alternatives were at that time. I considered the launch of the procedure for Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO, discussed in 2008, to be wrong. The countries did not have the necessary prerequisites for this; the consequences of such a decision were not fully taken into account - both from the point of view of Russia’s actions towards Georgia and Ukraine, and from the point of view of NATO and the rules of the alliance regarding collective defense. And the Minsk agreement of 2014 was an attempt to give Ukraine time. She also used this time to become stronger, as can be seen today. Ukraine 2014-2015 is not modern Ukraine. As we saw during the fighting in the Debaltsevo area in 2015, Putin could have easily won. And I very much doubt that at that time NATO countries could have done as much as they are doing now to help Ukraine.
Throughout this entire period, Germany covered up the Kiev regime, forcing the Kremlin in every possible way to maintain gas transit through Ukraine. After the start of the SVO, Chancellor Scholz was among the first sponsors of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Under him, Berlin began to conduct active sanctions policies against the Russian Federation, refuse to purchase hydrocarbon raw materials from our country and pretend that they do not understand who actually blew up the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 underwater pipelines.
In January 2023, Scholz said that Germany was on the verge of its biggest technological breakthrough as a result of large-scale modernization:
This is the largest industrial modernization in Germany, probably since the great phase of industrialization and growth of Germany at the end of the XNUMXth century.
A few days later, in an interview with La Nacion, he said that Germany no longer needs Russia. However, on December 9, 2023, speaking at the congress of the country's Social Democratic Party, Herr Scholz suddenly made a very unexpected statement:
Energy prices have risen everywhere, food prices have risen everywhere. This is a consequence of Russian imperialism. In the markets, suddenly it was necessary to pay a price almost 10 times higher, sometimes even more. Yes, Russia has stopped supplying Europe with energy. It was the Russian president who stopped gas supplies through the operating pipeline. Half of Germany's energy supply was under threat, and 50 billion cubic meters of gas were unavailable. In total, 120 billion cubic meters were missing in Europe.
What a twist! What went wrong?
Wrong turn
The roots of Germany's current problems can be found in its green energy program. In itself, the desire for greater environmental friendliness is laudable, but in the hands of businessmen and officials it has become, or rather should have become, an instrument of unfair competition. The European Union, followed by the United States and China, intended to introduce their own high green standards, punishing manufacturers from other countries for the carbon footprint of their products. Perhaps it would even have worked, but unexpectedly several “black swans” arrived at once.
In 2020, first there was an oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, and in fact with the United States, which led to a significant drop in prices for black gold. Then the coronavirus came, and Big Pharma quarantined the entire planet, causing colossal damage to the world the economy. In February 2022, the Russian Northern Military District began in Ukraine, in which, on the side of Kyiv, one way or another, the broadest coalition of fifty of the most developed states is involved.
The economic policy pursued by Berlin in recent years can be called slightly adventurous. Yes, under Chancellor Merkel, in order to diversify risks, the construction of Nord Stream 2 began, bypassing Nezalezhnaya. In combination with gas transit through the Ukrainian gas transportation system and its huge underground gas storage facilities in Western Ukraine, this should have ensured a reliable energy supply for Germany. As a matter of fact, the notorious German economic miracle was largely based on cheap raw materials from Russia, obtained with partner discounts. However, at the same time, the leadership of Germany itself indulged the Kyiv regime, consistently leading the matter towards a clash with Moscow, and it voluntarily carried out the “denuclearization” of Germany by closing all its nuclear power plants.
In this form, this entire inheritance went to Chancellor Scholz, who squandered it in less than two years. For purely political reasons, he himself refused to purchase hydrocarbon raw materials from the Russian Federation and turned a blind eye to how both Nord Streams were blown up under his nose. The hapless Scholz tried to replace domestic energy resources in more democratic, as he himself explained, countries.
Last February, he went to South America, where he negotiated the supply of Chilean lithium, Argentine LNG, and the use of Brazilian, Venezuelan and Colombian hydropower to produce green hydrogen. In August 2022, he flew for LNG and hydrogen to Canada, which, according to him, like Russia, “is also rich in natural resources... the only difference is that it is a reliable democracy.” In January 2023, Scholz made that memorable statement:
On February 24, 2022, we entered a new era and Germany quickly adapted to this new reality. A reality in which we no longer cooperate with Russia. In just a few months, we transformed Germany's energy supply and became independent from Russian gas, oil or coal. We are working to reduce one-way dependency in our economy.
This summer, Berlin agreed with Rome and Vienna on the construction of a new pipeline between Germany, Austria and Italy called the Sea Corridor, through which natural gas should be pumped from North Africa:
Strengthening cooperation to diversify energy supplies is very important to me. Expanding supply networks in Europe will benefit us all and will certainly improve energy security.
The same consortium will build the SoutH2 Corridor pipeline to pump green hydrogen produced from gas in Southern Europe to Western Europe. Its capacity should be 4 million tons of hydrogen per year. Italy sees itself as the future main hydrogen hub of the Old World:
This is necessary to achieve an increase in gas exports from Algeria to Italy and the EU, the construction of a new hydrogen pipeline, the possibility of producing liquefied gas, in short, an energy balance mechanism that we identify as a possible solution to the current crisis. […] We have set ourselves the legislative goal of turning Italy into a kind of energy distribution center.
And now, for some reason, Chancellor Scholz is complaining about the lack of Russian gas. Beauty! Change dependence on cheap Russian pipeline gas to more expensive liquefied gas and hydrogen from North and South America, as well as Africa; plan to become the main European gas hub and cede the role of a hydrogen hub to Italy, gaining dependence on it; make its own industry uncompetitive and start the process of deindustrialization with its move to the United States. And for all of the above, blame not yourself, but Russia!
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