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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 พ.ค. 2022
- How Germany got stuck paying for Russia's war.
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Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU has sanctioned much of Russia’s economy, but Russia’s natural gas trade remains untouched. The EU gets nearly a quarter of its energy from natural gas, and almost half of that comes from Russia, the world’s largest gas exporter. As the EU’s largest economy, Germany is Russia’s biggest customer, paying Russia’s state-owned gas company 200 million euros. So while Germany has even sent Ukraine weapons, in a historic shift of military policy, through its gas supply Germany is helping to pay for the war it’s trying to stop.
It’s inherently hard to pivot away from piped gas. Unlike oil and coal, which can be rerouted, gas pipelines cost billions, take years to build, and physically connect producer and buyer directly, making them long-term commitments. That was the origin of Germany’s dependence on Russian gas, and over time it’s only deepened. Today, as the world tries to punish Russia through sanctions, that dependence is getting in the way.
Sources for additional reading:
Explore the world’s natural gas pipelines (and so much more!) with the Global Energy Monitor’s map:
globalenergymonitor.org/
Check out this explorer from IEA that showcases the world’s reliance on Russia’s fossil fuels. You can select natural gas in the dropdown menu to get that specific data: www.iea.org/reports/reliance-...
This tracker from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air shows how much money Europe has spent on Russian fossil fuels since the war in Ukraine began: beyond-coal.eu/russian-fossil...
This review of Power of Connection: Why the Russia-Europe gas trade is strangely untouched by politics by Thane Gustafson is a good summary of the strong link natural gas pipelines create between producers and buyers:
www.nature.com/articles/d4158...
If you want to dive into German-Russian natural gas relations, check out this research paper by Aurelie Bros: www.swp-berlin.org/publicatio...
The 2009 gas dispute that became a warning for Europe is explained in detail here:
www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp...
Here you can check out the EU’s sanctions on Russia since the war in Ukraine began:
ec.europa.eu/info/business-ec...
And, finally, we recommend these two books for anyone who wants to go even deeper into the topic:
Red Gas: Russia and the origins of European energy dependence by Per Högselius: www.amazon.com/Red-Gas-Depend...
Russian Energy Chains: The remaking of technopolitics from Siberia to Ukraine to the European Union by Margarita Balmaceda:
www.foreignaffairs.com/review...
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Correction, May 18 2022: A previous version of this video said that Germany would begin constructing its first liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal in 2026. This was incorrect: at publish time Germany had already accelerated those plans and now intends to open LNG terminals sooner. We've corrected the line at 7:20.
Thx 👍
Ok..
Glad to see that FOR ONCE Vox is actually issuing corrected statements.
no one cares
@@zoomyhaxor ???
We should also mention Gerhard Schröder. He is the former chancellor of Germany, who approved Nordstream just to become a board member in the Nordstream Company, Rosneft and Gazprom.
This is probably the most extreme case of lobbyism.
*former
don't forget Steinmeier, Manuela Schwesig, Merkel and of course the current advisor of Scholz - Plötner ;)
Schröder still sits on the board of Gazprom and still collects his million Euro paycheck. Unapologetic. Disgusting. IMHO the discussion should also have mentioned the unwillingness to reverse course on the shutting down of the *existing* nuclear reactors.
I think the video does ignore the influence of all the former Governments, that ignored renewables and replaced nuclear and coal with Gas.
Now the lobbyists will make money from arms supplies how does it change 🙄
Missed out on Norway supplying 21% of EU gas and is second to Russia at 43%. Norway is now planning to Expand its share.
Thank you Norway :-)
norway is already at maxium they cant expand it
I was thinking the same thing. The fact that Vox missed this is actually shocking to me.
@@nemzi8969 where did you hear that?
True but the netherlands supply 14% and they want to shut off completely importing themselves. So thats postpone but they also dont have a lot left to extract. Thats gonna be an issue noone mentions.
also: something that was not really mentioned is how dependent other european countries are from the german gas imports from russia. The reason for this is that germany is not only importing gas for its own industry, but neighboring countries also benefit from the gas deals. Like that, germany is weirdly enough one of the most gas exporting countries in the world, with having little to no own natural gas.
i wish I lived in the 40s, twas much more peaceful...
@@glubiix. really??
Algerian gas can ve an alternative
@@malikaabizar8318nly to a limited degree. We are importing gas from Algeria. However, due to the limited capabilities of Algeria's economy, there isn't a lot that we can do. Plus, Algeria wouldn't be able to provide enough gas. Germany needs a lot.
@@brianbosch3628 italy started a green gydrogen project with algeria
Solar energy of the sahara désert can be an alternative
Just some context:
(1) One of the main considerations was that stopping gas flows would be more damaging to Russia than to Germany (which is still true) as Russia depends on gas sales, although they make 3/4 of their ressource money from oil sales. Little consideration was given to the possibility that Russia might not care about their economy at all.
(2) Germany has 3 main suppliers (Norway, Netherlands and Russia) and both Norway and the Netherlands will still increase deliveries in the short term.
(3) Gas is used in Germany almost equally for heating and for industrial processes and unlike shown in the video, mainly in the chemicals sector. The world's largest chemicals company is sitting at the southern end of this pipeline network, producing e.g. fertilizer for agicultural production, which is also exported. And legally the industrial companies would be the ones that would have to limit their consumption, not the private households.
(4) Almost no gas is used for power production, that's why the exit from nuclear is quite irrelevant in this debate.
(5) Since the beginning of the war, Germany has exited both coal and oil from Russia and cut its share of the gas supply from 55% down to 30%.
Bruh germany made a treaty with russia that makes us pay the Russians also if we dont import gas, so why dont we just import the Gas we have to pay so or so
@@Humble-one it was not Germany and Russia. It was Wintershall and Gazprom. What you refer to is a „take or pay“ clause . Any sanctions would make that invalid.
(4) It is still relevant since gas is also used for heating. (Which could be done with electricity instead)
@@Rafulefou if you manage to install 20million electric heating systems from now to September. Than it would be relevant.
It will take years to install. and the German government will likely prohibit new gas heatings soon. Those will be powered by renewables though.
@@tobiwan196 Well on that point you are correct (although, it wouldn't take years but "A" year max)
I was merely pointing out that, this comes back to their prior decision of leaving nuclear power. If it was still around, one would argue that "some" people would have used electricity to heat (not just homes) which would greatly helped with the transition.
"since the invasion began Germany paid €220mln..."
me: That's not actually that bad
"...a DAY"
me: 😳😳😳
Fr
That's about 20 000 000 000 usd from beginning to today :d
Your face when you find out that due to price volatility they now pay >1B euros a day?
Imagine if they invested 220€ million a day into renewables
@@nxt_tim Even just half that. Or a Quarter on Renewables.
You missed that the pipe that goes through Poland called Yamal might also stop due to Nord Stream 2 and ridiculously high prices set for Poland. Poland tries to get gas from Norway instead and shares capacity of gas terminals along with Lithuania. Poland also tried to lend some gas to Ukraine during first blackouts there through reversed flow but there's lack of infrastructure to do that on high capacity as of now.
Actually, Poland has been cut off by Russia together with Bulgaria a few weeks ago. Thing is, that we have been preparing for this for at least 20 years. Energy diversification was a constant theme irrespective of what party stood at the helm.
Poland opened an LNG port in Szczecin around 2011 and connected with Lithuania's LNG port few years later. Baltic Pipe is on track go be opened this autumn allowing us to completely cut ourselves from Russia.
In short we did the exact opposite of what Germany did.
Surprisingly the Russian Ukraine 'brotherhood' pipeline of all things is still running.
Poland profit from all crisis and wars !!!!
Nuclear power ain’t looking so bad now
Germany got some ☢☣wahppons
dont worry😂
Brandt's foreign policy was not "Ostpolitik" it was "Wandel durch Annäherung". Ostpolitik just means "Eastpolicy", policies concerning the DDR and the Sovietunion.
The plan of the LNG terminal construction they name in the video is also not correct
This is actually really helpful in understanding their agreements. Thank You!
Vox is known for delivering incorrect information. So viewers discretion is advised.
"Wandel durch Annäherung" means "change through approximation"
Yeah, that's what it means, but it describes exactly the other term you use (which means that Germany had friendly politics toward Russia and believed that diplomacy and economic ties were the way forward, (eben Annäherung ;)), and so you can almost use them interchangeably.
Something that doesn’t get mentioned enough is how the German public some years ago decided our main environmental problem was nuclear energy so now all our nuclear power plants are shutting down.
And build it in France... Hahahaha
I was surprised this vid didn't say a word about nuclear.
And where do you get the resources for the nuclear power plants from? Russia?
They don't know where to get their energy..
@@prifon2896 "Over two-thirds of the world’s production of uranium from mines in Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia." the reason why some post-soviet countries rely on russian nuclear fuel is because their reactors are russian design.
This aged well
Thank you for sharing the information in such a succinct way! Would love to see a similar deep dive on middle eastern oil reserves some time!
Great request BTW
It's fairly easy to understand. Russian gas is the cheapest option for Germany due to it's geographical proximity. The gas can be pipped to German plants directly. This is a big part of how Germany was able to get so wealthy and sustain it's massive industry. It's also why there is such a reluctance in Germany to detach itself from Russian gas. Germany can replace Russian energy but it will be more expensive for them. At least in the short - medium term.
The US was always opposed to Nord Stream 2 from the start (you can find ample reports). It competes with US gas. Russia invading Ukraine was ironically a good thing for the US. It can now sell more gas into the EU, it can sell more weapons and it can weaken Russia. It can also expand NATO, giving it more territory from which to launch attacks.
On aside we are aiding the destruction of Yemen through our military aid of Saudi Arabia.
germany was wealthy way befor we got gas from the russian!
Quite the same scenario for India. Being in rather desirable relationship with Russia, its getting oil at discount of 25%. India is trying to keep it at $70 a barrel. Hope people understand that.
Germany actually cant replace russian gas, atleast not in the short term. The infrastructure necessary needs to be build first, which simply takes time on top of how expensive its going to be.
Nuclear energy?
Regarding LNG-Terminals (7:20): The first one won't start construction in 2026, it has already. And it's supposed to be done by the end of the year. Germany has passed some major laws to ease the construction and cut back on bureaucracy in recent weeks.
Passing laws is wonderful. Speeding up major construction/ infrastructure projects by changing laws is a wonderful idea but not realistic
Brandenburg Airport (Berlin), anyone? . . . . Anyone?
@@pedclarkemobile care to elaborate?
@@pedclarkemobile You don't know how LNG-Terminals work, do you?
Even they have a LNG terminal, it’s still super expensive to ship all those gas from overseas, that won’t make any economic sense
@@pedclarkemobile They didn't change laws for it. In fact that is the entire problem. They took so long with construction (because they cut costs to much) that in the mean time there were new fire protection regulations. The building was build for the old ones but now couldn't be certified, as it didn't meet current standards for new buildings.
Cool. Now do “Why The US Is No Longer The World’s Largest Exporter Of Oil And Natural Gas (Since 2021) 😂🤣
Cope harder Dee. US still is super power.
@@mrdato116 Nah. It’s crumbling. Brought down from within.
@@deebee4575 yeah, that's what Soviets were saying in the 70s and collapsed themselves lol. No one is on US level right now. Some might say China is coming close, but they ain't lol
@@mrdato116 in national dept sure its unbeatable
@@NahIdWin995 “debt”. Yep
Very educational episode.
Thanks for the time and effort that goes into creating such informative and high-quality content.
The Netherlands is moving away from natural gas quite quickly: old homes are using natural gas, but for new homes that's actually illegal now. New homes should be heated via heat pumps. Germany still has a lot of homes heated by oil which produces quite a bit more CO2. That's why Germany was actually moving _towards_ using natural gas in an effort to reduce CO2 emissions. It wasn't a bad idea, but that made them even more dependant on Russian gas.
But gas heating infrastructure is a major investment. So, if Germany moves towards gas now, then they will be stuck with gas for decades. The goal should be to replace gas burners in residential houses instead of adding new ones. Germany has been pushing for the EU to accept gas as a transitional green energy, but it doesn't look very transitional to me.
I mean u can replace the gas burners but you still need energy and without gas or nuclear u just cannot power a grid with present day technology. Even in the Netherlands we have far less gas stoves but we still use a fk ton of gas, I would hazard a guess more per capita then Germany to power the electricity grid. Really the only country (big one) in the EU that took energy security policy seriously was France and they are essentially the only country that has remotely acceptable energy prices right now.
@@anotherelvis Direct heating with gas is not the issue here, it is mostly present in older homes. The way many German homes are heated with gas, is indirect, through something called district heating. The gas is burned at one plant, there energy is generated, but also heat. The heat is then transferred through pipes across cities ( makes no sense on the country side). This way of heating is fairly efficient, there are also other "contributors" to the heat network, other fossil fuels, trash incineration plants, geothermal and even industrial sites, where the cooling step in some process is partly done through heat transfer.
This indirect form of heating is actually pretty efficient and is the most low carbon you can get with fossil fuels. It can actually beat Solar in some scenarios.
So yes building gas power plants might be a bad investment, ( i think mostly from a geopolitical strategic perspective, Russia is the only viable source for large volumes, CO2 emissions can be very low, but there are many factors)
The Netherlands #1
@@anotherelvis The plan is to switch the pipelines to hydrogen in the future (No idea how that is supposed to work)
7:21 That is wrong. The German government wants to build 3 LNG Terminals. The construction of the first one in Wilhelmshaven is starting in the next weeks. It's planned to start operating in 2023.
So 2026 is just completly wrong
thats good, thanks for the extra info. Only germany can build stuff this quickly! Wish they listened to the baltic states at least a little bit and built one as a backup anyway back then
Aren't that just the floating ones that you can basically rent? But yeah, that seemed like pre-war plans in the video.
@@toosas Germany building stuff quickly? Berlin Brandenburg Airport would like a word...
@@unvergebeneid Just the dock for the ships is floating, at the shore are storage units and processing facilities. The only goal is to get as much gas as possible
@@Croz89 Berlin is not Germany, is a common saying here and it holds true most of the times.
I was looking into geothermal for my house in Germany. You'd think the government would subsidize it, especially with the Ukrainian war but big NOPE. When it was time to help out the auto industry, the government came up with the Abwrackprämie, but nothing to wean ourselves off from Russian gas.
Harvesting Geothermal energy is not an easy process. It needs proximity to "hotter" grounds. Proximity to mountains and volcanos for example. And getting only 100-200 meters into the ground could potentially destabilize the ground and let's not even start debating the costs. It needs special equipment to even drill so far into the earth, this on itself poses an almost insurmountable challenge. And even then, we are talking about maybe 120 degree water, which isn't really hot for a turbine to produce electricity. If you want to use the heat directly, you need pumps that rely on electricity to pump up all the water or whatever fluid you use to the surface.
I think the public and laymans have these vague and impractical fantasies but lack the technical knowledge. How do you think then, the government could assist you in setting up your ow backyard geothermal power plant?!
it is worth simplifying the question as much as possible, no matter what the German government decides there, if they refuse Russian gas, then ordinary people will gradually have a standard of living, everything is simple, energy, it affects all aspects of human life in the modern world, Russian gas is generally sold cheaply, if even Germany starts buying somewhere else, it will hit ordinary people first of all
@@lilied1 geothermal energy has an image problem for no real reasons. If correctly installed there are no negative side effects to expect. Geothermal energy isnt the optimal source for producing electricity in germany, thats right. It's also no short term solution. But it has massive potential in heating our private households. The main problems are the high initial costs and the lack of skilled professionells.
Run a pipe to Iceland if you want geothermal
@@Smashingbonejuices wouldn't Work, thats why no one is talking about
Remember when Trump tried warning Germany becoming dependent on Russia lol
Everyone has said that, even our politicians. That doesn't make Trump any more competent
To explain US people why Europe cant really get out of Russian gas instantly - it is like US would decide to close all oil production in their territory (including mexican gulf).
Doable? Sure. But you would need to build completely new deals, infrastructure etc to get it from elsewhere. Not easy.
It’s easier when you plan for renewable energy in the long term. Germany isn’t really doing much of that with their coal companies/this. Also they’re all able to diplomatically talk Russia into leaving Ukraine then preparing for green energy after. This isn’t only a very narrow view on geopolitics but a contempt one at best.
here in the us we are encouraged to seek the easiest solution to any problem it would seem. time is money i guess.
I think the question is: Why didn't central European countries start looking for alternatives to Russian gas 20 years ago? Why do we have to solve the problem with so short notice?
@@anotherelvis cause of the low price of russian oil and gas. Im sure americans understand those principles
yeah, Germany decided to increase its dependence on Russian energy after the war started in 2014. Despite sanctions they wanted to open new pipeline with the knowledge that russia uses this revenue for financing the war in eastern Ukraine.
Well… You seem to forget the LNG Terminal in Willhelmshafen, which germany started to build 2 weeks ago. Germany plans to supply Gas from here this winter.
Wilhelmshaven!
If germany started building it 2 weeks ago, there is no way it will be ready for the winter. I think the build times on those are usually 2-3 years.
PS. Unless they will use so called "floating terminals", I think those might be deployed faster (since they are basically ships, and some might even be available for hire). I do not know if they don't still need some ground-based infrastructure, however.
@@TheBlobik they are building multiple floating terminals
@@TheBlobik
Germany ordered 4 floating LNG terminals and two LNG terminals are going to be constructed on land.
Two of the floating LNG terminals are supposed to be ready at the end of the year.
Simply said, there is no "cheaper" alternative to piped gas..!
The French with their 56 nuclear power plants : "Gas price increase ?.....Ok."
We are still a lot to use gaz heaters at home.
@@flx4305 Yes you are certainly right, but in US for example one-third of the electricity is from gas and one another is from coal so if the price strongly increases, everything increases. And the ecological impact is much greater when you use electricity in the US that in France.
@@noxihra2212 yeah ofc just pointing out that we do suffer from this crisis
So Germany had 14 YEARS to address the problems with their dependence on Russian gas and did very little about it. Bureaucracy is going to be the death of us yet...
Bureaucracy is a huge problem, but on top of that they simply didnt want to. The same people were in power for all these years and did nothing except making it even worse
Yeah, and we couldn't do anything about it. We have corrupt politicians.
Why it is a problem? No one cut off USA's deals when they invaded middle East.
what problems? last I checked germany is not at war with russia.
@@bodigames Perhaps you could try watching a video before commenting on it?
And at the time, Brandt's Ostpolitik helped end the cold war. At the time, it was the exact right thing to do. But as we know, the USSR is no more and Russia has since the 90s become quite a different country.
I think it’s important to mention how people were thinking back then. It’s interesting how something like this can be so beneficial but turn into a nightmare.
Good strategy, but it can become a geopolitical blackmail as we're seeing. Not having a plan B is not ok.
@@gs7828 The heavy end is hitting Germany half a century after the beginning of Brandt's Ostpolitik, you can't blame him for not being able to predict what would happen half a century later.
This strategy worked with France and marked the beginning of the EU. War became irrational. The strategy does not work with Russia though because Russian rulers never cared for the well being of their citizens and would never hesitate to throw bodies in order to increase gain
@@neychev It also works with Russia - is it the EU who is at war? Would Russia even sanction anything if we didn't sanction first? Ukrain was never part of our European world, let's be honest. It's a state nobody really cared about or knew anything about just a year ago. Let's not do as if we were always thinking about Ukrain and how bad they have it, we treated the country poorly and this has nothing to do with Brandt.
This video has unlocked a memory of mine. Visiting Europa-Park back in 2016ish I noticed one of the rides was sponsored by Gazprom, which I recognised as FC Zenit’s sponsor from my days of playing fifa. Kinda weird how this all makes sense now with Russia’s energy influence in Germany.
I don't know if that's in any interest of you, but they cut ties and renamed the ride as well as other sections of the park which were sponsored by Gazprom.
@@may-x5589 oh nice, this was quite a while ago so was this quite recent?
@@tomlb19 it was at the start of the war. Of course this is probably just PR, but I think it's the right choice.
Edit: I also made a little mistake, the ride is still called blue fire. But they removed the associations towards Gazprom.
If only someone told Germany this was going to happen.
Biden said he was gonna end nord stream, he carried out his promise, we will put an end to it. US sabotaged its competitor, increased energy cost, the main thing that makes economy competitive. This is why they closed down atomic power plants. US is not developing, but it wants to keep everybody poorer than itself.
Trump did buddy
Construction on the first of 3 initially floating LNG terminals (later to be replaced by more permanent infrastructure) is starting in the next few weeks, to be completed by the end of the year and in operation by the start of 2023. The other 2 are expected to follow soon. The info re LNG terminals is outdated by around 2 months of ongoing developments.
they also fail to mention that Russian gas will be phased out by 2024 which is fast considering the scale of the challenge
Australians are happy to plug the gap with our LNG. We are the 5th largest exporter & we possess high-tech engineering, but our expandable mining potential is barely realized.
Our mining is purely private, so it responds to market demand. Unfortunately this means it never increases scale short term, only long term when market forces stay consistent. It is frustrating that we have more than enough gas to replace Russia but we don't control our mining.
@@donkeytwoddle I think the problem with Australian LNG would be the exploding transport costs. Since obv the longer a ship has to go, the higher the price and in the end, the german households will pay the increase in their energy bill. Which, in times right now, is not a point we should forget about. It's not like Germany has infinite cash ^^
@@ebbeb9827 I guess will see. If they could have done it so fast they would done it years ago
@@lazaalecs There was a policy of "Wandel durch Handel" (change through trade links) in place in Germany for both Russia and China for the last 30 years. The aim was greater interdependence to pull them towards Western values and more liberal social structures, and prevent war due to that interdependence. Disconnecting was the antithesis of what they wanted to do until recently. Especially the SPD was very fond of how deeply they were involved in this "new friendship" with Russia and got far too involved with Russian hydrocarbon companies (e.g. Schröder and Schwesig)... the last 3 years have shown to even the most reality denying politicians that this was wrong re China, and the last 3 months (or 8 years for people more quick on the uptake than German politicians) that it was wrong re Russia.
should have included the moment when German official was laughing at Trump for stating that it is too dangerous to depend on Russia for your own energy supply in the UN meeting.
oh yeah what a worldo that trump guy was. always the policy wonk
It's gonna be fun this coming winter.
You play the reverse role.
You forgot one of the most important points: Willy Brandt's *neue* *Ostpolitik* tried to employ the fundamental idea of European peace on Russia. An interdependent relationship with Russia like we currently have within the EU was supposed to prevent Russia from threatening the EU. Stability, prosperity and peace through trade and exchange.
This assumption on Russia has turned out to be incredibly harmful, not just for the energie security of Europe but obviously peace and the wellbeing of the Ukrianian state and people.
Yes, but this only became true this year. The decades before it was kinda working.
Ukraine and ex-USSR were talking about it for many many years. We were not heard. Anyone ex-ussr would say: never ever trust Russia, ever.
@@valeriikundas1913 it's always easy to talk like that after the damage. at least people are trying to find new ways for a more peaceful world. I mean it worked within the EU.
not ever trusting another country doesn't sound like a good and sustainable solution to me.
As an American, Ostpolitick seems like it worked until it didn't with Ukraine 2014 onwards
@@mael1515 did you watch the video? Putin started to use energy exports as a weapon in 2008. It wasn't working at least since then.
"Ostpolitik" just means "east politics" you should rather have said "Annäherungspolitik", meaning "approximation politics"
Vox is terrible at politics
@@uhohhotdog "I found a mistake or two in their video therefore they're 'terrible' at politics aren't I smart???" 🙄
@@lenglain there were about 5 mistakes
This video helped me out so much for my German A level research presentation, thanks :))
Thank you for this visual narrative. I could have never understood Germany's constraints as well without this video. Request 🙏🏼: Please further illustrate how each of Germany's options would likely play out.
Second request: what is the realistic proportion that green energy could help out (ie. solar, wind, etc)?
Something interesting in the UK is that we now have so much gas, that the price has collapsed
This is because we have 3 LNG terminals, which are importing way more gas than we are currently using, due to it now being summer
The problem is that we have no storage for natural gas and the 2 pipelines that connect us to mainland Europe, are maxed out shipping gas to Europe
But the more interesting thing, is that the Natural Gas prices for consumers are stuck at high levels due to the big spike in March/April
Pump all the gas to The Netherlands our gas fields were gettig dry for years, we can store at least enough gas for north west Europe
In germany we have storage, but the former government let the largest storage be sold to...... russia. So now russia is owning the biggest gas storage in germany. And that since 2015. lol
The UK doesn't really use a lot of Russian gas. It has a decent amount of domestic production from its territory in the north sea, and most of the rest is imported from Norway or the Netherlands via undersea pipelines.
@@Croz89 Brits are smart, as are the French. They know that they can rely on no one but themselves in the end, i applaud them. There’s a reason why France and Britain ruled the world for centuries. :) 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇫🇷
@@thierryparte2506 - Found out that in 2020, they have discovered what they estimate is 800 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Kara Sea. Problem is the Kara sea is right off the coast of Northern Central Russia. Fusion energy is coming. Most likely around the middle of this century. In the meantime, small nuclear plants is the new thing. Those small nuclear plants are called "Small modular reactors (SMRs)". Much cheaper to build and safer.
I think this video sums up the historical development of this dependency pretty well, however, in my view (as a German), our politicians are trying to buy time to prepare alternatives to Russian gas. This is quite different from being stuck.
On top of finding alternative energy sources, a large-scale energy-saving program is being rolled out this summer to accelerate the phasing-out of Russian gas.
What can and should certainly be criticized is the lack of action on this matter after Russia‘s invasion of Georgia in 2008 and of Crimea in 2014 as well as the stalling renewable energy development during the Merkel era.
in retrospect the politics from 1990 to 2008 was also dangerous because Germany became very dependent on Russian gas. Whether we like it or not energy politics is always security politics.
Merkel still refuses to take responsibility for her part.
@@anotherelvis so trump was right?
You're also forgetting your government's incredibly misguided decision to move away from nuclear energy.
Not to mention their deeply illogical nuclear phaseout. Keeping nuclear power plants in operation would've meant renewable sources could've replaced gas consumption much sooner than 2035.
Im from Azerbaijan (6:51) and yes, that’s true. Since our primary export is oil, there is no way that even southern Europe could rely on our natural gas. (We are still a developing country)
Interesting
I didn't know this
Thanks
Germany tried to bring Russia in the European fold. It was always going to be a long shot.
Maybe because Germany and Russia belong to different civilizations, according to Samuel Huntington
@@user-lj8rl3fx9u Russians have always tried to fit into Europe. Think about the tsars hiring European architects and the elite Russians using European clothes. They have always had a inferiority complex.
Not Germany, Merkel. I like her but this was her biggest mistake.
@@HopeRock425 You mean Murkle?
I accept this, and cutting off Russia entirely prior to them doing anything bad would have just played them to where they are now, but they annexed Crimea and actively supplied Russia backed seperatists, including personnel to the Donbass in 2014. Germany would have been at least diversifying its energy supply at that stage, even if you didn't think they should have before then. That was 8 years ago, 8 years of just turning a blind eye, and it wasn't unthinkable that it would come to this. It won't be easy to find alternative supplies quickly now and change infrastructure, but this should have been started years ago!!!
Also noteworthy: back in 2000, Germany started to invest heavily in renewables and had a strong industry of its own, they’ve been leading in development as of production of photovoltaic panels, but also became a major factor for wind turbines and planned gradually passing out nuclear power plants.
Back in 2010, the conservative hover started reversing on nuclear (for just a year - until the Fukushima disaster happened), but more importantly limited and capped installation new sources of renewables. A famous example are ridiculously high minimum distance requirements to any other settlement, who in some states made it impossible to install new wind turbines. Upgrading existing wind turbines was regarded as a new plant, and so often was unlikely to be approved. Any subsidies on solar panels were capped by the national limit, making it risky to invest there as well. On the other hand, lignite coal production was extended „to save jobs“ - much less jobs who have been lost in the renewables sector, and most of which were planned to be retired soon.
Without those artificial roadblocks installed by conservatives, Germany could now be close to 100% of renewables, heat homes from heat pumps powered by electricity from renewables and dropping gas consumption by more than half of the current usage.
Danke!
nuclear is one of the cleanest sources of energy there is. I don't get why Germans hate it so much lol
Nuclear is awesome
It's always CONservatives, isn't it ??
Reversing on nuclear is a bad idea.
Well presented info. Thank you.
Trump told Germany in 2018 to get of the dependency of Russian oil and gas at the UN. Germany laughed… how’s that working out now lol 😂
The biggest problem of the last years that I (as a German) see is our lack of commitment for renewable energy. We were world leaders in that technology but abandoned it in the 2010s.
@@AngryAmericanWizard Okay how expensive are they to build, how much resources do they use and are there any finished ones in the world yet? Also, where does the radioactive trash go? Nuclear power is better for our climate and independence, but Renewables are still the best.
Renewables come with their own practical issues. Solar and wind power cannot be turned on and off to meet grid demand as needed. At this point, power storage is a more important consideration. Using batteries that operate on chemical reactions is not going to be environmentally friendly. Until power storage is sorted out, other sources of electricity like natural gas will have to prop up solar and wind power sources. Also, the raw materials used to build solar panels and wind turbines aren't environmentally friendly either. At the end of their lifespan, solar panels and wind turbines become waste as well. There will be landfills full of waste. Nuclear power is the next best option for a country that doesn't have enough hydroelectric or geothermal power to meet electricity demand. Germany should have let their nuclear power plants run until the end of their service life instead of prematurely shutting them down.
@@MrAnonymousRandom And how long will nuclear fuel last? China and India are building more and more plants, France is expanding... the more plants are active the faster all known ressources of mineable uranium are GONE. You build up to your own demise with that reliance too.
green energy means independence from oil and gas and cheap energy. Unforrunately, the old oil and car Industries can buy lots of lobbyists to manipulate the public. You can detect them here on TH-cam by their empty profiles with no subscriptions. It's the sign of a person with multiple accounts.
The main suppliers of uranium are Russia and its neighbor Kazakhstan . So it would do very little to exchange one dependency for another.
Apart from that 75% of the impotierten gases is not at all used for power generation but burned for heat generation, nuclear power brings us there not far, because the heat systems do not work with electricity, but the gas is burned, directly.
I would’ve liked to see the mention of Germany was selling large parts of it’s gas storage to the German branch of Gazprom back in 2014 (duh!). Gazprom was about to transfer the ownership of those to some random dude to avoid getting sanctioned, which was prevented by the government (same in other countries). Since the gas was traded to other countries, it was quite normal that these storage units weren’t full, but apparently less gas in general was delivered over the course of last year.
It’s not just gas though, it‘s also coal and oil. Our government made wrong decisions for decades and even actively destroyed our national solar businesses.
And why? The same as to why the pipeline is there still. It's waay cheaper. You need to think about the shareholders more.
I mean, Solar power in Germany sounds as good as Hydroelectric power in Saudi Arabia.
@@shellshockedgerman3947 Solar in Central and Northern Europe, especially Germany, is not as bad as you might think. (Look at a Solar Ioslation Map of Europe) Maybe 55%-60% of what a sunny part of Spain would get. The solar cells can be optimized for the specific light conditions in Germany and the environment is not so harsh allowing thin film cells to be used and to last. A problem is energy storage because of highly seasonal German weather in winter but a combination of batteries and hydrogen will be able to make use of any energy.
It's just like that everywhere, the politicians and corporations have become so intertwined that they work on the inside as one single self-centered entity.
Lol Germans not wanting to pay the gas bill. The jokes just write themselves.
this was very informative, thank you Vox.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was not canceled. It’s been completed. Germany refused to “certify” it because of issues with the way the ownership and payments deal was set up . Something about you cannot own and operate a pipeline. They were kinda dragging their feet cause the knew russia had the leverage. Now they have indefinitely suspended the project. However it’s done. The pipeline is there and ready to go. At least that is what I read previously.
You are right
It will never go online though. It was intended to replace other pipelines, it's capacity was not actually needed. The companies involved wanted to no longer pay the high transfer fees in either Poland or Ukraine and that's why the project was opposed in Eastern Europe. The US opposed it because it was the only way to sell America's expensive LNG to Germany. Of course now they claim it was for security concerns, but that played a minor role until recently.
@@tobiwan196 Really high transfer fees? or Russian want make Germany really on their gas and make Germany as their puppy like now? or interesting question about top managers in Gazprom most of them is ex-politics from German
Germans will launch it after some transfers of moneys from moscow. Remember, that they have left a loophole to do it in the future. Money is a new God and moral value.
And who is paying for the billions wasted on it ?? The German citizen of course!
I was born & raised in Groningen, Netherlands. Honestly, the earthquakes haven't been as bad as portrayed. Some houses have cracks, others need some extra support. None of them have collapsed, no-one has been injured.
The importance of utilising the Groningen gas field to support the European economy outweigh the material damage done to our homes. I say this as an energy-transition student.
While I imagine it's not just to support the economy but to weaken dependence on Russian and foreign energy. The solution is to let the private sector without subsidies or any assistance build or not build and leave the government completely out of it, if there's demand then it will be built if there isn't then it won't.
@@kordellswoffer1520 You can’t just talk about Black people like that how racist you are you better not delete your comment I can’t believe it how these people can live a life of racism
@@edward2364 what.
If local and national government would actually fund the restoration projects in a timely manner i think NL could actually open up these fields. Atleast for the time being when we swtich to renewable sources. (also study in groningen)
@@edward2364 lol what?
In love with their editing, ❤️
**REMINDER**
German staffers LAUGHED HYSTERICALLY at the American President when he warned them in 2018 at a UN meeting of their dependence on Russian oil and suggestion to diversify.
but your ex president wanted that we buy expensive american gas sorry we wont
@@olcankanicok9125 enjoy having no air conditioning this summer :)
@@roudyman777 I mean Germany just could buy more Russian gas. So just ignore Ukraine
@@olcankanicok9125 Germany is already buying more Russian energy than they ever have before while simultaneously telling their population that they are no buying anymore. Germany is a joke.
Feels like you missed out a few developments, current efforts to more immediately wean off of Russian gas, already in-construction LNG terminals, the Brandt-Policy was already mentioned, but also the recent change in position and now push for a ban of Russian oil, where I think mostly Hungary is now holding the Bloc back.
Yes , though it's not fast enough. It will help out future Europe to be less dependent on Russia. I don't think natural gas sanctions will be coming anytime soon . At least for a year or so , they will continue importing Russia's natural gas. But the imports should be phased out much sooner than that . But EU country's citizens may have to live in dark once in a while for it to happen.
This must be an uncomfortable watch for a German (with the benefit of hindsight of course)
I don't understand why one single nation can hold the entire NATO back. I mean if you really want to do it, you can do it on your own, the U.S has already done so. Blaming "Hungary is holding the Bloc" or "Germany is holding the bloc" is just an excuse.
@@super_hero2 this has nothing to do with NATO, NATO doesnt do sactions, the EU does. Obviously the EU is not a government, it doesnt take decisions by itself, for the EU to anbounce something its because every single contey is in agreement with it. Some individual countries have already banned all Russian oil and gas
@@fgsaramago I just don't understand why people only blame Hungary or Germany, most EU nations is still buying oil and gas from Russia even worse at increasingly high price and volume.
I'd like to also add that across most of the EU there is high dependence on natural gas, Germany isn't even the country with highest dependence on it in the EU.
This does not justify funding Russias war but it does put things into perspective.
"Germany isn't even the country with highest dependence on it in the EU." what countries are, per capita?
You're talking about Central Germany... East Germany would be Pomerania, Silesia, Königsberg, etc
This was very informative and easy to understand. I never lived in Europe and was unfamiliar with this history of the Russian gas and the relationship with Germany. Thank you Vox for the insight.
This video is misinformation.
They also forgot to mention how closing nuclear plants are making things more difficult.
That's Not correct. Germany uses gas for residential heating and industry. The infrastructure is build around gas pipelines, and it IS going to take time to transition to electrical heating. So nuclear energy would Not solve the problem Here and now.
Besides, germany already exports more energy than it imports. nuclear has nothing to do with this issue.
the problem is not just heating, but the fact that important industries in germany, for example the chemical industry, are dependent on russianw gas. you can't just "turn it off" like that, otherwise it would put germany into recession and weaken the whole eu at the same time.
if germany gets gas from other countries, it will probably be more expensive. more expensive gas will increase prices, which will reduce germany's competitiveness.(this will also weaken the eu)
A sizeable share of gas consumption goes towards uses that have non-gas alternatives (heating, power production). Had Germany properly transitioned in those areas, this would've decreased gas consumption to the point where the remainder could be fueled entirely by non-Russian sources.
Didn't Trump warn Germany about this? I remember something about him saying it.
Yes, he did.
Who would have think that betting your economy on Russia is not a good idea...
I don't blame them for not wanting a recession for their own people..
Most Germans support measures against Russia even if it costs them (extensive polling has been done).
We all know the cost of stopping Putin’s imperialism, but it’s a price that has to be paid: ‘never again’ they said, not never again unless it increases the price of gas…
as the other comment said, most germans are in support because they understand lives are worth more then jobs
@@jamescrozier6424 that's why they urged all European countries to pay for Russian gas with roubles... and were one of the first countries which agreed to pay for gas with roubles. So cowarldy and hipocritical. Typical German, though
Germanys first LNG terminal isnt started building in 2026 they just started one in Wilhelmshaven
all this was in the 70s, by the way, you can notice many speed limiters just from there.
amazing.thank you
Interdependence usually brings stability, and I think that was part of Brandt's idea. But dependence on a single party without resilience (in this case the option of boycotting Russian gas) is volatile, as it causes leverage. The best scenario would be that each country would benefit from cooperating with all other countries but cause (economic) damage only to itself by isolating itself. If we could achieve this there would be no war in the Ukraine and possibly no Brexit either. Resilience can of course only be achieved by decentralization of resources, which in terms of energy is not possible if we stick to gas. But I really don't know how quickly we can switch to electricity.
It's also worth mentioning that Romania is starting to exploit natural gas from the Black Sea this year and will increase production in the following years with the objective to move towards EU energy independence. Even though that is not possible due to the limited reserves there, it will help South-Eastern European countries to do so.
Yeah, and after this we're talking about Green Technologies. Destroying of the sea fauna is nothing when it is about money, huh?
@@Voicemix it is what it is
very informative!
can I just give a hands up for the opening and closing images ... bravo
We Germans are opportunists. Russian gas is cheap and Russia has always been a reliable provider. Wars, murders, totalitarianism, ah, forget it, no hard feelings.
We love to take the moral high ground and don't hesitate to point fingers but when it comes to take action we duck out. We have been warned for decades not to become too dependent on Russian energy, primarily by the Americans, but it was preaching to the winds. I really hope we fall on hard grounds, maybe we'll learn a lesson.
You have become one of the greatest economies of the world because of the russian gas so I think it's worth it.
You can fall on hard grounds if you want to but i got a family to feed
what lesson? Russia has done nothing to germany lol.
you germans just dont like the war russia has created with ukraine, but make no mistake, russia has done nothing to germany so there shouldnt be any reason for you germans to doubt russian energy since russia has always given you their energy.
Well, you can easily quit cheap Russian gas consuming and stop all your industry and rise cost of ALL products including toilet paper. Bulgary has already done it. If you wanna live like Bulgarians, do it now.
Your wish is now fulfilled.
In 2008 they experienced what Russia could do with the gas supply, but did nothing but increase their demand.
14 years of wasted time and now they don't have time to act.
It's stuff like this that gives countries as Russia, China and even UAE a lot of power.
DONT CREATE PROBLEM WITH RUSSIA AND THEY WILL RESPECT THEIR CONTRACT
@@gaetanlizotte1957 we will respect our contracts in any case, unlike you
@@gaetanlizotte1957 Don’t even make contracts with Russia, never in history it had a amazing diplomacy with it’s neighbors, no matter the government and the crown.
@@gaetanlizotte1957 Russia started the problem when it started invading and conquering nations such as Chechnya, it’s just that Europeans have finally woken up from what we Americans have warned for years.
@@williamsherman1942 Russia had as much right to secure Chechnya, as any other power. At least the Russians have the decency to invade nations on their border, what can be said for America and the rest of NATO? In what universe is the invasion of Iraq justified?
Should also mention Germany is continuing to close down its last three nuclear plants at the end of the end and has ruled out prolonging them.
Trump said it in 2018 and they all laughed. Looks like they ain't laughing now.
The statement that the first LNG terminal in Germany will only begin construction in 2026 is incorrect.
On the fifth of may construction began on the first LNG terminal in Germany in Wilhelmshaven, which is expected to be operational by the begin of 2023. Another is also intended to begin construction not far from now in Brunsbüttel. The reason why construction has only begun now and not earlier is that for a long time politics could not agree on where to build the LNG terminals.
I like how they purposely left the last part of the video as an open ended cliffhanger. I expected them to keep going until I realized the rest of the story hasn't happened yet
I think you didn't get that. He said about measures on oil and gas, not oil and gas themselves...
Nice video.
Sebastian Vettel had some good points on this on question time the other day
Why Germany hooked on Russian gas?
Well, Germany dont have their own gas but have biggest industry in Europe.
No gas - no industry
Gas is also the main electricity production method in Europe. So it affects way more than only the industry
@@kiliandervaux6675 Germany produces virtually no electricity from gas, but half the households use it for heating. And unlike most of the US, we do have winters.
@@tobiwan196 False. Germany produce about 10% of its eletricity from gas.
Germany decided to play a soft approach since reunification and now they face a difficult situation. "winter is coming" and it will be a harsh one..
Now how many sanction package ?
"The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia."
- Otto Von Bismarck
It's not about the gas, it's about the energy. Energy to heat houses and keep factories running. The energy dependance from outsiders it's complicated. It brings us cheap energy but at the cost of being at their disposal. The whole Europe is going to tackle this problem, sooner or later.
France looks like the one with the head-start, building nuclear energy as madlads.
Hopefully Spain can catch up in terms of renewables such as solar or wind, for the wellbeing and prosperity of my country.
Except France's nuclear wouldn't have mattered considering only a fraction of German gas use goes to electricity production. Give Germany's industry to France and see its gas use skyrocket. Even now France's primary energy consumption exists for 16% out of gas vs 26% for Germany, this while Germany has a much bigger industry demanding gas.
@@MDP1702 fair point. Having a gas-hungry industry further agravates the gas dependance "problem", but one could guess that the last decade of cheap gas has accommodate the industry to this fuel.
@@sergiocastro5304 There are a lot of industrial process that need gas. Currently no non-gas process exists, are much more pollutant (like coal, but this also is often imported from Russia) or just starting (larger) testprojects. So it really is out of necessity, not it being cheap.
That's what the video was saying
You didn't tell us that "Ostpolitik" means "East Policy," as in the policy that Germany was taking toward eastern Europe, to include the Soviet Union.
This is so very infuriating. Especially if you remember that Germany was leading in renewable energy. Rather than working towards clean energy, Germany stayed dependent on Russian supply. WATCHING the renewable industry dying, while saving the coal industry, which is just as bad. What is the use in saving 200.000 jobs in the coal industry, if we KNOW that we will have millions of people suffer in the long run, because we cannot transfer to reneable energy, and/or are dependent on Russia? Nowadays other countries have taken up the reigns and Germany has lost all of it's lead in technology regarding renewable energy. I really, really do hope, that this turns out OK and someone CAPABLE does SOMETHING.
When you run out of electricity, it's not just 200k jobs in coal that went missing. Many other industry will have to stop, causing a huge catastrophe.
You can't just build renewable energy in a few months. Just look at how much china invested in renewable energy to make it even viable (china alone invest as much as united state and europe combined). I very much doubt germany will be able to get their renewable energy up in time to avoid the energy crisis.
Germany is simply stuck in a bad position.
@@mira-rara part of it is that germans expected renewable production to be able to shoulder more than it ever coul. while they built solar and wind, they shut down nuclear, but their demand still grew and so the gas came in. had they maintained their nuclear plants and kept the same investment in renewable, its very possible they wouldnt be in this pickle rn.
They are stuck now since nuclear plants are horribly expensive in terms of time and money to construct, but it absolutely didnt have to be this way.
@@empireoftruth3291 they don't expect the war either tbf. They kind of stuck in the middle.
This is why your important needs like energy supply should not depend on one country
Love how the netherlands is closing the Groningen gas field only because some small villages above the field are struck by minor (
You Dutch folk get my respect for willing to go so far for so few people, the thought of Americans thinking about making such a decision is simply unthinkable. Guess we like oil a little too much lol
When I see this I still thank our french politics to have invested that much into nuclear electricity hence we are one of the least dependant on russian gas from all the EU. Between 10 to 15% if I'm correct - which is still too much from my point of view.
Merci De Gaule
Germany: SANCTIONS
Russia: Whattt ???
Germany: Just joking, EU wants to sanction you but I still need my gas and oil
Russia: Ohhhh
And meanwhile us in the Nordic countries cannot understand why you would heat your house with gas at all.
True. Our apartment complex now has it's own geothermal heating system, so we are "off the grid" if you will, though dependent on electricity. Our city has a power plant that works with garbage. No need for a traditional landfill anymore, since all the garbage that isn't recycled gets burned into energy.
@@elainelouve maybe that's because nordic countries don't produce anything. Germany needs so much gas because of the chemical and food industry too and because it is very convenient to use for heating as they already have gas heating systems they just continue to use it.
The difference in terms of population and industrial production is massively different, so we can't compare the Nordic case with the German one.
I am surprised that the video does not address the issue of corruption in German politics over the past decade. And the fact that German politicians of the highest rank then went to work in the leadership of Russian Gazprom.
Costly infrastructural changes are always not easy, but it's only a lack of political will and corruption makes them "impossible".
Any reasons for such huge changes except "Russia is bad"? Russia supply Germany for decades, reliable and stable.
at least in terms of gas exports, we Russians are ALWAYS up to the contract. It's up to you to decide whether you want your economy to grow or not
What are the alternatives of gas to use? From where the rest of the Europe are going to transfer LNG? Is the problem with lacking of LNG terminal is only for Germany since it didn't build LNG terminals? And again, if not Russia from where to ship LNG?
EU: India is funding the War.
Germany: sweats heavily 🙄
We are too dependent on our enemies and it's obsolete to even think we can attack our enemies that way
I'm fairly certain that was on purpose. By linking economies like that the idea was to make Russia an ally. Russia would lose just as much as Germany by them boycotting their gas. No rational actor would shoot themselves in the foot and wreck their own economy just to start a war that has so little purpose behind it...
Oh, wait. Putin isn't a rational actor.
Russia is not Germany’s enemy. That was the whole point of building the pipelines in the first place. Germany has nothing to do with Ukraine. Should Germany have stopped trading with the US because of the Iraq war?
That's the problem, western countries always see the other side as an enemy and an alliance. That mindset also causes war to occur indirectly.
@@mra.prasetio Most people do that to one degree or another. It's tribalism, left over instinct from our distant past. Still, Russia is far more guilty of this sin than the West.
@@96ace96 iraq, Vietnam what was that?
love the comments of people trying to blame the problem on the anti-nuclear-power politics... feel free to try to power your gas heater with electricity...
Gas heaters are not the biggest consumers. But the gas powerplants are
well normally in a situation with cheaper electricity available you should just install an electric heater ahead of time. besides that, Germany has plenty of Natural Gas powered electrical generation capacity
Germany uses gas to produce electricity
Or any heat process in your chemical industry on electrical heaters. That's like a 55-60% loss of energy efficency.
lobbyists spreading lies to make some money
I'm glad Vox are still covering the war. Most other news outlets seem to have moved on, which is incredibly sad.
At least Russia is offering gas at a cheaper price than USA
One correction, Germany has started to build one LNG terminal about a week ago and is expected to finish it by the end of the year.
Not enough, and too slow. And considering how the US is giving more than $40 billion why isn't Germany giving more
@@CantoniaCustoms Hi, I can see why you might find that frustrating. Germany ha actually been Ukraines largest Development Aid donor since the 2000s. As far as I understood the 40B$ package, it also includes measures for the rebuilding of Ukraine and not solely military aid. Thus similar to the marshal plan.
Furthermore, investments now made by Germany, admittedly too late, in reducing dependence from Russia have a long term effect, as they will hurt Russia indefinitely! I guess every country helps as it’s political situation allows it to. Have a great day!
@@timreichert-facilides7876 Well, it's so simple. Most of Russian gas is using in Germany to heat their own houses. If Germans stop using it, the need of gas reduces and the crease of Russian gas gets possible. But for some reason Germans don't want to pay more for electrical heaters and don't want to heat their houses with wood or toilet paper. I can't imagine why
@@Voicemix hahahaha- I love the toilet paper! Actually the industry is the largest consumer of gas (37%) and then the households (31%) which intact use the gas for heating. Under federal law, in an event of gas supply shortage the industry gets cut off first and not the households. However, what many people fail to understand is that the money Russia gets is pretty much useless as they cannot spend it due to the sanctions.
@@timreichert-facilides7876 So why don't German businesmen want to support Ukraine with usin toilet paper for their factories and so on? Are they against of democracy (if ban for all opposition parties in government and all opposition media as Zelenski did is a democracy, of cource)
As for sanctions, Russia is under sactions for 10 years already and what's the result? The gas prices went higher and Russia gets more profit selling less gas. Rouble costs more than ever while the inflation of dollar is unprecedentedly high. Germany pays for Russian gas with roubles urging other countries to avoid paying for it. Gas is cheaper than ever for Russian citizens and Gazprom started to connect Russian houses to gas system for free -- it has never been so before which make Russians to heat their houses paying literrally cents while all other Europeans pay almost the half of their earnings.
So where's negative affect of the sanctions for Russia? What I see is inflation and price rise in Europe and unsolidarity as well. If it's a wished result, ok then
I swear I love these so much! I learn soooooo much from this. Thanks for the hard work and information guys!
Aw shucks. Did our howitzer hit that pipe? Again. Both pipes? Well Russia you started the war.
Moral of the story, don't make your very existence/future reliant on someone, who you wouldn't share a bank account with or let take care of your children.
This goes for single people and for nations.
This video is a work of art. Well narrated
Thanks for the like.