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Of course Germany purchased gas from the USSR throughout the Cold War. Half of Germany was part of the Eastern Bloc. What kind of argument is that? But Nord St
by totalZero 6y ago
Of course Germany purchased gas from the USSR throughout the Cold War. Half of Germany was part of the Eastern Bloc. What kind of argument is that?
But Nord Stream didn't exist back then. And I think that's the really problematic issue for Germany. It's one thing to buy fossil fuels on the open market, and another entirely to lay out tons of infrastructure spending to solidify your dependency on an adversary.
- vkou 6y agoWestern Germany purchased gas and oil from the USSR. It's actually a very good argument, because it points out something that most people aren't aware of. Generally speaking, Germany's foreign policy is deeply tied to its energy policy. It's one of the reasons for its interest in renewables. I will also note that, say, Thatcher's UK purchased coal from Warsaw Pact Poland in order to crush strikes by domestic coal miners.
- totalZero 6y agoI think it's a poor argument. "Germany, which was halfway a Soviet satellite state, bought fuel from the USSR forty years ago, therefore all German purchases of Russian fossil fuels are perpetually justifiable." What kind of world do you live in where you resist a clear need for self-preserving adaptation to the new reality, simply based on past behavior during a time of upheaval and fragmentation?
- iSnow 6y agoWestern Germany was not halfway a Soviet satellite but firmly in NATO - coincidentally the nation where the IRBMs to take out Moscow would have been launched. And yet it bought gas from the USSR which had been super correct and never tried using it for leverage against Western Germany. Eastern Germany was an own nation and they got preferencial prices for gas from the USSR as part of their block.
- vkou 6y agoI should have paid better attention in history class, because I have never before heard of Western Germany being described as 'halfway a Soviet Satellite state'. Should I run this theory by my German friends, to see what their take on the subject is? I have, however, lived in both East and West, and I have to say, the new reality of Russia's imperial ambitions are... A bit more tempered than the USSR's imperial ambitions over most of its existence. Now, if my historical and political education only came from modern political pundits, I might see the events of the past decade as something entirely unexpected, unprecedented, and existential. They aren't, though. They rarely are. The pundits see every crisis as unexpected, unprecedented, and existential. We wouldn't have much use for them if they didn't.
- andi999 6y agoActually West Germany purchased gas from USSR from 1973 onwards: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/energieabhaengigkeit-von-russland-die-deutschen-und-das-russische-gas-12871459.html https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/energieabhaengigk...
- baybal2 6y agoWell if it goes so, USA bought USSR's oil! And that was used as the biggest red flag pointing on hollowness of its international policies.