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I think that demonstrates the typical issue of not having leadership change for a long period of time. Under Merkel - who grew up in socialist East Germany - t
by trhway 4y ago
I think that demonstrates the typical issue of not having leadership change for a long period of time. Under Merkel - who grew up in socialist East Germany - the Germany got a lot of structural characteristics of a socialist economy, in particular being dominated by large manufacturers who have been getting preferential treatment from the government, and losing the ability to adjust and maneuver. She also didn't have that gut check of dealing with Russia and has put all the Germany's eggs into one basket which has been held by Putin. Thus what happens right now is a light form of shock-therapy of getting adjusted back to the new reality of the current global economy. Their leadership still seems to hope that some form of the old trade relationship with Russia will survive. The faster they ditch that hope the faster the shock-therapy will get completed. Germany needs to bite the bullet and massively build the LNG terminals (one would expect that North Stream 2 landing point has all the connection into the infrastructure to take it in). The second best thing Germany can do for its economy is to supply Ukraine with a lot of weapons. Germany naturally has significant hesitancy to meddle into Ukraine war, yet the faster, stronger and earlier Russia stopped - the better for everybody, including Germany. Russia getting onto the Poland border is much worse than Russia forcefully stopped where for example it is now. Germany for now has been very slow at supplying weapons to Ukraine and thus prolonging the chances of Russia moving closer to Europe.
- YarickR2 4y agoBest thing Germany could do is stop supplying weapons to Ukraine and convince Zelensky to agree to Russia's terms. EU gets it's buffer state and cheap gas, Russia gets it's buffer state and peace of mind , Ukraine.. Well, Ukraine gets ripped apart . Revolutions fail every so often, this will be one of such cases
- kevin_b_er 4y agoYou really think appeasement will work this time? It hasn't in the past.
- trhway 4y ago"No Ukraine" is the only Russia's terms. Even Russian state TV propagandists say that anything less is just a temporary ceasefire. There is just no way for Russia, being a full blown fascist state now, to get peace of mind.
- fomine3 4y agoThen China will happily merge Taiwan.
- kurupt213 4y agoSacrificing a state’s autonomy destabilizes the surrounding states. Every inch of ground taken needs to be very expensive for Russia. the EU gets it’s buffer state and cheap gas I think that is the most naive take I’ve read here.
- rasz 4y agoThe next 'buffer state' after hypothetical UA fall is Poland, and make no mistakes about it - Poles will move to blowing up German infrastructure in retaliation this time around. You can pull Ribbentrop-Molotov only once. Majority of Poles know where Schroder is now and who he has been working for the last 25 years. So Yes, Germany can dream of appeasing Russia by risking internal EU war with Poland.
- blub 4y agoIt seems unlikely that the US would allow two of its satellites to fight each-other.
- TMWNN 4y ago>Under Merkel - who grew up in socialist East Germany Something never talked about is how her parents moved from West to East Germany when she was a baby. >Germany got a lot of structural characteristics of a socialist economy, in particular being dominated by large manufacturers who have been getting preferential treatment from the government, and losing the ability to adjust and maneuver. She also didn't have that gut check of dealing with Russia and has put all the Germany's eggs into one basket which has been held by Putin. It's amazing how many gullible still say that Merkel was always against German dependence on Russian gas but could not do anything about it. For 16 years! I would be surprised, but not shocked, if we learn someday that Merkel is a long-term Russian intelligence asset, recruited in her youth.