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Yes, the warning signs were there, but the EU was merrily speeding past them, finding reasons to argue against all of the warning signs. NS2 is one of the most
by jcranmer 4y ago
Yes, the warning signs were there, but the EU was merrily speeding past them, finding reasons to argue against all of the warning signs. NS2 is one of the most emblematic signs of this: it was clearly going to tie Germany's energy needs closer to an already-proven-unreliable partner (Russia), increase the ability of Russia to use gas transit as politics, countries like Poland and the US were screaming at the top of their lungs "THIS IS A BAD IDEA" and until February 2022, Germany was responding "it'll be fine, nothing bad will come of this."
So I think it's fair to say that the EU was caught off guard by Russia, even if because of the EU's willful ignorance of affairs rather than Russian duplicity.
- gdy 4y ago"already-proven-unreliable" How so?
- jcranmer 4y agoRussia has switched off the gas before, such as when Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. Hell, there's a Wikipedia page listing all of the Russia-Ukraine gas disputes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80%93Ukraine_gas_disputes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80%93Ukraine_gas_dis...). One of the stated motivations for Nord Stream 2 was to improve reliability of gas to Europe in case Russia decided to cut off the gas because of a spat with one of the transit countries.
- CapricornNoble 4y ago>>>Russia has switched off the gas before, such as when Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. Russia switched off the gas 7 years after Putin was screaming from the rooftops that the US sticking ABMs in Eastern Europe was a red line for Russia. That's Russia being an unreliable partner?
- gdy 4y agoThe only thing this wikipedia page shows is that the Ukraine is an unreliable transit country stealing gas intended for the Europe.
- rasz 4y agoSo is Poland, right? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamal%E2%80%93Europe_pipeline#Disruptions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamal%E2%80%93Europe_pipeline#...