Russia has been using Gazprom as a blunt instrument to interfere with the EU energy market TL;DR - Gazprom has been using differential pricing and a dominant market position to punish eastern EU states whilst giving Germany 'sweetheart' rates to ensure they come down on Gazprom's side, in flagrant breach of EU rules, and the EU plans to, errr, do very little about it in response if they can. This is hardly the first time Germany has abandoned it's Good European role when it comes to energy, but the willingness to thrown it's eastern neighbours under the bus is pretty depressing, especially as it is yet another example of Russia exerting its power in other power blocs, and as the main power broker of the EU this is the kind of thing they should be leading on, and not betraying their partners. And the fact the EU is trying to find the most minimal response they can get away with indicates a level of comfort at being a client state of Russia when it comes to energy, and the effective abandonment of member states to Russian economic blackmail paints the EU in an unflattering light.
Yeah, but nukes are bad ya know. Better to be a Russian lapdog and burn fossil fuels than use clean nuclear power.
For those wondering what the fuck I'm talking about. https://medium.com/third-way/france-germany-and-two-paths-to-cut-carbon-85b65090fc96
@Ancalagon - German energy policy is insane. Proudly declare how much wind power is generated in the North, which is then promptly dumped on other nations' grids who mostly filter it out, and then offset it against energy use in the industrial heartlands and hope nobody notices the CO2 emissions are heading northwards again.
Hi, the Germans want another undersea gas pipeline so they can have secure supplies even if the easterners get cut off. The EUROPEAN should be building pipelines from North Africa which have nothing to do with Russia as well as more pipelines from the North Sea with shipment terminals. It would also help to build up strategic reserves so when Putin tries to play the gas weapon card again they can just wait him out.
It's only Russia, they're not so bad. Now if Gazprom was run by someone like Trump it would probably be a different story. [There are some lows to which even the German-led EUcrats wouldn't stoop. Former eastern bloc, wot?]
Am I the only one who likes Nordstrom Rack? I mean even their half yearly sale isn't all that great. "Instead of $499 for those shoes it is now $479! Am I not generous?" Rack at least has decent prices year round.
