HobbitFoot t1_ixyfgny wrote
Reply to comment by Mia-Wal-22-89 in Returning to normal relations with Russia would be a mistake, says Lithuanian president by hieronymusanonymous
The West here isn't a blanket term.
If any Western country wants normalization soon, it will be Germany. The country runs on Russian energy and makes a lot of money exporting to Russian markets.
France seems apprehensive, mainly because ditching Russian energy may mean a complete rethink of its internal energy economy in a way to make it more open with the rest of the continent.
SexySaruman t1_ixyutnf wrote
Many big France’s companies never left Russia and still happily operate there.
Especially high-end luxury and clothing companies.
MSTRMN_ t1_ixyist8 wrote
>The country runs on Russian energy and makes a lot of money exporting to Russian markets.
They don't anymore? NS1 and 2 are both dead, Germany's gas storages are full, new LNG terminals are being built, if not already done
HobbitFoot t1_ixyjop0 wrote
Germany gets gas from Russia via other pipelines, the gas storage may not last the winter, and the LNG terminals may not be enough to replace Russian supplies.
Hopefully Germany gets a mild winter.
MSTRMN_ t1_ixyk72s wrote
How it "may not last" when officials say that it's enough? In any case, I doubt Nord Stream will restart any time soon, since it's practically destroyed
HobbitFoot t1_ixyoc94 wrote
I hope it is enough, but I know they had concerns earlier.
And Nordstream I & II definitely aren't starting soon due to likely Russia's actions.
Jonsj t1_ixyuqf9 wrote
Even if gas storage won't last they will likely buy expensive lng and manage, none of the rich European countries stand to suffer much in this crisis, they will outbid and use monetary reserves to get through the winter.
Countries where the heating bill is a significant part of the monthly bill will suffer a lot more, these countries does not have the same resources to soften the fall for its citizens either;/
Otterfan t1_iy0mjyu wrote
They will need new supplies of gas throughout the winter.
anti-DHMO-activist t1_ixyyhjx wrote
Just to get a bit more detail into this, the germany-russia-thing is not really primarily based on cheap energy.
It's much, much deeper.
Don't forget, something like a third of germany was basically russia for half a century. The people in east germany were forced to learn russian, generally were culturally extremely close. And tons of pipelines and general trade relations were built during that time.
Additionally, a large share of the german populations are "(spät)aussiedler" - people from ex-soviet areas, culturally mostly russian, with german heritage.
They'd have been stupid to not utilize the connections back then. At least until crimea. I think that was the point when we should have started to shut it down completely - but sadly, merkel's cdu (merkel grew up in the east) wasn't having any of it.
Many of the current relations grew out of the east-german closeness. By far not all, west germany even received gas/oil during the cold war. But it got much more after 1989.
Does that excuse any of it, especially the support of russia after their annexation of crimea? Nope. I just think it's important to understand context and motivations, and a "cheap energy" just doesn't offer that.
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