Since Germany is refusing to pay for Russian natural gas imports in rubles as requested by President Vladimir Putin, the country now faces long-term supply shortages that threaten to cripple its economy.
Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced that Germany will move to "stage two" of its emergency gas plan at the current time, which comes with an expectation that the country might run out of gas this upcoming winter.
Germany's emergency gas plan has three stages, and the country seems to be advancing rather rapidly as the rubber meets the road. It is all fun and games to talk a big game against Russia until you start to run out of your economy's lifeblood.
"We mustn't delude ourselves," Habeck said in an English-translated statement about the issue. "Cutting gas supplies is an economic attack on us by Putin."
No, refusing to pay for what you need in rubles is an economic attack on yourself, especially since you were the one who imposed sanctions on Russia in the first place for dealing with the problem at its border – something Germany would not know anything about, after all.
As we reported, Russia has cut inflows of natural gas to Germany by about 60 percent – previously it was 40 percent.
If things keep moving in the same direction, it will soon be 100 percent which means lights out for Germany. Is it really worth it?
Habeck is already warning that gas supplies will be "really tight in winter" unless precautionary measures are taken to prevent a supply shortage.
"We defend ourselves against this," Habeck went on to state in his English-translated speech. "But it will be a rocky road that we as a country now have to walk. Even if you don't really feel it yet: we are in a gas crisis."
Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Germany all revert to coal rather than cooperate with Putin
What was once an abundant resource in Germany has fast become a scarce commodity, Habeck warns.
"This will affect industrial production and become a major burden for many consumers," he says. "It's an external shock."
Germany's emergency gas plan states that alert level phases are triggered whenever there is a "disruption of gas supply or exceptionally high gas demand which results in significant deterioration of the gas supply situation ... but the market is still able to manage that disruption or demand without the need to resort to non-market-based measures."
Government intervention is not required until phase three, and Germany is not quite there yet. But the nation soon could be, especially if it becomes the case that market fundamentals no longer apply to the gas situation.
Before it comes to that, policymakers in Germany and across the European Union (EU) are scrambling to come up with contingency plans to stockpile whatever natural gas they can get their hands on before the cold season arrives.
The EU currently – or at least before the war in Ukraine – imported about 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia. Since EU leaders do not approve of Putin's "special operation" in Ukraine and refuse to play ball in rubles, they are quickly realizing that Europe is on the verge of an energy collapse.
Some of the most globalist-controlled nations in Europe are so stubbornly refusing to cooperate with Putin by paying in rubles that they are now restarting their power plants that burn coal. According to CNBC, coal is "the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel in terms of emissions."
Suddenly, "saving the world" from greenhouse gases is taking a back seat to the political struggle between Russia and NATO. What will Greta say?
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