Does the German government have a Putin problem?

[Mindful]

Olaf Scholz is not a Kremlin stooge, he just leads a confused and unprincipled party.

Does the German government have a Putin problem?

Olaf Scholz is not a Kremlin stooge, he just leads a confused and unprincipled party.

www.spiked-online.com

 

[Mindful]

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the SPD’s biggest headache has been the relationship between former SPD chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Schröder is not only a personal friend of Putin – he is also a prominent lobbyist for Gazprom, the largely state-owned Russian gas giant. Schröder’s refusal to cut ties with Putin, or to resign from any of his roles with Russian energy companies, has made him a pariah.

The latest scandal to rock the SPD centres on Manuela Schwesig, the minister-president of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Schwesig has held several top jobs in the SPD, including as family minister, and was once viewed as a rising star in the party. Now leaked documents appear to have revealed the efforts she went to in order to push through the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. This has led to accusations that she is a puppet of Putin.

 

[Mindful]

Aside from the most egregious cases, like Schröder and Schwesig, the SPD’s real problem is not that it is too closely tied to Putin or Russian business. Rather, it is hobbled by its lack of political clarity. Scholz, like Angela Merkel before him, expected to be able to govern simply by following the opinion polls. But Germany is deeply divided on how best to respond to the war in Ukraine. In the latest polls, 45 per cent of Germans are in favour of delivering heavy weapons to Ukraine, while a roughly equal number are opposed. Of course, this varies according to which party you support. While more SPD voters say they are sceptical of assisting Ukraine, support for Ukraine is strongest among Green voters and Free Democratic voters. Both of these parties serve in the current government coalition.

All of this has put Scholz under enormous pressure. As a weak, unpopular leader, he is trying to please all sides. This has made him incapable of leading, and has left his party in a real fix. He is not a Putin stooge, he just leads a very confused and unprincipled government.

 

[Esdraelon]

Germany has created a dependence on Russian gas that they've been warned over for years. They've not tried to wean themselves and now they are watching civilians die in Ukraine and are faced with near-instant recession if they make a principled stand. If any of those self-interested politicians did anything illegal, they should burn for it...

 

[Big Bend Texas]

Olaf Scholz is not a Kremlin stooge, he just leads a confused and unprincipled party.

Does the German government have a Putin problem?

Olaf Scholz is not a Kremlin stooge, he just leads a confused and unprincipled party.

www.spiked-online.com

Since reunification there are a lot of Germans that actually miss the old days so between that and the money involved it's not surprising.

Germany has become entirely too dependent on Russia for their energy and that's a big part of the overall problem.

 

[Mindful]

Since reunification there are a lot of Germans that actually miss the old days so between that and the money involved it's not surprising.

Germany has become entirely too dependent on Russia for their energy and that's a big part of the overall problem.

Trace it back to Schröder.

 

[Big Bend Texas]

Trace it back to Schröder.

Possibly.

 

[wamose]

Germany needs to decouple from Russia like the US needs to decouple from China. Decouple or be held hostage in perpetuity.

 

[surada]

Since reunification there are a lot of Germans that actually miss the old days so between that and the money involved it's not surprising.

Germany has become entirely too dependent on Russia for their energy and that's a big part of the overall problem.

How Deep Is Europe's Dependence on Russian Oil?

A global research scholar with the Center on Global Energy Policy answers questions about how deep Europe’s dependence on Russia is and how this adverse relationship developed.

news.climate.columbia.edu

 

[alexa]

I think the Nord Stream 2 should not have happened. Europe should be creating jobs and working hard to get it's green energy going...but I think Germany has always has the push/pull with Russia. I don't quite understand why they changed their mind so completely when Russia came into Ukraine and I had never heard of Ukraine being European till then either.