Entire Staff of the German Architect of Energiewende Resigns Because of Putin Ties.

[NNadir]

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is the political architect of the German nuclear phase out in order to rely on wind and solar energy.

After leaving office as Chancellor he went to work for Gazprom, the Russian gas company.

His staff resigned because he refused to cut ties with Gazprom following the invasion of an independent company at the behest of his boss.

Schroeder's staff quits as ex-German chancellor resists pressure to cut Kremlin ties

BERLIN, March 1 (Reuters) - The entire staff of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's taxpayer-funded office have quit as the long-time friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin resists growing pressure to cut his ties to the Kremlin following its invasion of Ukraine.

Schroeder, who took several jobs at Russian energy companies after leaving office in 2005, and other politicians from the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) have come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks for their lobbying for Russian firms.

Such links have become a growing liability for Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was long accused of being soft on Russia over the Ukraine crisis until his government last week did an about-face on various energy and defence policies. read more

Over the weekend, SPD leaders urged Schroeder to give up his Russian posts as other former European politicians have, including France's former Prime Minister Francois Fillon....

Cozy, these two:



There's nothing CT about this relationship in my view.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. I'm sorry, I'm not as cool as you are. CT is Connecticut? Christianity Today?

[FreepFryer]

2. I think CT here stands for conspiracy theory (Nt)

[NNadir]

4. As noted by another, CT is "conspiracy theory." Putin, as with Trump, played Schroeder...

...Schroeder like a fiddle.

Interestingly the groundwork was laid in Ukraine, Chernobyl. It allowed Schroeder to have a compliant and even enthusiastic public for Energiewende.

Germany is much weaker without nuclear power.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. No hint of conspiracy theory in the post, so CT is a non sequitur straw man. . . . nt

[NNadir]

9. I believe I said there was no CT, but there are people who may...

...so interpret it so.

The logical fallacy term "strawman" is widely abused on DU, as an aside. People who engage often in logical fallacies themselves often use it, sometimes in the context of actually participating in it.

If you are disinterested in the content of the post, which is about the relationship between the architect of energiewende and the Russian gas industry, that's fine.

If you want to nickpick about rhetoric please find another the thread to do so.

[FBaggins]

3. Make sure we connect the dots all the way

This would seem to indicate that Germany destroyed their own energy policy to benefit Russian geopolitical power (with little to no significant climate benefit and at great cost)… while lining the pockets of the politicians who pushed the policy.

But let’s not forget that they also have been pushing for the rest of Europe to increase their dependency on natural gas (by moving away from nuclear power). Natural gas that would come from Russia through Germany.

[NNadir]

5. I think both cases apply, gas transit and the destruction of German geopolitical power.

The first one is now off the table.

The second is a long standing reality.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. No. German geopolitical power has risen lately. Merkel led the Free World for four years

Germany has greatly increased its per capita defense expenditures now.

[NNadir]

8. Announcing one's plan to do something is hardly the same as...

...doing it.

Germany said they planned to replace nuclear power with so called "renewable energy." They actually replaced it with coal.

A country that can only power itself when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining is not in much of a position to defend itself.

It's interesting and probably telling that Putin acted on his long term wet dream when Germany finished making itself dependent on Schroeder's company.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Keep writing them off until you are surprised one day, as you will be. . . . nt

[NNadir]

11. I won't live long enough to be surprised by Germany. As for...

...climate change, a far more broad threat to humanity than any military, their energy policy is completely adverse to addressing it.

They have willfully destroyed vital infrastructure to embrace a fantasy driven by irrational fear, and as far as Schroeder is concerned, some obvious corruption.