In the current gas chaos, people are being cheated twice over

In the state propaganda disseminated by the public media, it is claimed several times a day that Putin alone is to blame for our gas chaos. In fact, it is not Putin who has cancelled gas supplies; but the EU, with the help of our own government, has imposed gas sanctions against Russia and does not want to receive any more oil from Russia even at the end of this year.
  Ms Wagenknecht rightly claims that we would be rid of any gas problems within a week if we withdrew the sanctions, and this has been confirmed by Putin. But she is accused of betraying the gas narrative in saying so. The fact remains: The existing gas crisis and the coming gas emergency have been caused by our own government and are their fault, and out of an erroneous liege loyalty to the EU and the USA, they are even upholding it against the interests of their own population.
  On the other hand, the same media that attribute the German gas shortage to Putin confirm daily – if debatably – that there is enough gas in the world and that German storage facilities are sufficiently filled with gas (over 90 %). So, the population is led to believe that the worst will not come to the worst this winter. Yet people have the justified feeling that they are facing a gas freeze and have bought electric heaters by the tens of thousands. This shows that the people do not believe the government’s second lie, either.
  Minister Habeck is trying to placate us by assuring us that “all measures will be taken to prevent a gas disaster for the population”.

Gas industry expects a gas catastrophe this winter

The fact is, however, that even the gas industry is reckoning with a gas catastrophe this winter. On the basis of the government’s emergency plan of 23 June 2022, an alert state can be declared, which will make possible the ordering of extraordinary measures primarily affecting customers in the so-called “non-protected” area.
  If these measures are not sufficient to stabilise the situation, it may be necessary to also impose restrictions in the “protected” customer area, due to the falling supply pressure; in emergencies, the gas supply will have to be reduced even until the supply fails.
  One gas supplier has already informed gas fitters in a circular that they should prepare for a gas emergency. In the event of a drop in supply pressure in the supply lines, private individuals would not be able to restart the failed gas boilers, heaters and other gas-consuming appliances themselves. The gas supplier therefore asks the gas fitters to close the main shut-off valve and the gas appliance valve in these cases until gas is available again, and only to carry out the reopening of the main gas line and appliances themselves as soon as the supply area can be supplied again and the gas supplier has given gas fitter companies notice to put the systems back into operation. Private individuals would not be able to unjam most appliances on their own. “Please be prepared for many customers to approach you (the gas fitters) as the professionals skilled to recommission their gas installations.”

Reconditioning can take months

Gas fitter companies usually have between 300 and 1000 customers. But as there are fewer and fewer firms and fewer staff in the installation companies, the number of customers who no longer have a gas fitter is growing every month.
  In concrete terms: if the gas supply has once failed, households can be left out in the cold for days, weeks or even months even though there might be enough gas again, because they cannot get their appliances going again themselves but have to rely on a specialist, and there are too few of these specialists; so there is a dependence on the previously neglected fitter/installation trade, and this has much more serious consequences for the consumer than our earlier “dependence on Putin”.
  The upshot is: The government expects gas supplies to stop in winter, but does not say so. The gas industry expects gas supplies to stop and is preparing gas installation companies for this eventuality. These companies already know that they have only limited possibilities to help after a gas supply stop, i.e., that they will not be able to serve millions of households in days or even weeks. They have to keep this fact confidential, they are not yet allowed to tell their customers, “so as not to worry them”. We, the customers are to remain ignorant so that we will not protest.

There is also a risk of blackout

So, for days or weeks, it will not be possible for many households to recondition their gas pressure after the collapse anticipated by the gas supply companies, due to a lack of skilled fitters. Thus, households will be forced to take emergency measures. Then the millions of already purchased electric heaters will come into use. That circumstance in turn may well lead to a blackout of the electricity grid. Then people would have neither gas nor electricity; and concerning electricity there would be no prospect of short-term help either, because according to what electricity suppliers say, after a nationwide blackout of the electricity supply it would take about 14 days to make the system functional again, i.e., to bring the grids back up.
  Then there would be a breakdown of traffic (no traffic lights), water supply, the end of refrigerators, shopping (no more cash registers), there would be no television, no mobile phone charging as well as no mobile phone network and no charging of electric cars.
  To top all this off, the government has now also cancelled oil supplies from Russia at the end of the year, thus conjuring up a possible oil crisis, petrol crisis (at least in prices) – of course out of hatred against Putin instead of for good reason.

An eco-goal of the Greens:
The deindustrialisation of Germany

So, when gas, oil and electricity supplies break down in Germany and even the substitute energy of coal and nuclear power plants has been banned, we are getting closer and closer to the eco-goals of the Greens. These include Germany’s de-industrialisation. If all energy consumption were stopped in this way, about 2 % of the world’s CO₂ emissions would be avoided. However, 8 % alone are newly created annually by the deforestation of the Amazon jungle, which the Greens have not prevented. 30 % of this deforestation is caused by the USA and China and 25 % by India. This whole energy crisis in Germany is therefore not worth it in quantitative terms either; it can cause great damage in Germany, but it cannot save the world.
  Mrs. Baerbock has confirmed that our government does not care about its population and us voters, but it does care about the international corporations, and is using more than 60 billion to save mostly foreign energy traders, for which actions every household is supposed to “haemorrhage” to the amount of 2000 to 3000 Euros. But for itself, the government has found a way out. It plans to make 3000 Euros tax- and social security-free if companies reimburse their employees for these additional gas costs. So, in the end, the companies employing these workers will not only have to pay multiplied gas prices due to inflation, but will also have to pay dearly for corporate gifts bestowed by the government.

Millions of small and medium-sized businesses on the line

This is why there is justifiable unrest among small and medium-sized businesses. After all, small and medium-sized businesses employ three-quarters of all commercial enterprises’ employees. Ultimately, therefore, small and medium-sized businesses are to pay for the government’s mistakes by means of special burdens and, if they can no longer do so, “not go bankrupt first, but simply close down” (Habeck).
  The Mittelstandsinstitut Niedersachsen fears that in the course of the coming year more than one million small and medium-sized businesses will perish as a result of this government policy. This would mean three to four million unemployed, several billion in additional social costs, and also a decline of several billion in taxes and social contributions.
  The population will not accept this development as passively as before. Anger is already rising. What actions may arise from this was shown by the first world economic crisis.

Stop sanctions against Russia!

In this context, the AfD and Wagenknecht are right in pointing out that this whole energy chaos would be immediately avoidable if Germany ended the US and EU sanctions against Russia, i.e., did not participate, if it reopened the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and, according to credible promises made by Putin and Gazprom, immediately be resupplied with sufficient gas and oil.
  This solution to the problem is still possible, it can, however, not be reached with our bellicose government, which is vengeful against Putin and puts ideology and vassal loyalty before the interests and even the existence of its German electorate. But even a change of government would not help because the largest opposition party (CDU) also wants war and stirs up hatred against Russia.
  So, we will have to face the energy emergency with our eyes open and pay for it and for all its consequences.  •

(Translation Current Concerns)