AMAC Exclusive – By Daniel Roman
With Russia and Ukraine reportedly on the verge of war, and the Biden administration currently unsure whether an “incursion” counts as an invasion, or what the U.S. response should be in either case, Germany is suddenly at the center of geopolitics. Many in the foreign policy establishment are claiming that Germany has undermined Western efforts to support Ukraine, either by supposedly denying the use of its airspace to British flights shipping weapons to Ukraine (it is unclear if the U.K. requested the usage of German airspace), or by outright refusing to allow Lithuania to ship German-supplied weapons to Ukraine. The German “betrayal” has become a rallying cry both for those neoconservatives and neoliberals who wish to fight for “democracy” in Ukraine, as well as those who believe Donald Trump was right that America’s allies are unreliable.
In both cases, Germany’s recent behavior is cited to prove the case, either that we must take a greater role ourselves, or that America should look out for itself.
Looking out for itself certainly appears to be what Germany is doing. The Germans have been forced to adopt an independent line looking out for their own interests, not least because German leaders feel that the Biden administration has no interest in doing so. The Biden administration has treated German economic and strategic concerns the same way the White House treated Joe Manchin’s worries about inflation and coal miners in West Virginia. They have expected the Germans to pay the entire cost of a policy without explaining how it benefits them.
Germany’s recent behavior comes after the perceived pro-Russian tilt of Angela Merkel’s long tenure and is no doubt influenced by the proposed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a direct energy link between Russia and Germany. The project would greatly reduce the price of Russian energy in the German market. It is clear why Russia and Germany would want this – by rendering pipelines traveling through Ukraine or Belarus redundant, Russia and Germany would both be able to avoid paying transit fees to either power. It may or may not increase Europe’s already heavy dependency on Russian gas. But without a doubt, Nord Stream would enrich Putin and impoverish Ukraine at a time when Russia is directly threatening Ukrainian autonomy.
The pipeline debate is important for understanding the divergence between American and German policy toward Russia. It illustrates two motivations for German actions. One is the ungenerous and corrupt influence of Russia and dependence on Russian energy supplies. The other is a realpolitik conviction that the U.S. is pursuing a policy under Biden where the U.S. expects Germany to pay the lion’s share of the costs of a certain policy (in this case, higher energy costs), but leave all the decisions about the objectives of that policy to a Biden team which inspires little confidence.
There are multiple reasons why German politicians are pursuing their current policy with regard to Russia. Among those reasons is, without a doubt, the vast economic influence Russia holds over substantial elements of the German elite. Former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder—the only Social Democratic Party Chancellor between the fall of Helmut Schmidt in 1982 and current Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ascension in 2021—infamously sits on the board of Gazprom, the Russian state energy corporation. While Schroeder’s influence is often overstated to the point of caricature, for a generation of Social Democratic politicians he was the only Chancellor they ever knew, and they entered politics inspired by his example or under his patronage. Some of that influence has been diminished by how transparent his sellout to Putin has been, but not all.
Nonetheless, it is worth differentiating between Putin’s influence over German politicians, especially Social Democrats through Schroeder, and Russian influence over Germany through economic links. If it were merely a matter of Schroeder, then one would expect the current German government to be more pro-Russian than its Christian Democratic predecessor. Yet Merkel’s government argued that Nord Stream 2 was purely an economic matter. By contrast, the new coalition, while being equally resistant to suggestions that Nord Stream is subject to Western/NATO/American input, has accepted that Nord Stream is political, paused certification, and has indicated that it is open to killing the project if Russia were to invade Ukraine.
The actions of the current German government in opposing the arming of Ukraine and favoring conciliation, therefore, have to be understood in a wider context. In the view of the German government, the policy that the West has been pursuing, of backing an anti-Russian government in Kiev, has benefits for Ukrainians, and perhaps even for the position of the United States as a superpower. Yet the costs of that strategy fall not on the U.S. but on Germany. The U.S. has declined to send troops to Ukraine, and Joe Biden and his team have said that under no circumstances will U.S. troops will be dispatched. America’s mechanism for pressuring Russia comes in the form of economic sanctions, and those sanctions are “paid for” not by the U.S., which has few economic ties with Russia, but by Germany. It is Germany which is asked to sanction its companies or force them to pay billions in cancellation fees for contracts. It is Germans who are being asked to pay more for heating or even suffer shortages so that the United States can achieve a geopolitical “win” over Russia and one group of Ukrainian politicians can maintain control over a series of provinces of little economic or strategic value to Germany.
This is selfish only insofar as it is also “selfish” for Americans to be concerned about high gas prices and inflation. The arguments the Biden administration makes to millions of Americans telling them that inflation is not real, or that they should put up with shortages and higher prices for the sake of “climate change” are exactly the same arguments it is assumed Germans should accept about how they should abandon economic ties with Russia on behalf of “democracy” in Ukraine. Their opposition to such arguments is not betrayal. It is a response to the legitimate and rational interests of their own population.
It is plausible that in this case, the short-term interests of Germans are different from their long-term ones. But again, this is the argument Biden and other Democrats make with regards to abandoning coal and oil. Expecting these arguments to work requires a willingness to share the burden of costs more equally.
The Biden Administration appears to recognize the Nord Stream problem in isolation, namely that German politicians are not behaving irrationally based on some “left-over trauma from World War II” but rather engaging in a cost-benefit analysis. Yet rather than trying to shift that cost-benefit analysis, whether coercively through sanctions or by compensating the Germans financially (or even by consulting the Germans about what precise objectives the administration expects them to freeze to death in order to achieve in Ukraine), the administration offers words of empathy and no action. No sanctions, no compensation. No effort to define objectives. Just the expectation that Germany will willingly shut down its energy supplies on demand whenever the Biden Administration needs that to fulfill a threat.
So yes, Germany is looking out for themselves. But the Biden Administration has given them no reason to do anything else. Not with the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan, and not with the current handling of the Ukraine crisis. They are treating Germany like some sort of mixture of Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin – in other words, as a servant who should take orders, be available to support whatever policy Biden decides upon, and should not express independent views, much less expect them to be taken into account. It is that sort of attitude that has managed to turn Sinema, a former Green Party member, into a determined opponent. And if Germany is being driven out of the Western alliance, at least part of the blame comes down to the way Biden has treated her.
Daniel Roman is the pen name of a frequent commentator and lecturer on foreign policy and political affairs, both nationally and internationally. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics.
Open OUR pipelines back up & we can send EU our oil
What isn’t he botching?
Our treatment of Germany lead to WWII.
Those who ignore history…….
He’s botched everything he’s touched.
The U.S. strived for energy independence for years, even decades. The minute it attains its goal, the libs shut it down, even though clean burning natural gas is the best way to go and much better than any pie in the sky alternative like wind, solar, wave, corn stalk, etc. We were more than able to send Europe boatloads of energy while increasing the standard of living for all Americans. You see, that’s the rub, the miserable libs don’t want the American people to be comfortable and fiscally secure. If they were, they could not be controlled with all kinds of B.S. and leftist propaganda. The Dems, and I mean all of them, are too naïve, stupid, tyrannical, and self centered for their own good. They are completely incompetent at every level of anything.
A Hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards and I love Hummingbirds. Politically there are two birds that identify your military stance, a Hawk or Dove. May I submit that the political/military hacks in office now are hummingbirds, they continually go backwards. This yet another example of 12 months of backwards non-leadership the democrats have to offer.This idiocy will not change until this buffoon is out of office.
That’s no surprise!
However, it’s his ‘puppeteers’ who are purposefully botching up EVERYTHING!
Like Pres Reagan said, “Government is NOT the answer. Government IS “the PROBLEM”!
I think Germany’s problem goes back to their decision to eliminate nuclear energy which is the ‘greenest’ energy available. This was compounded by agreeing to place their energy availability on the whims of a Russian dictator. Certainly, LNG from America would have been a better decision. I can’t feel sorry for them for paying higher energy prices, think of all the money they should have payed to meet their NATO responsibilities over the years.
Germany has made itself completely dependent on Russian natural gas after having shutdown most, if not all, of their nuclear and coal power plants. Like it or not, Merkel’s decisions with regard to Germany’s direction on how it would power its own economy have been a total disaster for more than a decade. Germany could have purchased LNG from the United States, when President Trump offered it, but Merkel insisted on moving ahead instead with Nord Stream 2. Thus further locking in Germany to the whims of Putin for decades to come. Merkel always took positions that were soft when it came to Russia, as she grew up in East Germany while it was under Soviet control. One can’t help but sense that she has always been much more a true socialist than she ever publicly admitted.
Both solar and wind power, for which Germany went in whole hog several years ago, has been a dismal failure in Germany for its lack of ability to supply a consistent and economical source of electricity for several years. One would have expected that might be a lesson the American people might learn from, but of course that sadly isn’t the case as most Americans appear to have little interest beyond what is happening directly around them. As a result, we are allowing out own politicians to march us down the exact same road that has already proved disastrous for most of western Europe.
The price of electricity in Germany today is up nearly 500 percent more than it was in 2000. That cost increase has hit the Germany economy hard over the years, resulting in a lot of needless pain and suffering for the German people. As a result, they have had to adjust their standard of living downward to try and partially compensate for all the increased costs that have rippled through the economy.
It is NOT surprising that Germany is taking the stand that it is today. The reality is if Germany does anything to displease Putin, he now has the ability to shut off a lot of their lights and almost all of their heat. That would bring their economy to its knees and potentially kill a lot of people by freezing them to death. So Germany is now stuck with limited options. None of them very good.
The Biden administration, by the way, also removed all the stops put in place by President Trump for Nord Stream 2 late last year. Another major gift to Putin from America’s Socialist Party. So it is not like team Biden has had no hand in facilitating the current problem with Germany. Biden’s disastrous actions in Afghanistan last year have made all our allies think twice about their relationships with the United States. That is not something that can repaired by a couple of choreographed speeches by Biden and his team. Actions leave lasting impressions. Most of our allies have already started forming alternative defense and economic alliances with each other, excluding the United States in many cases. So what Biden and the United States wants is of lesser and lesser value on the world stage today than just a few years ago.
Another censored post! Truly pitiful AMAC.
For starters Biden is primarily clueless or is he? Germany, a member of NATO & forced to pay their fair share to NATO under Trump is looking after their own personal interests, i.e. getting their energy from the Nord Stream gas pipeline…Ukraine, as crooked & devious as ever with DIRECT ties to the CCP of China should not be under estimated as I can all but guarantee Putin is fully aware of this…
Yes, Putin did some sea trials with China, primarily because they were planned well in advance, however, make no mistake, Putin is NOT involved in a love affair with Xi of the CCP of China…
Now onto Ukraine again, the supposed invasion of Ukraine by Russia is mostly a fantasy, if that were to ever happen, it would have happened already when Obama was in office & Russia claimed the Crimea with ZERO ramifications from the Obama administration, the current US administration is really no different in this, despite the financial gains that Biden continues to receive from both Ukraine & China…
Why would Russia now invade Ukraine? It would be a lose, lose situation that Russia can ill afford…
Why would Russia want to pay the salaries & benefits of the upper politicos of Ukraine when they are financially struggling, i.e. constrained in paying for the building of their military, ships, planes, etc. within their own borders…
As for the US involvement in any of this, it is a non-starter moving forward…
What We The People are once again experiencing are FALSE FLAG scenarios of impending wars yet again, all in the name of DISTRACTION from a FAILING faux potus & VP currently residing in Washington, DC…
We are ( 1 ) year in of a FALSE PRESIDENCY that got there through a rigged election & now, finally the American people of all stripes & a reluctant MSM being forced to report what is really happening to this nation along with the worst polls ever recorded for a sitting potus…
The Deep State is in major ” panic mode ” as they desperately look for an escape exit, not just in DC, but in most every blue state in America as at last count ( 28 ) democrats from both Houses have resigned or will NOT seek reelection. Why is that America?
Bill… :~)
Woe for the world. It is bad enough that this administration won’t tie its own shoes and expects the US populace to blindly follow all of its ludicrous directives/mandates, and then turns around and expects rest of the world to follow suit. The world saw what happen during the Afghan fiasco and the US administration lost all credibility. The world knows it is on its own since their is no unity to confront the upcoming conflict. This administration will continue to be a non-leader to rest of the world as it continues to follow the orders of its handlers.
This scum bag Biden will screw up everything he touches or even looks at//He has been a loser and a blow hard for 40 + years in govt. The liberals are so pathetic because they vote these communists back in office to tax and ruin their lives all over again// Get rid of this moron in the Dark House //
Welcome to the year 2022; where literally everything is a pseudo-communist phony front. The mainstream media says we need to save ‘democracy’. This is at the same time that we have eliminated the United States Constitution & the First Amendment is tattered, torn, and barely recognizable. Yes, welcome to the year 2022 where everything from the Presidency, to the Constitution, to the Bill of Rights is literally a phony front. You can not communicate on the Internet, you can not have a phone conversation, and you can not fart without smell sensors! To Germany we go! Biden’s relationship with Germany. First of all Biden has not passed the Presidency 101 Class. They are still pointing out to him the fundamentals of the geopolitical nature of Europe. His textbook was censored by the ‘Sugar Doesn’t Melt In Her Mouth Warren’. (You never hear about the lawsuit against her regarding the First Amendment To The Constitution on the mainstream media.) In fact, you never hear anything relevant on the mainstream media. Welcome to the year 2022 where Biden has the ability to look like three different people; (where the real Biden is being toilet trained.) Welcome to the year 2022; the year that the Internet has a flatulent sensor corporation run by the democrat/communists. Germany, Ukraine, and all of the possible combinations. Biden has to first understand what these nations comprise in the first place. That is virtually impossible! Happy New Year & May God Save This Beautiful Country!
Putin knew that biden wouldn’t put up a fight for anything in that region of the world once biden had given the green light to Nord Stream 2. Full steam ahead…Ukraine! If the new German government decides to kill the project, will they be able to supply all the energy needed by their people in the middle of winter? That’s a risky line for Germany to walk, especially not knowing what biden can or will do. If you dance with the devil, expect to get burned.
When Russia invades Ukraine, will Germany still say “No” to the pipeline? Putin sits in the sweet spot now that 150,000 troops line the border, biden is useless as Commander-In-Chief, and Germany is staring at their next ice age. It’s never just economics; it’s always political.
I didn’t know that about Lithuania, they would have reason to assist Ukraine. They don’t want Putin eying them with a hungry look.
We’ve been hearing from Dems about bad Russia, collusion & interference for 4 years of Trump.
Now Biden is continuing the Bad Russia narrative to cover the complete failure of his first year.
After the disasters in Vietnam,Kuwait,Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria it’s time to reconsider being the worlds policeman by sending our kids to die in far off hellholes. We have no skin in the Ukraine game & Europe badly needs Russian oil & gas cuz of their useless Green Deal policies. Let them work it out!
Btw it was Biden’s boss Obama that interfered in Ukraine election to install a NATO US friendly puppet instead. The people had elected Yanukovich who wasn’t a big EU fan or NATO. So Obama, NeoCons & our Industrial Military Complex took him out. Most Americans aren’t aware that eastern Ukraine is predominantly Russian so there’s certain states that want to breakaway from Ukraine that the US friendly government is fighting aggressively!
Keep US out of a local skirmish, don’t want another idiotic World War to fast track the Depopulation Agenda since experimental ????jabs are doing a good job of that already. Or is this their plan B? ????
After Afghanistan, no nation on earth trusts Biden, plain and simple
It’s not about Uncle Joe, not Stalin, Biden. He is just the useful idiot controlled by the puppet masters. He obviously cannot be charged as a traitor with the state of his mind. The real traitors are the puppet masters, the new democrat party, their un-elected side kicks, the so called media, not to be confused with real journalists. The know it all late show idiots. I could go on but these are those that would and have sold their country out over maintaining their ego and greed. I hope to see them all in hell or maybe a postcard will do since I won’t be there. I am turning 75 in 2 months and I never thought I would see so many people and organiztions hell bent to destroy our country.
the only thing Vile is Pedo Joe Headboard Harris and the Communist Demonrats
You can’t make this stuff up!
If I was a political fiction writer and wrote a novel using all the stupid actions of the Brandon administration, nobody would believe someone this stupid could be elected as president.
It is just unbelievable!
Comrade President Jackass Josef “Lyin” Biden. . . . What hasn’t HE botched?
Maybe, just maybe they are letting the vile members express themselves so they will know who to round up when the government deems it necessary. Or maybe it depends on who’s monitoring the comments on any given day. I’ve been censored when I don’t believe I should have been and left along when perhaps I should have…there seems to be no rhyme or reason for how they choose who is and who isn’t.
Make no mistake about it….war pads the pockets of the elites….they get richer off the lives of our soldiers…Viet Nam….LBJ and Ms. Birdie had heave stocks in helicopters….so we stopped bombing the North because they were about to surrender….can’t let a situation go to waste. Thousands of our boys lost their lives and thousands came back with disabilites they never got over while all the time the ignorant college students and most of America spit in their faces. They did NOT volunteer to go over there, they were MADE to do so and except for Desert Storm, we have not won a war since WWII because the pencil pushers run the war instead of the soldiers. Biden, the senile imbecilic moron, is going to plummet us into another war. He needs to be in a nursing home, not the White House.
Welcome to the party pal. (Quote from Diehard)
The AMAC censor seems to be either a bit woke or on some kind of personal power trip. It is what it is.
Dementia Joe is blotching absolutely everything he does and will continue to until removed from office, of course there may not be a country left when he leaves office!
For 4 years, al we heard was how Donald Trump would start WWIII with the Russians. It looks to me that Joe Biden is going to start a war, He’s barely been in office a year
If this is the comment that was censored earlier, I do not read anything that would cause the censor.
Afraid this moron, Thug N Chief, who is living in his own fantasy world, is going make some terrible decision regarding Ukraine. Just like he did with Afghanistan, that will grossly hurt our Country. The People are the Government and Sovereign! Let’s go Brandon! .
No surprise this is the first discussion about the Ukraine situation involving Germany beyond Nord Steam pipeline. If America had a responsible news media we would all have a greater understanding of the matter.
Biden and Merkel probably both sit on the board of NORDSTROM…. That’s easy to fact check: just tweet that statement and if Twitter suspends your account, IT’S TRUE!
The last paragraph of this article sums it all up beautifully. After the fiasco in Afghanistan, remembering how we turned our backs on our allies there, the USA may be hard pressed to get many foreign nations to care what ‘we’ think/care/need.
HUH!!! What a shocker!!! You say brandon botched something??? What hasn’t this retard botched thus far???
Everything this man touches turns to crap. He is going to alienate all of our allies until we are one of the most hated nations in the world. God help us.
Germany is TOTALLY DEPENDANT on Russian OIL!!!!
Too much concern about Ukraine’s eastern border, not enough concern about our southern border. We need to be doing something to protect our own borders; we have been suffering an invasion for the last year, while Biden does nothing but help the invaders.
“Biden Botching U.S. Alliance with Germany Over Ukraine” that’s an understatement and also goes for EVERTHING he has done since elected!
So shameful and predictable!!!!! Cannot wait for him to leave office.
We’ve had weaker presidents than Biden. He surely hasn’t done enough so far, but what he has done, is continued much of what Trump started.Take the bipartisan agreement to pull out of Afghanistan. Biden unfortunately didn’t confer with his European allies when he did that. So who is talking about unreliable allies? The influx of refugees on our southern borders aren’t anymore than usual years, except Trump fired a lot of border workers and Biden didn’t reinstate them. How can the numbers now be vetted in a timely fashion? I won’t go on. Let’s all be fair and admit, each party has their own agenda and neither of them are really thinking of much more than re-elections rather than what this country needs for the people. What ever happened to compromising in Congress and trying to work together? I’m sick and tired of all the rage and hate for each other. I’m also exasperated by hearing about how the left is all bad and the right all fanatic. Let’s limit the terms of congressmen and women!
I have zero confidence in the entire Biden administration. There are too many elitist Socialists and ‘others’ in our government who want to change our country for the worse! I pray God is on our side and brings us through this troubled time relatively unscathed!
Open OUR pipelines back up & we can send EU our oil
What isn’t he botching?
Our treatment of Germany lead to WWII.
Those who ignore history…….
He’s botched everything he’s touched.
The U.S. strived for energy independence for years, even decades. The minute it attains its goal, the libs shut it down, even though clean burning natural gas is the best way to go and much better than any pie in the sky alternative like wind, solar, wave, corn stalk, etc. We were more than able to send Europe boatloads of energy while increasing the standard of living for all Americans. You see, that’s the rub, the miserable libs don’t want the American people to be comfortable and fiscally secure. If they were, they could not be controlled with all kinds of B.S. and leftist propaganda. The Dems, and I mean all of them, are too naïve, stupid, tyrannical, and self centered for their own good. They are completely incompetent at every level of anything.
A Hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards and I love Hummingbirds. Politically there are two birds that identify your military stance, a Hawk or Dove. May I submit that the political/military hacks in office now are hummingbirds, they continually go backwards. This yet another example of 12 months of backwards non-leadership the democrats have to offer.This idiocy will not change until this buffoon is out of office.
That’s no surprise!
However, it’s his ‘puppeteers’ who are purposefully botching up EVERYTHING!
Like Pres Reagan said, “Government is NOT the answer. Government IS “the PROBLEM”!
I think Germany’s problem goes back to their decision to eliminate nuclear energy which is the ‘greenest’ energy available. This was compounded by agreeing to place their energy availability on the whims of a Russian dictator. Certainly, LNG from America would have been a better decision. I can’t feel sorry for them for paying higher energy prices, think of all the money they should have payed to meet their NATO responsibilities over the years.
Germany has made itself completely dependent on Russian natural gas after having shutdown most, if not all, of their nuclear and coal power plants. Like it or not, Merkel’s decisions with regard to Germany’s direction on how it would power its own economy have been a total disaster for more than a decade. Germany could have purchased LNG from the United States, when President Trump offered it, but Merkel insisted on moving ahead instead with Nord Stream 2. Thus further locking in Germany to the whims of Putin for decades to come. Merkel always took positions that were soft when it came to Russia, as she grew up in East Germany while it was under Soviet control. One can’t help but sense that she has always been much more a true socialist than she ever publicly admitted.
Both solar and wind power, for which Germany went in whole hog several years ago, has been a dismal failure in Germany for its lack of ability to supply a consistent and economical source of electricity for several years. One would have expected that might be a lesson the American people might learn from, but of course that sadly isn’t the case as most Americans appear to have little interest beyond what is happening directly around them. As a result, we are allowing out own politicians to march us down the exact same road that has already proved disastrous for most of western Europe.
The price of electricity in Germany today is up nearly 500 percent more than it was in 2000. That cost increase has hit the Germany economy hard over the years, resulting in a lot of needless pain and suffering for the German people. As a result, they have had to adjust their standard of living downward to try and partially compensate for all the increased costs that have rippled through the economy.
It is NOT surprising that Germany is taking the stand that it is today. The reality is if Germany does anything to displease Putin, he now has the ability to shut off a lot of their lights and almost all of their heat. That would bring their economy to its knees and potentially kill a lot of people by freezing them to death. So Germany is now stuck with limited options. None of them very good.
The Biden administration, by the way, also removed all the stops put in place by President Trump for Nord Stream 2 late last year. Another major gift to Putin from America’s Socialist Party. So it is not like team Biden has had no hand in facilitating the current problem with Germany. Biden’s disastrous actions in Afghanistan last year have made all our allies think twice about their relationships with the United States. That is not something that can repaired by a couple of choreographed speeches by Biden and his team. Actions leave lasting impressions. Most of our allies have already started forming alternative defense and economic alliances with each other, excluding the United States in many cases. So what Biden and the United States wants is of lesser and lesser value on the world stage today than just a few years ago.
Another censored post! Truly pitiful AMAC.