Fuck you, America.
Nah, fuck us. The EU managed to not get to this point in over two years of war. Pre-Trump, a complete embargo on all Russian fuels (oil, gas, uranium, maybe even wood) would have been welcomed by the US government and Trump would have had a much harder time trying to roll back sanctions. Now that we fucked the dog on that issue, everything is much harder because the more fickle among EU government leaders will have two influential voices in their ears trying to avert further sanctions. I also think this war could have been over already if Europe had given more weaponry much sooner, sanctioned fuel imports much harder, and done anything at all to protect its societies from the influence of Russian propaganda (even RT is still easily accessible, just not at the same web address).
While Mr. Merz has taken a hard line against Nord Stream, some voices in his center-right party — not to mention in Germany’s Russia-friendly far left and far right — are urging a different tack.
Not much disturbs me quite as much as the far left aligning itself with Russia. The far left is mostly passionate idealists. How in the world do legitimate communists align themselves with Russia, which isn’t even remotely socialist? How do legitimate environmentalists align themselves with a major fossil fuel exporter? How did so many passionate idealists become convinced to abandon their most closely held ideals in favor of supporting a specific world power?
I could see the far left aligning itself with China, no issues there. They still have a lot of socialism, they are investing enormously into environmentally positive technologies. Russia offers neither of these though. Yet we see even Jill Stein, leader of our American Green Party, supporting Russian positions. How did they all get so compromised? Where is the idealism? Is Greta Thunburg going to start supporting Russia next, or is it (I hope) just the older, compromised generation?
Ever since the BSW has been founded as a split-off from Die Linke (The Left) in 2023, it’s confusing whenever articles just talk about the far-left or the left.
BSW wants relations with Russia as if their war in Ukraine never happened. Also in view of their other policies, it’s questionable whether this party is left at all; but in no case are they passionate idealists. They are no longer in the Bundestag.
Die Linke (which doubled its membership this year alone and surged to 8.8% in the general elections) is heavily critical of Russia. Their majority position is still against arms deliveries (although growing internal discussions may change this, late as it may be). Now already, they (in particular their co-leader Jan van Aken) are heavily in favor of well-coordinated sanctions, and are not just not supporting Nord Stream 2, but are one of the loudest voices demanding a swift crackdown on Russia’s maritime gas logistics as well.
Scharfe Kritik übte van Aken auch an den bisherigen Sanktionspaketen der EU, die aus seiner Sicht nicht funktionieren. „Man muss endlich mal rangehen an die Schattentankerflotte, die das illegale russische Öl durch die Ostsee fährt. Man muss rangehen an dieses Flüssiggas. Wir kaufen im Moment noch Gas aus Russland, und zwar in großen Mengen. Wir finanzieren den Krieg in der Ukraine.“