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Over the past week, German citizens, angered by soaring energy costs due to European sanctions against Russia, staged protests in several cities, calling attention to several issues ranging from the surge in energy prices, a refocus on green energy and an end to the Ukraine War.
“The government is doing a lot, but it is distributing funds with a watering can. People with lower income need more support than the wealthy,” Andrea Kocsis, a union official with Ver.di. She noted Berlin’s move to cap gas prices next month for consumers by putting aside about €200 billion that begins in March, DW.com reported. Private households could see an 80 percent drop in their usual consumption, the report said.
Annette Gernant-Gier, a protester who took part in a demonstration in Dusseldorf, told Reuters that most of the people there are worried about “making it through the day.”
“And the government has already found many ways to help, but it is still too scattered. That is a pity,” she said.
Protests broke out in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Stuttgart, Dresden, and Frankfurt. Greenpeace told Politico that about 24,000 people joined the protests, including 1,800 in Berlin alone.
TRENDPOST: As we have long noted, the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and NATO punished the people, and not Putin, nor would sanctions deter Russia in its war against Ukraine, but America’s narrative was the opposite. To illustrate the arrogance and duplicity of the Moron Gang in charge of destruction, on 11 February, two weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said “the president believes that sanctions are intended to deter.”
And this was a 4 March New York Times headline: “With Sanctions, U.S. and Europe Aim to Punish Putin and Fuel Russian Unrest—The Biden administration and European officials are crushing the Russian economy and stirring mass anxiety to pressure President Vladimir V. Putin to end his war in Ukraine.”
That week, President Joe Biden warned Americans that not only will Russians pay the price for their invasion of Ukraine, so too will Americans bear the pain of his economic sanctions.
“There will be costs at home as we impose crippling sanctions in response to Putin’s unprovoked war, but Americans can know this: the costs we are imposing on Putin and his cronies are far more devastating than the costs we are facing,” Biden said.
The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the economic impact that European sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine had on economies throughout the continent, but Germany in particular due to its reliance on Russian energy to keep its economy rolling. (See “U.S. OIL SANCTIONS HIT THE PEOPLE HARD, BUT NOT RUSSIAN OIL OUTPUT,” “RUSSIA’S ECONOMY RISES ABOVE SANCTIONS AS CENTRAL BANK CUTS RATE,” “GERMANY ON HIGH ALERT: NORD STREAM PIPELINE AND NOW RAILWAY SABOTAGE?” “DRAGFLATION: GERMANY’S FACTORY OUTPUT SLUMPS AS ENERGY CRISIS TAKES HOLD.”)
TRENDPOST: As we have long noted, the sanctions that were supposed to hurt Russia ended up hurting the West. And, in a similar way politicians would never admit to tragic errors during the COVID-19 outbreak, they will never admit that they miscalculated and should demand a peaceful settlement in Ukraine to avoid an economic disaster.
CNBC reported Monday that the euro zone’s flash composite Purchasing Managers’ Index sank to 47.1 in October, which is the largest decline since April 2013, excluding the COVID War.
“The situation economically is getting worse quite rapidly,” Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”