The shortsightedness of the European leadership, which gave up on traditional sources of energy in favor of the sun and wind, despite not proving themselves, and put its trust in Putin's gas, will bring a frozen, gloomy and expensive winter on the population of the continent
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"The Germans are going to have a cold, hard and dark winter," a senior Israeli official predicted said after having returned from the European country he visited for a day.
While this week Israel enjoyed summer sunshine and reasonably priced electricity and gas, the temperature in Berlin was 12 degrees on early Monday morning and the hotel where Prime Minister Yair Lapid's entourage was staying had to turn on the central heating system; a seemingly routine and meaningless action. But actually, not an easy step at all in the days of an energy, economic and national-security crisis.
Germany is one of the richest and most innovative countries in the world and to a large extent bears the burden of the European economy and is a world leader in almost every aspect. Still, in the upcoming winter basic operations of heating, lighting and production are going to be expensive, and sometimes banned, in the country, as well as throughout Europe. The ancient human problem, how not to freeze during the cold months, which the Europeans thought that they had long left behind them, is concerning them these days, as if we had returned to the Middle Ages.
"Many residents are in a real panic," Antonia Yamin, commentator and reporter for the German outlet Bild, told Israel Hayom. "Already in August people purchased electric stoves or fireplaces and wood. The greatest fear is that there will not be sufficient gas to heat the homes, and even if there is enough, the price will skyrocket. The media here reports that even a small family may pay up to 4,000 euros more to heat their home this winter. For this reason, Germany has decided to initiate preventive measures from now: beautiful and historic buildings, which were always lit up at night, have been in the dark already from Sept. 1st. It is forbidden to heat private pools and public buildings will be heated at a maximum temperature of 19 degrees."
What is true for Germany is true for all of Europe. Many countries on the continent are taking similar steps. In Switzerland, for example, private citizens have also been forbidden to heat their homes above 19 degrees. But how did we get to this situation? How is it possible that in 2022 Western countries are finding themselves facing a medieval crisis?
"We started preparing for the shortage already in December 2021, when we predicted that Putin would invade Ukraine," the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Schulz, said, replying to a question I asked him at a press conference on Monday. He spent ten minutes describing the steps his government is taking to overcome the crisis, and we will discuss them further on in this article. But Schulz was only telling half the truth when he attributed the crisis to the Russian dictator.
Returning to coal, for now
This is because the turning point in the last five years, between the drop in gas prices and the start of the increase, was registered in late June 2020 (Iran benefited greatly from the turnaround, which kept attention away from the nuclear deal, but that is another matter). An even greater jump occurred just about one year ago. Between August and October 2021, prices jumped from 3.8 to 6.2 dollars per heat unit. Due to the crisis, in the fall of 2021, then-Prime Minister of Britain Boris Johnson ordered the military to distribute fuel to civilians in tankers. In another emergency move, he reopened the coal mines – a fuel that all agree is the worst environmental pollutant. All this occurred almost six months before the war in Ukraine even began.
The reason for the great shortage last year were the wind and the sun, which did not produce the expected volumes of energy. Due to the assumption that the earth is warming up, and that this is due to the emission of greenhouse gases, and that greenhouse gases are a result of the rapid industrialization throughout the world –Europe has invested large sums in "green energies" in recent decades.
Under the immense public pressure of left-wing organizations, the media and academia, the West drastically reduced the production of energy from traditional sources. Coal mines were closed, gas production was stopped, and nuclear reactors were shut down. Huge wind turbines and solar panels were supposed to take their place. Anyone traveling in Western Europe sees them now in every corner. But the scientists' calculations do not correlate with reality. Not only is it greatly doubtful whether the global warming is actually man-made, but they also did not correctly estimate the yield of the green alternatives. So the continent fell into crisis already in the second half of 2021. But even these warning signs did not wake up anyone in a position of power.
In November 2021, still before the war in Ukraine, world leaders gathered at the Climate Conference in Glasgow to announce new unworkable goals for reducing greenhouse gases, i.e. more limitations on gas, oil, and most certainly, coal production. Just four months later Putin gave the order to fire and also set fire to the global energy economy. Germany, which imported 40% of its gas consumption from Russia, found itself in a lose-lose situation.
The new energies do not live up to expectations. Traditional sources are not available. The Russians have closed the gas pipe, because the Germans supported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his people – and that was not a very pleasant situation. So what are we doing? In response to a question from Israel Hayom, Scholz explained that he has not changed his principle opinion on global warming and green energy. But for now, over the next three years Germany will be using the polluting fuels.
From Berlin to Jerusalem
His partner in the German government, Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Green Party, was less optimistic, having recently lamented how Germany's bakeries are burnt by the rising energy prices.
As such, Germany is facing a difficult winter. Prime Minister Yair Lapid Lapid, who together with his entire party voted against the 2015 Gas Plan, which vouched to "stop the rig works ten kilometers off the coast" and whose energy minister decided not to issue new licenses for gas exploration (and in the meantime has retracted this decision) – can only thank Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Yuval Steinitz, thanks to whom he spoke this week with Scholz on how Israel can help Europe overcome this crisis.
***
On Monday afternoon, we went with Lapid and Scholz to Wannsee villa in southern Berlin, where the Final Solution was devised in January 1942. Five Holocaust survivors, invited by Lapid, gave the two leaders a brief history of their lives. For everyone present the history of the place was shocking. It is impossible to comprehend how 14 people, seven of whom had doctorate degrees, were able to devise such a satanic plan. And not only them, "the German nation was amazingly silent," noted Holocaust survivor Zvi Gil, among others.
When you are here, on German soil, you can't help but reflect on the herd phenomenon – covering up the truth, the lack of supervision and the submission of elite societies to current atmospheres – which might lead humanity to the deepest abysses and greatest failures.
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