The Second Front

at

BASFs plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany

This afternoon.

Via Bloomberg:

BASF SE’s plant in Ludwigshafen is emerging as a symbol of Germany’s opposition to a full embargo on Russian gas amid rising calls to punish President Vladimir Putin for his war on Ukraine. Cutting it off, BASF says, could render its factory—the biggest supplier of the base chemical acetylene—inoperative, sending shock waves through many industries and causing Germany’s economy irreversible damage.

The warnings have alarmed policymakers in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s administration, which has been scrambling to offset Germany’s reliance on Russia for roughly one-third of its energy.

…Germany could face a €220 billion ($240 billion) hit to output over the next two years should gas supply be severed immediately, according to a joint forecast of economic institutes, the equivalent of a 6.5% annual output cut, tipping the country into a recession of more than 2% next year….

Germany’s Faustian Pact With Russia Haunts Industrial Giants (Bloomberg)

Meanwhile…

2018.

They’re not laughing now.

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21 thoughts on “The Second Front

    1. Janet, dreams of an alternate universe

      a friend of mines fella made her her first marathon playlist, I thought that was the sweetest thing

    2. paul

      mixtapes are delightfully personal. Dropping mp3’s onto a MicroSD card or into a burn queue just doesn’t have the same feel.

      1. anti bot

        Tell us again why you support Matt Gaetz? I know it’s click bait but are you not concerned that you are stumping lower than the Daily Mail?

        1. Bodger

          We don’t do clickbait and I don’t support Mr Gaetz, merely posted that he had entered Hunter’s laptop’s hard drive into the congressional record.

        2. K. Cavan

          Why exactly are you on here, Smelly Bot? Do tabloid newspapers not have comment sections where you’d be echoing back the opinions they gave you & you’d regularly win free rides at Alton Towers for your Letter of the Week prize?

          1. SOQ

            Under various names, to abuse people- it really is that simple.

            It is funny apparently- if you are of that twisted mindset.

          2. anti bot

            Go attack me soq / cavan. I’ve one name. I don’t do multi names unlike you. I don’t lazy nick names like your hero Trump. regardless, tell us all on this wonderful website, why you believe it is acceptable for a sovereign nation to be invaded and innocent people to be killed? its a really simple question.

    3. K. Cavan

      No, it’s all playlists, now, though I’ll sometimes burn a playlist to a CD.
      I do miss fading out the track as the tape nears it’s end, by placing the tape in with the last bit level with the recording head & setting the counter at zero.

  1. V aka Frilly Keane

    Well this is weird, or maybe not, like its part of the plan n’ all that
    So the local Trump cell will have to explain this
    Their one true Trump mentions Western Hemisphere Countries

    But according to the US State Department, the Western Hemisphere collective doesn’t include ‘Merica
    and like, they’d know
    Wouldn’t they?

    here btw https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/dosstrat/2007/html/82977.htm

    Was ‘Merica removed or sanctioned
    or wha’
    and who
    or should that be WHO

    1. K. Cavan

      I’m sure you know what you’re talking about, Frilly. Looks like Long Trump Derangement Syndrome, to me.
      There’s a guy called Barry Obama back in charge now, after that Biden bloke & his WOC sidekick, Kamala Harris Kamala Harris (so dumb she says it twice) didn’t work out.
      Barry will probably start a war soon, to try to make up for that fallow period under that Racist Nazi, Trump, who spent more time talking about grabbing birds by the pussy than bombing children, the disgusting sexist.

      1. Nigel

        Obama Derangement Syndrome.

        I’ll think you’ll find, by the way, that Trump bombed quite a lot of people.

  2. Dinkum

    Let’s see if Germany ever weans its self off Russian gas
    When it comes down to a recession in Germany jobs will ensure the heart of the reich dose not suffer
    Most probably our KAPOs in charge will send our gas over to the krouts and leave us hanging

    1. K. Cavan

      Weaning itself off Russian gas is as easy as closing all the factories, Dinkum, the problem is they’ve nothing to wean themselves back on to.
      Poor Olaf is not the sharpest Scholz in the box, I predict he’ll be going down with his Chancellorship, pretty soon.
      AfD are part of a mooted replacement coalition government, which will not so much be putting the cat among the pigeons as putting the tiger among the sparrows.
      Despite their animosity towards China & Russia, there is no country that the US fears more than Germany & they’ve done a great job with the Ukraine operation, driving a wedge between Russia & Germany, laundering billions of dirty money & even getting a gig for Hunter Biden. What’s more, they’ve sent lots of people off to meet their maker, without having to actually murder them, themselves.
      Talk about winning big, way to go, Uncle Sam.

      1. SOQ

        I don’t think Germany boxed clever at all. As Trump said- they got rid of their Nuclear and coal plants to buy gas off Russia, and are now in a situation where they cannot do without it.

        No alternatives are available so they will concede to Russia’s demand to pay in roubles, because they have no choice- and it is all their own doing.

        https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-44793764

        1. jonjoker

          You can’t make chemicals with nuclear energy. You need something to start with, and natural gas is that starting point.
          The whole chemical industry revolves around natural gas and petroleum. Gas is handier because it is easy to clean, and then all there is left is methane – refining petroleum gives you a variety of products together, which isn’t nearly as handy.
          So the reality is that they need refined natural gas, and the US will probably claim they can’t supply everything Germany needs, to keep German industry in check.

          On another level, the Germans would be mad to tie themselves to a single provider, supplying by ship. That would really see them as hostages to fortune, or to an explosion in a tanker terminal.

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