https://www.russiafossiltracker.com/

That are Russian oil exports. So the volume has not changed much over the years and production certainly has not halved. They just get paid less for the oil. However as you can clearly see a 11% drop in sales to the EU, would probably just be replaced by some other customer. They pay less, but Russia will not have a 11% drop in fossil fuel profits.

This is not to say sanctions do not work. However right now, the key is keeping up sanctions and supporting Ukraines long range drone campaign. Not getting spare parts for refineries makes those much more effective.

Last month the EU made up 11% of Russia fossil fuel purchases. The honest answer is that Russia is not going to surrender, if those purchases stop.

Obviously some will do that and it is normal to do so. Foreign companies are also moving things to Germany as well. It is also really important to just be honest with where the German economy stands right now. Probably the biggest story is that the baby boomers are starting to retire about now. At the same time a lot of infrastructure needs a lot of investment and some industries like the car industry have serious issues. Add to that a massive market in the US closing down, which obviously hits the German export oriented business model badly.

There are solutions to all of this and honestly the situation is not that horrible. Some industries do quite well and founding of new companies is at an all time high as well. So there is clearly adaption. Higher infrastructure spending and a positive vision for the future is really badly needed though.

Because complaining is seen as a betrayal to the Zionist project. If Israel is not seen as a positive country from the outside, then support for Israel is in trouble. They do not need everybody on their side, but especially American Jews are critical. So Israel build up this facade of a high tech democracy in the Middle East to show how they are working on some sort of Jewish paradise.

At the same time Israelis are turning towards hard core Zionism, because a lot of them have actually experienced violence against them. The idea of fighting back is very human, but obviously Palestinians also have very similar if not worse experiences with Israelis. So yeah big problem.

Especially since environmentalists tend to like railways and leftists tend to not have as much of a problem with government owned companies. A more logical target would be an oil and gas pipeline, refinery or the like.

Germany didn’t want just access to the munition on terms and timelines USA sets, they wanted independent capability to make them.

Germany has not ordered ATACAMS. This is a private venture, but obviously they hope they can sell them.

Basically Germany gets the old ATACMS production line and the factory in the US is converted to produce PrSM. There is massive demand, so why not.

Also ATACAMS is shorter range then PrSM. It is good enough against Russia, so it gets a lot of orders.

The heating season 25/26 was colder then the one 24/25. So more gas was consumed and most of the spare import capacity is in LNG. So no big conspiracy, but the fact that Germany needs more heat pumps.

Also this is likely to increase, as Russian pipeline gas will be cut in autumn next year. Germany has LNG terminals and pipelines going eastwards.

That style of jacket in different colours was her go to style. Early on and on special occasions, she also wore other outfits, but mostly this. So it makes sense to use it on the painting.

The other disaster waiting to happen is a food shortage, because you cannot seed, fertilize or harvest without fertilizer or diesel for all the machines, or trucks to distribute it.

A lot of Russians actually grow some food themself. For the rural population it is pretty simple and the city dwellers often have access to dachas. However going to them might be a problem…

They need to transport the oil though and that is difficult, when ports and pump stations are burning…

AfDs solution was back to traditional values, which isnt good but better than whatever bullshit we have now.

Germany tried the far right and in the end the country was bombed to shit and divided. I much rather have Merz gutting the social system, then that bullshit.

But yes, Germany needs to really help the middle class a lot more. Taxes on work are among the highest in the OECD. So cutting that would help a lot. Also the tax for buying real estate. So people buy their homes and not rent all the time. But helping the weakest in society is a case of all boats rise with the tide.

Volkswagen has a lot of actually cheap EVs too. The issue is that those are versions of their European models with less extras and only available in China. Honestly I am suprised they do not sell those in Europe. Hell they could even just badge them Skoda or SEAT, if they want to move the brand Volkswagen up market.

The project is still going and there is some interest from Japan to use them as anti submarine drones.

There are debit cards like CB and girocard from individual countries, but those are often co branded with Visa or Mastercard.

The thing is with a smaller population, you still have all the stuff developed for a country with a much larger population. So you do not have to put work into building more housing, transport infrastructure and so forth. That work can then be used to support the elderly. The bigger part of that is that less workers means the ratio between capital and workers shifts in favour of the workers. So they can ask for higher wages.

To be fair pension with 70 in 2090 might actually be a decent idea, but way too far into the future to plan for anything.

The real headline should be the end of pensions with 63. The most births after WW2 in Germany were in 1964. So they could start to retire next year. That obviously is going to stress the pension system. However it also means that the baby boomers are at an age, where death is much more likely. So this will be naturally solved in a decade. However obviously the labour market is going to be worse for employers.

The countries who believed the US would defend them clearly have the biggest jump.

The war in Ukraine is NOT a modern war shaping future combat. It’s primarily characterised by obsolete static and trench warfare with both sides severely lacking capable air defense and experience in proper combined arms warfare.

It is a war shaping modern combat. In exercise with Ukraine NATO soldiers showed that they have serious issues dealing with drones. Also both Ukraine and Russia currently have some really strong air defence systems right now. The fact of the matter is that anti drone systems are too few in number to make armoured assaults possible. That is being worked on and would allow tanks to be much more useful again.