Though the German government has so far given its support to escalating a sanctions war with Russia, the nation’s main trade body is warning that some 6,200 German countries trade with Russia, and many are facing “catastrophe” if those sanctions start getting worse.
This shouldn’t have been news to Chancellor Merkel, as Germany gets roughly 40% of its natural gas from Russia. While she seemed willing to ignore economic costs to spite Russia over the Ukraine dispute, the political costs of this could rapidly be getting too high to stomach.
The EU as a whole is extremely dependent on Russia for energy, and while officials continue to give lip-service to “replacing” Russia as a supplier, they offer no specifics on where this gas is going to come from.
That’s no accident, because with Libya and Syria both down for the count because of unrest, there aren’t any realistic sources for increased energy supplies nearby, and other suppliers would be extremely expensive.
