| ▲ | Arnt 4 hours ago | |
Realpolitik is very German. The current phrase is "Wandel durch Handel", sounds more polite, but don't misunderstand. Germany will pay nice money and later Germany will call shots. 25 out of 27 EU members are subsidised by Germany and the Netherlands, guess how many of those 25 run a trade surplus against Germany. Same thing with gas: Putin wanted to diversify the gas distribution and at the end he had two pipelines to Germany. AFAIK Germany's never ever backed down in one of those confrontations. Handel fine, good money for everyone, but the Wandel absolutely has to come on the other side. | ||
| ▲ | tartoran 2 hours ago | parent [-] | |