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A flashback video making its rounds online this week shows then-President Donald Trump warning during a 2018 speech at the UN that Germany could soon be “totally dependent on Russian energy.“
After the 45th president put the Germans on notice, the nation’s UN representatives and the mainstream media scoffed at his warning.
Popular social media page NowThis called Trump’s claims “outrageous” and noted the German delegation had a “priceless” reaction by laughing at the president.
The NowThis video called Trump’s remark an “inaccurate claim” and cited CNBC, who called the comment “not accurate” and “highly misleading.”
Shadi Hamid, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, posted on Twitter Sunday mocking mainstream media for fact-checking Trump on a future prediction.
Now, Germany and several other European countries are experiencing an energy crisis that could have deadly results.
Articles with titles such as “Germany Is Already Struggling to Keep the Lights On” and “Why Germany’s Energy Crisis and Euro Weakness Spell Trouble For The Euro Zone” are flooding media outlets.
Europe’s sanctions on Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine have placed a strain on energy grids in several nations.
Russia reduced the supply of natural gas flowing to Germany in response to sanctions and could completely cut them off if necessary.
While “Germany is considering operating its 3 remaining nuclear reactors that are scheduled to be shuttered by the end of the year through this winter,” according to the Institute for Energy Research, the nation still relies on Russia for most of its uranium fuel.
The Institute for Energy Research also points out, “Germany also gets 34 percent of its oil from Russia and 53 percent of its hard coal supplies.”
Earlier this month, Russia announced it would be shutting down the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for a three-day maintenance operation at the end of August.
CNN reported the pipeline shutdown is “reigniting fears that Moscow could completely shut off gas to Europe, which is racing to stockpile supplies ahead of the winter.”
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck did attempt to spread optimism on Monday, telling citizens the nation’s gas storage facilities should soon “reach the 85% threshold.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Cabinet met for an energy summit on Tuesday, telling the media, “Coal power plants are being connected to the power grid again, bit by bit, and as you know, we are also looking into whether it makes sense to restart nuclear power plants for the winter through a careful stress test.”
“We’re in a much better situation now than was foreseeable several months ago and we are much more able to deal with the threats coming from Russia over the cutting off of gas supplies,” he added.
Meanwhile, Germany’s largest natural gas importer Uniper asked the government for an additional €4 billion ($4 billion) bailout this week.
The people of the world need to get prepared immediately for a rough winter because if Covid-19 taught us anything, it’s that governments aren’t going to protect us.