Fukushima and the invasion of Ukraine

Part of the reason for the Russian invasion of Ukraine goes back to Fukushima.

In 2011, Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster spooked countries that relied on nuclear power to generate electricity. At the time, Germany got 22% of its energy from nuclear sources. [Source]

In response, Germany made two shifts simultaneously -- it moved to replace its nuclear energy with green, and replaced its coal energy with Russian-sourced natural gas. (Naural gas produces less greenhouse gasses and particulates than coal.) The result was a "cleaner, greener" carbon footprint, but it also meant greater dependance of foreign supplies. in 2021, Russia provided half of Germany's natural gas and a third of its oil. [Source]

Germany had hoped that "Wandel durch Handel" (change through trade) would result in Russia becoming more like a Western-style liberal democracy. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

If anything, it had the opposite result. Putin reasoned that because Germany had became the most Russian-gas-dependant nation in -Europe, he could act with impunity against Ukraine, and Germany would do nothing. Last February, Russia escalated its conflict with Ukraine to an outright invasion.

Yet over the past year we've seen that he, too, has miscalculated. Rather than roll over and surrender to energy blackmail, the Germans have been working to completely replace -- in the span of a year -- all the Russian gas that it had spent more than a decade growing dependant on. [Source]

As a resident of Germany, this is what I've been a part of -- reducing energy consumption, delaying thermostat use, and replacing car use with public transportation. Others have taken it even further; last month, NPR reported that Germans were stocking up on candles, in case of rolling blackouts. [Source]

Our efforts have paid off. Germany's finance minister has announced that while "Germany is still dependent on energy imports, but today, not from Russian imports but from global markets." [Source]

This is very satisfying. In 1948, my grandfather opposed Soviet aggression by helping supply West Berlin during the Airlift (what Germans call "Die Luftbrücke"). 75 years later, I am doing the same against Russian aggression -- not by violence, but by the quiet and steady perseverence of personal sacrifice.