> it will have trouble surviving the winter.

Relax, they're going to be fine.

Tell that to the people whose energy bills have already tripled in less than a year.

I say it to them: Germany will survive.

Exaggerating (very real) economic harm as an existential matter of survival is silly. Germany's survival is not in doubt.

Sorry, but that very real economic harm is an existential threat. When people’s jobs disappear because energy is too expensive for German industry (highly dependent on exports) to be competitive, that’s an existential threat on a personal level, which ripples out to the greater society. And let’s not forget that economic harm inflicted from abroad is precisely what gave rise to WWII.

Germany's economy will suffer significantly, but Germany will survive.

The language "trouble surviving the winter" plainly suggests massive numbers of Germans freezing to death, which isn't going to happen. Even if I grant that this claim is talking about damage to the German economy (I don't) it is unlikely that the German economy will collapse during this winter. The economic ramifications will be felt for many years to come but there is no chance of Germany ceasing to exist this winter as claimed above.

> And let’s not forget that economic harm inflicted from abroad is precisely what gave rise to WWII.

Fear of that sort of scenario should mostly be focused on Russia, who are going to lose a war as Germany lost WW1, and will be looking for scapegoats. Besides Russia, I can think of other countries which have suffered far more economic damage due to this war than Germany. Particularly, the one that actually got invaded. Germany's economy is still strong and healthy compared to Ukraine's.

> The language "trouble surviving the winter" plainly suggests massive numbers of Germans freezing to death

You are arguing semantics of specific words people use in informal internet conversations, which is pointless. There is absolutely nothing implying literal meaning of the word "surviving".

I, for example, always assumed that it meant the collapse of German industry, German cozy way of life, and likely German government.

Obviously people won't be actually dying - that would be completely fucking stupid. Worst case scenario they'll just start burning everything they can get their hands on.

Currently gas storage is at 100% in Germany. The efforts to reduce consumption also seem to have a significant effect. And this is with a blown up pipeline.

Of course the energy situation has economic effects, but it's very far from not surviving the winter.

It doesn't matter, what I wanted to show is how ridiculous the argument is.

> Currently gas storage is at 100% in Germany > And this is with a blown up pipeline.

Most of the storage was filled when the pipeline was operational and pumping gas at full capacity (what did you think they were filling it with?). It was slowly filling with Russian gas for half a year.

Besides, gas storage is only a buffer to temporarily compensate for the difference between supply and consumption (typically in winter).

> but it's very far from not surviving the winter.

And then what? Pump Russian gas like crazy just like this year? Oh wait, they turned off the tap. Guess they'll have to make some kind of deal. Oh wait, someone blew up the pipeline!

I feel like people are overly focused on this winter, rather the next, when the storages are drained, and new pipelines aren't yet built.

The first LNG terminal has just been built (using a ship-based terminal I think, so somewhat different than a completely land-based LNG terminal). The plan is to buy the gas from somewhere else than Russia, and so far we're doing far better than the original predictions. Doesn't mean there won't be problems, but it's certainly not as terrible as expected.

> The first LNG terminal has just been built (using a ship-based terminal I think, so somewhat different than a completely land-based LNG terminal).

Are you implying that LNG carriers are even remotely comparable in terms of economy and bandwidth to a pipeline from one's neighbor?

> The plan is to buy the gas from somewhere else than Russia

It's not really a "plan", it's just a desire. A "plan" involves thought through supply chain, logistics, economics and so on.

This "plan" also implies stopping the gas flow through Ukraine, which is a politically complicated situation.

> so far we're doing far better than the original predictions.

Specifically?

> Doesn't mean there won't be problems, but it's certainly not as terrible as expected.

But nothing has even started yet. There hasn't really even been a real deficit yet. And still some companies already had to shut down production, just cuz it was no longer sustainable.

Thank you for that excellent dose of reality. The fact is also that European leaders (especially Macron caught on hot mic) are terrified that the US essentially had NO realistic/effective plan to replace Russian gas for the EU.