After years of internal strife, it was a dispute about economic policy that finally toppled the German government. Now Europe is facing months of political paralysis just as its many simmering crises are coming to a boil.

With both France and Germany led by minority governments, the continent’s key powers are facing months of impotent introspection as challenges pile up, from a hostile second Trump administration to the economic headwinds from China and Russia’s steady advances in Ukraine. 

The political currents tossing governments across Europe are similar to those that propelled Donald Trump to win back the presidency, the Senate and very possibly the House. Voters on both sides of the Atlantic are in a restive mood, unhappy with the economy and unimpressed by politicians’ efforts to control a surge in illegal immigration.

But while America’s overall economy is strong, Europe’s recovery from its recent economic shocks has been lackluster, especially in the industrial heartlands of Germany.

Read it all.

"Europe Rudderless"

Both France and Germany now have minority governments.https://t.co/s2WbcRtpOi

— Axel Merk (@AxelMerk) November 7, 2024

O God, who in thy providence didst call Joseph Schereschewsky from his home in Eastern Europe to the ministry of this Church, and didst send him as a missionary to China, upholding him in his infirmity, that he might translate the holy Scriptures into languages of that land: Lead us, we pray thee, to commit our lives and talents to thee, in the confidence that when thou givest thy servants any work to do, thou dost also supply the strength to do it; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

With St. James and St. Gamaliel, Bishop Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky is one of my favorites. Like me a he was convert to Anglicanism from Judaism. Unlike me, he was very gifted with languages.

Blessed feast! pic.twitter.com/X6cUcjshY4

— Fr. Brandon ⚓️ (@barukalas) October 14, 2022

The Heiliggeistkirche, in the Baroque German city of Heidelberg, is a 15th-century Gothic jewel of a church. Beneath its vaulted roof, worship has been offered for centuries, with music ranging from Gregorian chant to Lutheran hymns. Even at the church’s time of greatest turmoil, when it was consecrated and reconsecrated by different factions during the wars of religion, nothing, perhaps, will have been quite so surprising as the music that resounded through its nave in May.

“The buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair. In doctor’s-office-lighting, I didn’t tell you I was scared. That was the first time we were there. Holy orange bottles, each night I pray to you. Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus, too” — these are the words of Taylor Swift’s quietly tragic song “Soon You’ll Get Better”, dedicated to her mother after a cancer diagnosis. It was one of the chief musical items in an entire service inspired by the American pop star.

Under the title “Anti-Hero” (a track from Swift’s 2022 album Midnights), the service at the Heiliggeistkirche featured a local singer and professor of popular church music at HfK Heidelberg, Tiene Wiechmann, who sang six of Swift’s songs. These were interspersed with reflections on Swift’s lyrics, life, and philosophy from the (now Protestant) parish’s Pastor, Vincenzo Petracca.

Read it all.

God our refuge and strength, as we remember those
who faced danger and death in Normandy, eighty years ago,
grant us courage to pursue what is right, the will to work with others,
and strength to overcome tyranny and oppression,
through Jesus Christ, to whom belong dominion and glory,
now and for ever. Amen.

Today, we remember the sacrifices made by all those involved in the D-Day landings.

On this day 80 years ago, more than 5,000 ships and landing craft delivered 150,000 troops to five beaches in Normandy. 4,440 Allied soldiers lost their lives on D-Day – the first day of… pic.twitter.com/e34nehRUza

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 6, 2024

Jürgen Moltmann, a theologian who taught that Christian faith is founded in the hope of the resurrection of the crucified Christ and that the coming kingdom of God acts upon human history out of the eschatological future, died on June 3 in Tübingen, Germany. He was 98.

Moltmann is widely regarded as one of the most important theologians since World War II. According to theologian Miroslav Volf, his work was “existential and academic, pastoral and political, innovative and traditional, readable and demanding, contextual and universal,” as he showed how the central themes of Christian faith spoke to the “fundamental human experiences” of suffering.

The World Council of Churches reports that Moltmann is “the most widely read Christian theologian” of the last 80 years. Religion scholar Martin Marty said his writings “inspire an uncertain Church” and “free people from the dead hands of dead pasts.”

Moltmann was not an evangelical, but many evangelicals engaged deeply with his work. The popular Christian author Philip Yancey called Moltmann one of his heroes and said in 2005 that he had “plowed through” nearly a dozen of his books.

What Jürgen Moltmann learned from his time as a pastor: When the old farmers roll their eyes at you, your theology has gotten too abstract.

That and more in my @CTmagazine obit for the theologian of hope:https://t.co/RHSKJVKrKZ

— Daniel Silliman (@danielsilliman) June 5, 2024

Almighty God, who didst call thy faithful servant Boniface to be a witness and martyr in the lands of Germany and Friesland, and by his labor and suffering didst raise up a people for thine own possession: Pour forth thy Holy Spirit upon thy Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many thy holy Name may be glorified and thy kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

#SaintOfTheDay: Saint Boniface was an English Benedictine #monk who made it his life’s mission to convert the Germanic tribes to Christianity. He found it was no easy task and ended up giving his life for the cause.

To learn more, visit @FranciscanMedia: https://t.co/6ELqAVgCHj pic.twitter.com/UHvOYzSpfE

— Diocese of Brooklyn (@BrooklynDiocese) June 5, 2024

Holy God, who dwellest with them that are of a contrite and humble spirit; Revive our spirits; purify us from deceitful lusts; and cloth us in righteousness and true holiness; though Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God now and for ever. Amen.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Johann Arndt & Jacob Boehme, Mystics, 1621/24

German Lutheran theologians, they were known for their mystical writings, with Arndt also a great influence on the later Pietist movement (& on John Wesley) – and Boehme on the early Quakers pic.twitter.com/hV926aKVdm

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) May 11, 2024

Pour out thy Spirit upon all of thy sons and daughters, Almighty God, that like thy servant Elisabeth Cruciger our lips may praise thee, our lives may bless thee, and our worship may give thee glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

🎼Du Schöpfer aller Dinge, du väterliche Kraft,
regierst von End zu Ende kräftig aus eigner Macht.
Das Herz uns zu dir wendeund kehr ab unsre Sinne,
dass sie nicht irrn von dir.
EG 67, 4
Elisabeth Cruciger (1500-1535)

für den 20. Januar / Die Losungen für das Jahr 2024 S. 15 https://t.co/X6cliwKJws pic.twitter.com/XI6YgPr3dY

— Kazutoshi Hanasaki (@CaritasKhanasak) January 20, 2024

This is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without Church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without contrition. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His son: ‘ye were bought at a price,’ and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered Him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Today the Church of England commemorates Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran Pastor, Martyr

He died #OTD in 1945, executed in Flossenbürg concentration camp

Image: Window in St Lawrence University’s Gunnison Memorial Chapel pic.twitter.com/qx1HUHU9lx

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) April 9, 2024

Gracious God, the Beyond in the midst of our life, who gavest grace to thy servant Dietrich Bonhoeffer to know and teach the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, and to bear the cost of following him: Grant that we, strengthened by his teaching and example, may receive thy word and embrace its call with an undivided heart; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today marks the death in 1945 of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian. His courage in the face of evil was unshakeable and his constant prayer for peace unmovable.

"We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God." pic.twitter.com/z9gDPFniZD

— Ninefold Kyrie (@Gda1238) April 9, 2024

I had not read Thielicke for many years until I recently discovered a book of his that I had never heard of: Nihilism: Its Origin and Nature, with a Christian Answer. This work is stunning, for it identifies the problem at the center of our contemporary culture: a collapse in the cultural consensus about what it means to be human. The book’s context is the anthropological challenges posed by Nazism and Marxism in the twentieth century, but its argument offers insights for today.

At the heart of the problems of his day Thielicke saw the rejection of two basic principles: the idea that human beings had an end, a telos; and the notion that limits were good. In short, what it meant to be human was up for grabs. In practice, this made human beings anything that their will could achieve, given the technological possibilities available in any given time or place. And that was a key component of nihilism.

We have witnessed amazing technological advances since the 1940s. The transformation of humanity from a given, limited, teleological essence to a potency whose limits and ends are merely technical problems to be overcome is now complete (at least in the cultural imagination). Ironically, human technical brilliance has served to make human beings into nothing of any great significance. We are the only creatures on the planet who are intelligent and intentional enough to have abolished ourselves.

Read it all.

This is fantastic from @firstthingsmag https://t.co/IS26rEGPG6

— Scott Howard (@ConservaMuse) March 18, 2024

In a cavernous production hall in Düsseldorf last fall, the somber tones of a horn player accompanied the final act of a century-old factory.

Amid the flickering of flares and torches, many of the 1,600 people losing their jobs stood stone-faced as the glowing metal of the plant’s last product — a steel pipe — was smoothed to a perfect cylinder on a rolling mill. The ceremony ended a 124-year run that began in the heyday of German industrialization and weathered two world wars, but couldn’t survive the aftermath of the energy crisis.

There have been numerous iterations of such finales over the past year, underscoring the painful reality facing Germany: its days as an industrial superpower may be coming to an end. Manufacturing output in Europe’s biggest economy has been trending downward since 2017, and the decline is accelerating as competitiveness erodes.

“There’s not a lot of hope, if I’m honest,” said Stefan Klebert, chief executive officer of GEA Group AG — a supplier of manufacturing machinery that traces its roots to the late 1800s. “I am really uncertain that we can halt this trend. Many things would have to change very quickly.”

Read it all.

🇩🇪 #Germany’s Days as an Industrial Superpower Are Coming to an End – Bloomberghttps://t.co/F0E4eUlAXA pic.twitter.com/DCJWqTqSPI

— Christophe Barraud🛢🐳 (@C_Barraud) February 10, 2024

A recent study by women rights organisation Terre des Femmes shows that at least 26 people in Germany were victims of attempted or completed so-called ‘honour killings’ between 2022 and 2023.

According to the research, there were twelve victims of violence in the name of honour in the past two years, ten of whom were women. There were also 14 victims of attempted murders, including nine women, reported German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Terre des Femmes also documented 19 cases of attempted and completed ‘honour killings’ in 2021, so that in the past three years, there were a total of 45 victims, 22 of whom lost their lives.

In most cases, the killings took place at environments dominated by Islam, and the perpetrators often belong to the family of the victims.

Read it all.

Most took place at Islamic environments by members of the own family. “It is the most despicable expression of gender-based violence”, says the minister of Justice.https://t.co/hzyjz039Or

— Evangelical Focus (@Evan_Focus) February 6, 2024

Almighty God, who didst call thy servant Katharina von Bora from a cloister to work for the reform of thy church, grant that all of us may go wherever thou dost call, and serve however thou dost will, for thy honor and glory and for the welfare of thy whole church. All this we ask through Jesus Christ, our only mediator and advocate. Amen.

Today is our First Lady’s birthday. To a phenomenally brave and great woman. Happy Birthday Katharina von Bora, January 29, 1499. pic.twitter.com/NduOOVmtnL

— TheScottishLutheran (@TartanLutheran) January 29, 2023

Story number three. It is February 2023. The setting for this final act of witness is my first-ever trip to Israel under the auspices of The Philos Project.

In the Book of Matthew, Jesus asks, rhetorically, “What did you go out into the desert to see?” It’s a question that travelers to the Holy Land of any faith can only answer for themselves. But one sight that did not exist until the second half of the twentieth century should not be missed by anyone. That is Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum.

Obviously, Israel is about much more than the Holocaust. To focus on Yad Vashem is not to detract from any of the country’s enormous historical, social, spiritual, cultural, or other riches. But for anyone who has been to Israel, and even more, for those who have not, to scant Yad Vashem in discussing anti-Semitism would be inexplicable. Let me cite the observation of the late British novelist Martin Amis. Amis, who was not Jewish, was once asked why his mind and work returned so often to the Holocaust. He replied by citing a German novelist, who said, because “no serious person ever thinks about anything else.”

Read it all.

"To love life as Catholics do is to love the Jews from whose roots we grew."

— @EberstadtMary, one of our speakers at @FranciscanU last week, writes on the importance of Catholic-Jewish relations in light of rising antisemitism.

Read in @firstthingsmag:https://t.co/C22ueD4Jez

— The Philos Project (@philosproject) October 28, 2023

Since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas, Germany has seen a large uptick in the number of recorded antisemitism incidents, including the attempted firebombing of a Berlin synagogue and an anti-Israel riot in the German capital that led to 20 police being injured.

The Federal Association of Research and Information Centres on Anti-Semitism (Rias), has recorded 202 antisemitic incidents since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began on October 7th. The newspaper Die Welt reported that the figure is a 240% increase compared to the same period last year.

The vast majority of the incidents are anti-Israel in nature—nine in ten of those reported. Rias claimed that Israel is largely being blamed for the massacres carried out by Hamas.

In fifteen cases, residences of Jews were marked with a Star of David, evoking scenes from the 1930s when the German Nazi party’s Stormtroopers, the Sturmabteilung, painted Stars of David on businesses that were later targeted for attacks and boycotts.

Read it all.

🔴German Jews: ‘Berlin Synagogues Are Burning Again’

Over 200 #antisemitic incidents recorded since October 7th. #Germany https://t.co/40fMjt1eTt

— The European Conservative (@EuroConOfficial) October 19, 2023

O Creator and Giver of Life, who didst crown thy martyr Maria Skobtsova with glory and didst give her as an example of service to the suffering and poor even unto death: Teach us to love Christ in our neighbors, and thereby battle injustice and evil with the light of the Resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God in glory everlasting. Amen.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Maria Skobtsova, Monastic & Martyr, 1945

Riga-born; modernist poet in Petersburg; émigrée, intellectual, theologian, nun, social worker & Resistance member in Paris; martyr in Ravensbrück. For more on her life, see: https://t.co/MVr7ERd5ah pic.twitter.com/88DdY2lVVO

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) July 21, 2023

Almighty God, who didst give to thy servant Argula von Grumbach a spirit of wisdom and power to love thy Word and to boldly draw others unto its truth: Pour out that same spirit upon us, so that we, knowing and loving thy Holy Word, may be unashamed of Christ and may not sin against the Holy Spirit that is within us, Amen.

Argula von Grumbach (1490-1564) used her unique position (she answered only to the Emperor, within her noble station) to question the church and advocate for others.

All this with four kids in deepest Catholic Bavaria, and amidst constant death threats. #InternationalWomensDay pic.twitter.com/PAjqraUhie

— Mike Stuchbery 💀🍷 (@MikeStuchbery_) March 8, 2023

Almighty God, who didst call thy faithful servant Boniface to be a witness and martyr in the lands of Germany and Friesland, and by his labor and suffering didst raise up a people for thine own possession: Pour forth thy Holy Spirit upon thy Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many thy holy Name may be glorified and thy kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Monday’s #ImageOfTheDay.

St Boniface (Wynfrith) of Crediton, born c675, “Apostle to the Germans”, played a leading part in the mission of the Anglo-Saxon church to northern continental Europe. This is his statue at Mainz where he was bishop. He was martyred on this day in 754. pic.twitter.com/f3jD0MHURk

— Michael Sadgrove 🇪🇺 (@MichaelSadgrove) June 5, 2023

In the 19th century inhumanity meant cruelty; in the 20th century it means schizoid self-alienation. The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots. True enough, robots do not rebel. But given man’s nature, robots cannot live and remain sane, they become “Golems”; they will destroy their world and themselves because they cannot stand any longer the boredom of a meaningless life.

–Erich Fromm, The Sane Society (1955), chapter 9

"[T]he average man feels insecure, lonely, depressed, and suffers from a lack of joy in the midst of plenty. Life does not make sense to him; he is dimly aware that the meaning of life cannot lie in being nothing but a 'consumer.'"

-Erich Fromm

(Happy Monday!) pic.twitter.com/kJzGE4epPY

— Will Pass (@WillPassBooks) March 6, 2023

Almighty God, who didst call thy servant Katharina von Bora from a cloister to work for the reform of thy church, grant that all of us may go wherever thou dost call, and serve however thou dost will, for thy honor and glory and for the welfare of thy whole church. All this we ask through Jesus Christ, our only mediator and advocate. Amen.

20 Dec 1552: d. Katharina Von Bora, 'die Lutherin', ex-nun wife of ex-friar Martin #Luther. pic.twitter.com/h1pCoZvXrn

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) December 20, 2022

The Church of England Pensions Board has joined five other pension funds to bring legal action against Volkswagen AG (VW), after it refused repeated attempts to reveal crucial information on its corporate climate-lobbying activities.

The funds, four Swedish and one Danish in addition to the C of E board, are all part of the Institutional Investment Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) and the Climate Action’s 100+ initiative. These have asked the company repeatedly to clarify its lobbying position. VW discloses trade association memberships, but does not disclose how the goals of these associations align with its own climate goals.

The boards wanted to table an agenda item at VW’s AGM, seeking publication of a report setting out how the company’s lobbying of policy-makers matched its stated ambition to support the Paris Agreement goals by becoming a net-zero company. VW refused to table the item.

The investors say that they tried over several years to get information before tabling the amendment. The case, supported by the legal charity ClientEarth, will test whether VW has the right to refuse the agenda item.

Read it all.

C of E Pensions Board joins fight to force VW to open its books on climate lobbying https://t.co/F1UtlH7M2M

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 24, 2022

The Church of England Pensions Board, together with Swedish public pension funds AP7, AP2, AP3, AP4 and Danish AkademikerPension, has filed a case against Volkswagen AG, after it refused repeated attempts to reveal crucial information on its corporate climate lobbying activities.

This is the first time investors have started European litigation on a climate-related matter. The case was filed this week.

The case will test whether VW has the right to refuse to include an item on the company AGM agenda proposed by VW’s shareholders at the 2023 AGM having previously refused investors shareholder resolutions. The group of investors are represented by German law firm Hausfeld Rechtsanwälte LLP and supported by legal charity ClientEarth.

Read it all.

Pension funds bring legal action against VW over climate change lobbying activities
German carmaker Volkswagen is facing legal action by a coalition of five Swedish and Danish public pension funds and the Church of England Pensions…https://t.co/br98MdLCqE https://t.co/QLb35mqNTw

— MountainJadey🕷🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇦🌱⚖️ (@jadey_murray) October 20, 2022

Germany’s Rhine river will become impassable for barges carrying coal, oil and gas later this week, in a devastating blow to factories upriver.

Levels at Kaub, a key point along the waterway west of Frankfurt, are predicted to fall to below 40cm on Friday, according to the German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration.

At that chokepoint, the river becomes effectively impassable for many barges, which use the Rhine to move a range of goods including coal, oil and gas.

Water levels will then fall further to 37cm on Saturday, officials warned.

The river runs from Switzerland through France and Germany to the Netherlands, where it joins the North Sea.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

🇩🇪The Rhine is close to running dry in a German energy nightmare.

Rhine water levels at Kaub will soon make it impassable for barges carrying coal and gas imports#Thread 👇https://t.co/zxifmOBgJB pic.twitter.com/Oa0cSNcDMu

— Telegraph World News (@TelegraphWorld) August 10, 2022

O Creator and Giver of Life, who didst crown thy martyr Maria Skobtsova with glory and didst give her as an example of service to the suffering and poor even unto death: Teach us to love Christ in our neighbors, and thereby battle injustice and evil with the light of the Resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God in glory everlasting. Amen.

Saint Maria Skobtsova (of Paris) died 31 March 1945 in Ravensbrück concentration camp, Germany. Mother Maria lived in very troubled times (WW2) when – much like today – injustice, "alternate truths", and de-humanization prevailed (for a while). She spoke truth to power and… pic.twitter.com/hw9EaH0ziN

— Dragos Herescu (@DragosHerescu) March 31, 2022

Almighty God, who didst give to thy servant Argula von Grumbach a spirit of wisdom and power to love thy Word and to boldly draw others unto its truth: Pour out that same spirit upon us, so that we, knowing and loving thy Holy Word, may be unashamed of Christ and may not sin against the Holy Spirit that is within us, Amen.

The Episcopal Church also commemorates Argula von Grumbach, Scholar & Church Reformer, c.1554 https://t.co/BMcyTAJKVO

A C16th reformist Protestant writer, she is best known for her 1523 letter to the University of Ingolstadt's faculty challenging the arrest of a Lutheran student pic.twitter.com/5vIyhPxybA

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) July 14, 2022

A group tracking antisemitism in Germany said Tuesday it documented more than 2,700 incidents in the country last year, including 63 attacks and six cases of extreme violence.

In a report, the Department for Research and Information on Anti-Semitism, or RIAS, said the coronavirus pandemic with its anti-Jewish conspiracy narratives and the Middle East conflict with antisemitic criticism of Israel were the main drivers of the 2,738 incidents it documented.

The incidents include both criminal and non-criminal incidents, the group said.

Read it all.

AJC is extremely troubled by @Report_Antisem's new report, showing 2,738 antisemitic incidents in Germany in 2021.

We thank RIAS for taking on the difficult but vital task of documenting antisemitism, and urge German authorities to act on the results.https://t.co/XzhMgCdvlB

— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) June 28, 2022

Gracious God, the Beyond in the midst of our life, who gavest grace to thy servant Dietrich Bonhoeffer to know and teach the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, and to bear the cost of following him: Grant that we, strengthened by his teaching and example, may receive thy word and embrace its call with an undivided heart; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

9 April 1945: Dietrich #Bonhoeffer, German #pastor, spy, and anti-Nazi, is hanged, accused of being part of the Operation Valkyrie conspiracy to kill Hitler. He is executed with Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and others about a month before the end of #WWII. #ad https://t.co/VTQ683SMVE pic.twitter.com/AC5YAyMkpZ

— Today In History (@URDailyHistory) April 9, 2022

Past a nudist beach and a sleepy marina, a gigantic mesh of metallic pipes rises from the pine forest behind the tiny village of Lubmin on Germany’s Baltic coast.

If few people have heard of Lubmin, from Berlin to Washington almost everyone seems to know the name of the two gas pipelines arriving here directly from Russia: Nord Stream 1, which carries almost 60 million cubic meters of natural gas per year to keep Europe’s biggest economy humming. And Nord Stream 2, built to increase that flow but abruptly shuttered in the run-up to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

The pair of pipelines has become a twin symbol of Germany’s dangerous dependence on Russian gas — and the country’s belated and frenzied effort to wean itself off it — with calls growing for the European Union to hit Moscow with tougher sanctions as atrocities come to light in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, the European Commission, the E.U.’s executive branch, proposed banning imports of Russian coal and soon, possibly, its oil. But Russian gas — far more critical to Germany and much of the rest of Europe — was off the table. At least for now.

Read it all.

Germany is scrambling to wean itself off Russian gas, as it effectively subsidizes President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to the tune of some $220 million a day.https://t.co/YbcL2mKzq4

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 6, 2022

Almighty God, who didst call thy servant Katharina von Bora from a cloister to work for the reform of thy church, grant that all of us may go wherever thou dost call, and serve however thou dost will, for thy honor and glory and for the welfare of thy whole church. All this we ask through Jesus Christ, our only mediator and advocate. Amen.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Katharina von Bora, Church Reformer, 1552 https://t.co/8jnUy7lbHy

Image: Portrait of Katharina von Bora by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1526), Public Domain via Wikimedia pic.twitter.com/mwzBpxKbBq

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) December 20, 2021