Two Israeli embassy employees were shot dead in Washington, DC, after attending an event at a local Jewish museum. The suspect, detained at the scene, shouted slogans opposing Israel’s actions in Gaza. Meanwhile, European and Arab delegates fled the West Bank city of Jenin after the IDF fired warning shots, with Palestinian authorities accusing Israel of intimidation. In the US, a heated exchange unfolded at the White House as Donald Trump confronted South African President Ramaphosa over allegations of a ‘genocide’ against white farmers. In Europe, soaring energy prices amid efforts to phase out oil and gas have pushed Berlin to soften its stance on nuclear power, granting atomic energy equal legal status with renewables across the bloc.
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#GlobalTensions #WashingtonDC #IsraeliEmbassyAttack #WestBankClashes #IDF #PalestinianAuthorities #WhiteHouseDebate #Trump #Ramaphosa #GenocideAllegations #SouthAfrica #EnergyCrisis #EuropeEnergy #NuclearPower #RenewableEnergy #Berlin #ClimatePolicy #InternationalRelations #PeaceAndConflict #GlobalNews #StayInformed
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NewsTranscript
00:00We begin with breaking news from Washington.
00:03Two Israeli embassy staffers, a man and a woman,
00:06have been shot dead outside a Jewish museum in the US
00:10capital.
00:10Three more people were left injured.
00:13DC police say a suspect has been detained.
00:16Free, free Palestine!
00:19Free, free Palestine!
00:22The man has been named as Elias Rodriguez, a 30-year-old
00:26from Chicago.
00:28The weapon is also said to have been recovered at the scene.
00:31Witnesses say the suspect had been pacing outside the museum
00:34ahead of an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee
00:38Civil Rights Group.
00:39Authorities say there's currently no active threat.
00:43We believe the shooting was committed by a single suspect
00:47who is now in custody.
00:49Prior to the shooting, the suspect
00:50was observed pacing back and forth outside of the museum.
00:54He approached a group of four people, produced a handgun,
00:58and opened fire, striking both of our decedents.
01:02After the shooting, the suspect then entered the museum
01:05and was detained by event security.
01:09Let's cross live to RT's Middle East Bureau Chief Maria
01:11Fanoshna.
01:12Morning to you, Maria.
01:14West Jerusalem, we know, has condemned the deadly event
01:17in the strongest terms.
01:18What is emerging then in terms of reaction as a whole?
01:26Good morning to you, Yunan.
01:28Indeed, disturbing reports out of Washington, DC,
01:31where a deadly shooting took place earlier on Wednesday
01:34near the Jewish Museum during an event organized
01:38by an American Jewish organization.
01:40According to local police, two employees of the Israeli
01:43embassy were killed.
01:44Indeed, three more people were injured.
01:47And one of the victims, we are told,
01:49had planned to propose to his girlfriend that same evening.
01:53The suspect, identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez
01:57from Chicago, has been arrested.
02:00Eyewitnesses say he was wearing a keffiyeh
02:02and shouting, free Palestine, during the attack.
02:06And video recorded outside the police station
02:08shows the alleged gunman in handcuffs once again
02:12repeating the phrase, free Palestine.
02:14You have just heard that.
02:15The incident has reignited, of course,
02:18concerns about a dangerous rise in anti-Semitic violence
02:21in the US and also around the world.
02:24Israel's foreign minister called the attack a terrorist act,
02:27saying Israeli diplomats, especially during this time,
02:30are under constant threat.
02:32Israeli president called the shooting
02:34a vile act of hatred and anti-Semitism,
02:37mourning the loss of two young Israeli lives
02:40and warning that terror and hate will not break us.
02:44Israel's ambassador to the UN condemned the shooting
02:46and delivered perhaps the strongest response so far.
02:50Take a listen.
02:53The fatal shooting that took place
02:54outside the event that took place
02:56at the Jewish Museum in Washington, DC,
02:58is a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.
03:01Harming the Jewish community is crossing a red line.
03:05We are confident that the US authorities
03:07will take strong action against those responsible
03:09for this criminal act.
03:11Israel will continue to act resolutely
03:13to protect its citizens and representatives
03:16everywhere in the world.
03:19Israel's consul general in New York
03:21took it a step further, linking the violence in Washington
03:25to what he called dangerous incitement on US college
03:28campuses.
03:29Take a listen.
03:31Rhetoric that legitimizes violence
03:33against Jews and Israelis sadly leads to terror attacks,
03:37like the one we saw last night in Washington.
03:40This is a direct result of dangerous incitement
03:43and unprecedented riots led by terror-affiliated groups
03:47on US campuses.
03:48Sadly, someone here listened to the chants of Free Palestine.
03:52No terror group or lone attacker will stop us
03:55from representing the state of Israel,
03:57neither in the US nor anywhere else in the world.
04:01Donald Trump also reacted, calling the killings obviously
04:05anti-Semitic and demanding an end to hate and radicalism.
04:10The attack comes at a time when cracks in the US-Israeli alliance
04:13are becoming harder to ignore.
04:15As you remember, just recently, the US president
04:17skipped Israel on his Middle East tour.
04:20The US Secretary of Defense and the vice president
04:24also canceled their planned visits.
04:26How this tragedy will affect bilateral ties
04:29remains to be seen.
04:30Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State
04:32has condemned the shooting in the strongest possible terms.
04:36Take a listen to Mr. Rubio.
04:40We condemn in the strongest possible terms
04:42the murder of two staff members from the Embassy of Israel
04:46in Washington, DC.
04:48Our prayers are with their loved ones.
04:51This was a brazen act of cowardly anti-Semitic violence.
04:56Make no mistake, we will track down those responsible
05:00and bring them to justice.
05:03Many point that the shooting in DC
05:05is part of a wider dangerous pattern.
05:07According to the Anti-Defamation League,
05:092023 saw nearly 9,000 anti-Semitic incidents
05:13in the US, a 140% spike from the year before,
05:18with a sharp rise after October 7.
05:20In Europe, it's no better.
05:22France saw a 25% rise, the highest in a decade.
05:26The UK recorded over 3,500 incidents,
05:29the second highest ever.
05:31Many point to the war in Gaza, which has already
05:34claimed more than 53,000 lives as a major trigger.
05:40A report from Israel's diaspora ministry
05:42showed that anti-Semitic incidents worldwide
05:45increased six-fold between October and December alone.
05:49Investigation into Wednesday's attack in DC goes on.
05:53The world is watching closely.
05:54And of course, we'll keep you updated.
05:57RT's Maria Finochna live from Jerusalem this hour.
06:02Well, some more reaction we received
06:04from the deadly events in Washington, DC
06:07was from pro-Palestinian commentator Dimitri Diliani,
06:11who is of the view the Netanyahu government may
06:13use the slaying of the embassy staff
06:16to pursue a useful narrative.
06:19Absolutely.
06:21We stand against the killing of civilians.
06:25And we never condone the murder of civilians.
06:29And we reject such methods, regardless
06:33if they were related to the ongoing genocide in Gaza,
06:39or it is an independent, unrelated issue.
06:44I would expect that the state of Israel
06:47will make sure that it will benefit from this crime
06:51and employ it into its political propaganda
06:55to cover up for the genocide it is committing,
06:59as we are speaking right now in Gaza.
07:02The state of Israel likes the timing
07:05in order to jump the gun and jump the investigations
07:08and control the narrative.
07:10And this is just another, maybe another attempt,
07:14like the ones that we have used to.
07:16And the many times that the state of Israel
07:21has exploited immediate reactions, immediate rumors,
07:28immediate lies, and magnify them, amplify them
07:33to control the narrative, I do not
07:36take it out of consideration that this
07:39might be, as we have gotten used to,
07:42an Israeli ploy to control the narrative in the upcoming
07:46hours, which is most essential to create
07:50public opinion on this crime.
07:53Meanwhile, the Israeli military has fired shots
07:55near an international delegation in the West Bank.
07:59The group consisted of diplomats from a number
08:01of European and Arab countries visiting
08:03the Palestinian city of Juni.
08:06-.
08:21Representatives of over 20 nations, as well as UN personnel,
08:25were part of the group.
08:26Video of the incident shows people being pulled away
08:29by security, as gunshots can be heard in the background.
08:34No casualties were reported.
08:36The incident was condemned internationally.
08:41Well, IDF officials themselves say the delegation deviated
08:44from their assigned route, forcing soldiers
08:48to fire warning shots at the, quote,
08:50violators, while Palestinian officials
08:53urged a significant global response to what occurred.
08:58The ministry holds the Israeli occupying government
09:00fully and directly responsible for this criminal assault
09:03and affirms that such acts will not
09:05pass without accountability.
09:07The ministry further calls upon the international community,
09:11particularly the home countries of the targeted diplomats,
09:14to take a clear and resolute stance
09:16against this egregious violation and to implement
09:19effective measures to curb Israel's ongoing crimes,
09:23including its aggression against the diplomatic corps accredited
09:25to the state of Palestine.
09:28A West Bank-based war correspondent, Mohamed Najib,
09:31claims the incident demonstrates just how far
09:34West Jerusalem is willing to go to prevent the world
09:37from really seeing what's happening in the region.
09:41Actually, this is a very dangerous incident.
09:43First of all, this tour was coordinated
09:46with the Israeli armed forces, with the IDF,
09:48and they learned about it, and they know who are on the tour
09:51and where they are going.
09:53So to open fire against them and to scare them in this way,
09:57that was a very dangerous threat to their life
10:00and to a violation for their diplomatic rules.
10:03Usually, the diplomats move around the West Bank,
10:06the international organizations, but the Israelis
10:09meet them at the checkpoints and see their ID cards,
10:13and they allow them to go.
10:14But today, it was an exceptional incident.
10:18Israel doesn't want any international groups
10:21to come or diplomatic missions to come
10:24to see what's going on in Jenin, whereas 22,000 Palestinians
10:28displaced from Jenin refugee camps.
10:30So Israel is not to differentiate
10:32between journalists, between civilians, between diplomats.
10:35This is a very dangerous escalation.
10:38Actually, the EU voice was linked to the United States
10:42and they didn't hear a lot from them
10:44since the outbreak of the war.
10:46Right now, we accept condemnation and calls on Israel
10:49softly to allow the entry of food supplies and medicine.
10:53But historically, the European Union
10:55condemned the issues, the Israeli policies,
10:57but this is not enough.
10:58They should take actions like impose sanctions
11:01or suspension of security cooperation with Israel
11:04because Israel doesn't listen to the European Union
11:07and these statements doesn't mean anything for them.
11:10They can just easily apologize and continue their policies.
11:13So the European Union have to take a strong action
11:16against that, first to protect their diplomats
11:19who are touring and operating in the West Bank
11:22in coordination with Israeli authorities,
11:25and also to take a moral and humanitarian position
11:30toward what's happening to the Palestinians in Gaza
11:33as well as in the North and West Bank.
11:37Presidential face-off.
11:39The leaders of the United States and South Africa
11:42have been involved in a strange meeting at the White House.
11:47Relations between the two countries
11:49declined significantly earlier in the year.
11:51And one of the reasons for that, again, arose.
11:55The White House was publicly in front of assembled media.
11:59And these are people that are officials
12:01and they're saying that kill the white farmer
12:03and take their land.
12:05That's your government also has the right
12:06to expropriate land for public use.
12:10And you're doing that.
12:11And we've never really gotten underway with that
12:15and we are going to be doing so.
12:17You're taking people's land away.
12:19We have not.
12:20From them.
12:21And those people, in many cases, are being executed.
12:24Our own party, we are completely opposed to that.
12:28We, in 1955, adopted a document which said
12:32South Africa belongs to poor who live in it.
12:36But why wouldn't you arrest that man?
12:38That man said, kill the white farmers.
12:40Kill the white farmers.
12:42And then he danced.
12:43Time really thrives where there is inequality
12:48and unemployment.
12:49So our main, main real reason for being here
12:54is to foster trade and investment
12:57so that we are able to grow our economy with your support
13:03and so that we're also able to address
13:05all these societal problems.
13:07The meeting between President Trump
13:09and President Cyril Ramaphosa was a stark example
13:13of a foreign leader essentially trying
13:15to give a reality check to Trump
13:18who instead amplified theories.
13:21You would have seen how when South Africa President
13:25Ramaphosa tried to turn the conversation
13:27to trade or shared investments,
13:29Trump brought the conversation back
13:31to the false claims of mass killings
13:33against the South African farmers.
13:35Ramaphosa also says South Africa and the United States
13:39are longstanding partners and they need
13:41to reset this relationship,
13:43emphasizing those trade relations,
13:46saying that there are more than 600 US companies
13:49operating in South Africa.
13:51The first question from media in the Oval Office
13:54was of course about the white Afrikaner refugees
13:58and Trump went on to say that they do have a lot of people
14:02who are very concerned with regards to South Africa,
14:04adding that many people are feeling persecuted.
14:08He says, hopefully Ramaphosa can explain that.
14:11But the US President further went on to dim the lights
14:15in the Oval Office during the joint appearance
14:18to show videos intended to back his false claims
14:22that there have been mass killings of white Afrikaners
14:26in South Africa.
14:27Ramaphosa pushed back on President Trump's claims
14:30of genocide and sought to sort of articulate
14:33the reality on the ground.
14:34It is then in this context that President Trump
14:37called for the arrest of South African political leader
14:41Julius Malema over his use of the controversial
14:46Kill the Boer chant.
14:47The EFF has of course responded and it claims that
14:50the clip was misused to push misleading narratives.
14:55No significant amount of intelligence evidence
14:58has been produced about white genocide.
15:00We will not agree to compromise our political principles
15:04on land expropriation without compensation
15:07for political expediency.
15:09Ramaphosa went on to ask COSATU President Zingis Olosi
15:13to speak on the matter at hand.
15:15She says it's not about the race, it's about crime.
15:18If you go into the rural areas where black majority are,
15:23you would see women, elderly, being raped,
15:27being killed, being murdered.
15:29And these are black elderly women that would be found
15:34throat slits, raped multiple times and all of that.
15:38And the problem in South Africa,
15:40it is not necessarily about race,
15:42but it is about crime.
15:44And we think that we are here to say how do we,
15:46both nations, work together to reset,
15:49to really talk about investment,
15:53but also help us in how we can have the technology
15:58and everything that is needed, President,
16:00to really address the levels of crime
16:04that we have in our country.
16:05President Trump went on to talk about his call
16:07with President Putin and the war in Ukraine.
16:11Ramaphosa added on to that conversation,
16:13saying that when Zelensky came to South Africa,
16:16they spoke, they talked about the situation
16:19between the two countries.
16:20Trump says he actually wondered what the hell
16:23Zelensky was doing in South Africa.
16:24You recall when President Zelensky was coming
16:27to South Africa, that's when I spoke to you.
16:29That's right.
16:30We both agreed that we need to push the peace message
16:33so that there can really be peace.
16:35Moves that you're making are fully supported by us
16:39because we would like to see the end of that war.
16:42Sure.
16:43I called Zelensky and they said, he's in South Africa.
16:46I said, what the hell is he doing in South Africa?
16:48He was talking to us.
16:51He got to speak.
16:52I said, that's a strange one.
16:53I said, what are you doing in South Africa?
16:56That's a strange one.
16:57He's trying to make peace.
16:59He's trying to make peace.
17:01We were lucky because we had a great nurse at Mandela
17:06who taught us how to create peace, to make peace.
17:10So we were imparting some of those lessons to him,
17:14some of those learnings.
17:15And I specifically mentioned to him
17:17that this is how Nelson Mandela taught us
17:21that when you want to have a peace in a country,
17:25do it on an unconditional basis and sit down and talk.
17:29And that's precisely what I'm sure he's going to heed.
17:32Well, let me see what happens with that one.
17:36There's a lot of hatred.
17:37There's a lot of death.
17:38It's a bloodbath.
17:40It is, unfortunately.
17:42And we could say that that particular part on Zelensky
17:45is the only thing that the two leaders had in common
17:48in this joint appearance.
17:49But of course, when the end of the conversation ended,
17:54President Trump was asked a few questions
17:57about what he wanted Ramaphosa to do.
17:59And he did end up saying that he wasn't sure,
18:03or rather he hadn't made up his mind
18:06about whether there is a genocide in South Africa.
18:07And that will be part of those talks
18:10that will be taking part between the two countries.
18:12And he did end up saying that he is just trying
18:14to save lives.
18:16Well, following the frank exchange in the Oval Office,
18:19we had one of our own earlier in the form of a debate.
18:22Our guests, one an Afrikaans activist
18:25and the other, a former cultural advisor to Nelson Mandela,
18:29went head to head on the heated issue
18:31of land ownership in South Africa.
18:33I think it's very important to point out
18:35that there is crime in South Africa
18:37and that does not mitigate the fact
18:40that there's also racial discrimination.
18:41I think it's very easy to test
18:43if there's racial discrimination.
18:44It's quite easy to look at the legislative framework
18:47in South Africa where there's 142 laws based on race.
18:51More than that, everybody in South Africa suffers
18:55from crime, but not everybody gets messages written
18:59in blood in the crime scene saying,
19:01kill the boer, kill the farmer.
19:03Not everyone hears tens of thousands of people chanting
19:07for their demise in the most violent ways.
19:09There's disproportionate violent torture
19:12against farmers in South Africa.
19:15And it's also more than that, it's also the idea
19:17that the conflict goes around displacement,
19:23displacing people from their rightful property
19:25and denying a specific group of people,
19:29the Afrikaner people, the right to exist.
19:31All South Africans are equal before the law
19:34and we are a non-racial and a non-sexist democratic society
19:38which has a room for all our communities
19:41to exist and be protected.
19:43When we are affected by a crime,
19:45indeed we are all affected, black and white.
19:49There is no persecution of whites per se.
19:52There is no way that we have a government
19:53that will single out the whites and the white Afrikaners
19:58and segregating them, not at all.
20:00Actually, as far as we are concerned,
20:03they still enjoy more protection
20:06than the black population in South Africa.
20:09We are the ones who have always been very much exposed.
20:13We are still trying to balance things,
20:15you know, out of a history that has been very unfair.
20:18We are not telling the white people to leave this country.
20:20We never said that.
20:22But if they want to leave, they must leave voluntarily.
20:25They must not make an excuse
20:28that it is something that is propelled by us as a country.
20:32The government policy is very clear on that.
20:34And we are also very firm that land,
20:3980% of the land is still in the hands
20:41of the people of European origin.
20:44The original people of this country,
20:47the natives, the aborigines,
20:49they only share less than 20% of the land.
20:52No, I would not agree
20:53because that is a very ignorant way
20:55of looking at the study that was conducted.
20:58That study specifically refers to title deeds.
21:01Now, if you understand South Africa,
21:03you will understand that that is a ruse.
21:05Land in South Africa is not only owned
21:08in terms of title deeds.
21:10Most of the land is owned by government
21:12and also by the trusts.
21:14Not understanding that will lead you
21:15to the ignorant conclusion
21:18that there is this disproportionate ownership.
21:22And what's more is to refer to Afrikaners as the Dutch
21:26is even more ignorant.
21:28Afrikaners are not Dutch.
21:29We are here for 400 years.
21:30That would be the same for me to say
21:32that your guest is still from the Congo
21:37or further North.
21:38People migrated into South Africa.
21:40We were one of those groups
21:42and we established infrastructure here.
21:44So to say that Afrikaners are Dutch is not the truth.
21:48We are native to here.
21:49He's making a mistake.
21:51We are Africans as the people of South Africa
21:53who are natives here.
21:55We didn't come from another continent.
21:57And Afrikaners originally are from Europe.
22:01They are natives of Europe originally,
22:03but we agree that they are citizens now of South Africa.
22:07They are citizens.
22:08And there's a difference between citizenry
22:11and being a native.
22:13You will never be a native,
22:15but we are open to live side by side with you.
22:19It's wrong to say that we are ignorant
22:22about the land question.
22:23Remember, land was taken to us in a genocidal manner.
22:27Our people were killed and raped
22:30by people who came from Europe,
22:31from Holland, from Britain, from France, from Germany.
22:35My ancestors did not.
22:36My ancestors did not rape anyone.
22:39No, no one in this.
22:41Can I complete my statement?
22:43But we are prepared to say, let's reconcile.
22:47We are not wanting any revenge from those genocides.
22:51All what we want is our land to be restored
22:54in a manner that is equitable.
22:57We will still keep land for you, by the way,
22:59but all we are saying is that
23:01there has to be transformation.
23:02There has to be some reforms, restitution
23:05in relation to the question of land.
23:08This land must be shared equitably.
23:10If you truly want to work together,
23:13there's only one way,
23:14and that is to recognize the diversity,
23:16the so-called slogan of South Africa is
23:18unity through diversity.
23:20Recognize the diversity of Afrikaners.
23:22Let Afrikaners build a place where they can,
23:25from a position of safety and from a position of freedom,
23:28willingly cooperate as they see fit.
23:31You cannot go and say that Afrikaners have no right
23:35to land in this country.
23:36We've been here 400 years.
23:37Afrikaners don't want to flee South Africa
23:40and go to the U.S.
23:41They love this country as well,
23:43but the future needs to be secured for them
23:45where they can, from a place of confidence,
23:48make voluntary decisions.
23:49And not being forced or threatened by violence
23:52or with screams of genocide doesn't ring in their ears.
23:55And that's the only way forward.
23:56It's the only legitimate and only just way forward.
23:59And I think the government and political role players
24:03should give serious consideration
24:05of this very important fact.
24:08Now, if you're adamant on getting rid of oil and gas,
24:11then something has to give.
24:13And it appears in Berlin's case,
24:15that's opposition to nuclear energy.
24:17Following ever-soaring prices for citizens
24:21and pressure from atomic-dependent France within the EU,
24:24Germany has now allowed for nuclear sources
24:27to be given the same legal standing as renewable energy.
24:31That's despite the country having shuttered
24:33all of its nuclear facilities just two years ago,
24:36as RT contributor Rachel Marsden talks us through.
24:40Germany has long depended on Washington's nuclear
24:44umbrella ever since it lost the right to play with nukes
24:46of its own following that minor historical hiccup
24:49known as World War II.
24:50But now Chancellor Friedrich Merz is making it clear
24:53that he'd prefer to cuddle up under Paris's nuclear duvet
24:58or maybe even London's.
25:00How could France, the country that was literally stomped on
25:03by Germany in the last global showdown,
25:05possibly say no to sharing its nuclear toys
25:08in the name of guarding against some potential
25:11future Russian aggression, right?
25:14There's also another problem here.
25:15Berlin has spent the last few years
25:17doing pretty much everything short of chaining itself
25:20to French nuclear reactor gates
25:23to sabotage France's nuclear industry.
25:26Why?
25:27Well, because French industry running on cheap,
25:29reliable nuclear energy made Germany's windmill
25:32and sunbeam economy look kind of like
25:35a middle school science fair.
25:36So Berlin lobbied the EU to treat nuclear
25:41blocking it from being labeled as green
25:43and stripping it of any fiscal perks
25:46that the EU gave that status
25:49and which of course German renewables enjoyed.
25:52But in early 2022, Germany lost that battle at the EU.
25:57And just a month later, when the Ukraine war heated up
26:01and the EU flipped off Russian gas,
26:04Germany found itself firing up coal plants again.
26:07Like you'd think it was 1850
26:09and steam engines were back or something.
26:11So desperate for energy and even more desperate
26:14not to look desperate,
26:16Germany has now done a full nuclear 180
26:20or as they call it over there, a Baerbock 360.
26:24The Germans are telling us we will be very pragmatic
26:27on the issue of nuclear power.
26:28All the biases against nuclear power,
26:30which still remain here and there in EU legislation
26:33will be removed.
26:34This will be a sea change policy shift.
26:37So suddenly French nukes are all chic.
26:40All is forgiven.
26:41Let's be atomic BFFs, ja?
26:44Yeah, that's quite the pivot
26:45for Merz's own Christian Democrat party,
26:46which was busy swearing off nuclear
26:49at least as far back as 2011.
26:53Renewable energies are to become the central pillar
26:55of the future energy supply.
26:57We wanna reach the age of renewable energies.
27:00That is why we are convinced that Germany
27:02has the potential and the strength
27:04for a new architecture of our energy supply.
27:07It is unique.
27:08And the first time that a major industrial country
27:11has declared itself ready to carry through
27:13this technological and economic revolution.
27:15The decision made in Germany was due to the threat
27:19of nuclear energy, Angela Merkel and the liberals.
27:22And of course the Greens agreed to it,
27:24but it was an overall decision of all the German parties
27:29that we face out of nuclear energy taken 10 years ago.
27:32And it was the right decision.
27:34One of the loudest anti-nuclear voices there
27:36is Robert Habeck, the former economy and climate minister.
27:39His Green Party literally grew out
27:42of the anti-nuclear bonfires of the 1980s.
27:45Then came the Fukushima disaster in Japan back in 2011.
27:49And that thoroughly spooked Chancellor Angela Merkel
27:54who promptly threw Germany's nuclear power plants
27:57into the recycling bin, you could say.
27:59By April, 2023, the last three reactors were unplugged.
28:03And just to be extra sure no one got any wacky ideas
28:07about turning them back on,
28:08Germany started demolishing them.
28:10Kind of like it was trying to erase
28:12a bunch of really bad tattoos off of its energy grid.
28:16But even as all of this was happening,
28:18some within Merkel's own party
28:20were calling the whole thing idiotic.
28:22And one of those voices just happens to be
28:25current Chancellor Friedrich Merz himself.
28:29Mr. Chancellor, I want to tell you explicitly
28:32this capacity must remain on the grid for a while.
28:35In this way, we're lowering prices.
28:37In this way, we're reducing costs for companies.
28:40In this way, we're also creating planning security
28:42for companies in Germany.
28:44And I want to call on you.
28:45The situation may be getting dramatically worse
28:47in the coming days, weeks, and months.
28:50You know it.
28:51You have the interlocutors who told you this.
28:54This should be anything but an exaggeration.
28:56I tell you, Mr. Chancellor,
28:58stop this madness from your coalition
29:00while we still have the time for it.
29:02So now that Merz is in charge,
29:03he's now laying out just how messy
29:06all of this is going to be to undo.
29:09But you've got to start somewhere.
29:11And for Germany, that somewhere is apparently
29:13just to put the shovel down and stop digging a grave
29:17for the country's own energy infrastructure,
29:19nuclear infrastructure, and also, well, for its economy too.
29:24Energy production is, of course, one of the aspects.
29:27But we all know that nuclear power plants
29:30cannot be turned off like a desk lamp.
29:32This is a longer-term process.
29:34I believe that a moratorium on decommissioning is necessary.
29:38The extent to which we will be able to resume
29:40or even build new nuclear power plants,
29:42of course, will not be decided and implemented
29:45only during this legislative period.
29:47So if Germany can do the nuclear walk back of shame,
29:52back to its reactors,
29:53does that mean that it might eventually flirt
29:56with the idea of turning the Russian gas back onto?
30:00Sounds like the industry hopes so.
30:02If peace is achieved, then we must, of course,
30:05ensure that the other damage caused by this conflict
30:07is repaired as well.
30:08Returning to deliveries of Russian gas
30:11would be the logical consequence.
30:13So what this nuclear walk back suggests,
30:16or even proves, is that you really can never say never.
30:21It's too bad that irony isn't a fuel source,
30:23because, hey, if it were,
30:24Germany would just have hit full energy independence.