[walkhour]

> Germany was especially vulnerable to the withdrawal of Russian natural gas supplies—the country used a disproportionate amount of natural gas for its heavy industry and gas-powered home heating systems, and in 2021, 55% of German natural gas consumption came from Russia

So much reliance on a potential enemy was a huge mistake. Germany should've foreseen that in the span of say 40 years it was likely there would be a major conflict with Russia.

All prediction markets were estimating at fairly high this possibility and the fact that Germany didn't realize this and course-corrected is surprising to say the least.

[ido]

I believe the common explanation is corruption rather than a mistake.

[account42]

It's not really a matter for foresight when Germany is going trough with shutting down all nuclear energy while the neighbours are starting to build new ones.