https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/german-green-group-brande...
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/german-green-group-brande...
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/umstrittener-einsatz-fue...
The Green party was founded in the 80s, and being anti nuclear is part of its founding axioms. It's also a majority position in Germany. The Greens were also opposed to NS2 from the start.
First, some background. The Green party in Germany has traditionally been anti-Russia:
Germany’s new political alignments paved the way for this revolution. Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) governs with the values-driven Greens and the liberal Free Democrats, both of which advocate a tougher line toward Moscow.
The Centralist SPD has in the past been pro-Russia, in particular under Gerhard Schröder:
Faced with indefensible Russian actions, the “dialogue” wing of the SPD has seen its arguments crumble. The most visible advocate for pro-Russian positions, ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of the SPD, has come under fire from the entire party leadership for his positions on the boards of Russian energy corporations such as Nord Stream AG, Rosneft, and just recently Gazprom (although that is still pending). Schröder has in a matter of weeks gone from being one of Russia’s most valuable assets in Germany to a political liability.
From https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/27/putin-war-ukraine-germa... which has a lot of useful background.
It's green groups within the SPD that were funded by Russia, not the Green Party. From the originally linked article:
It is the creation of Manuela Schwesig, the state’s Social Democratic premier, who is an ally of Gerhard Schröder, Germany’s former chancellor and chairman of Nord Stream II.
Schröder has been attacked by political opponents for his close relationship with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/ex-kanzler-gerha...
1. When first decisions were made for exit from nuclear, Greens were indeed the partner in the coalition government, but back then Putin was just elected as a president of Russia and could not possibly influence that decision in any way.
2. It was Angela Merkel (CDU) in coalition with FDP, who signed off the current plan to shut down all nuclear plants by 2022. By the moment this comment is written, not all of them are completely shut down yet, and Robert Habeck, the minister of economic development from Greens, is not excluding the possibility of expanding their life time.
3. Putin has never financed Greens or any other major party in Germany, as this is directly forbidden by German law.
> 1. When first decisions were made for exit from nuclear, Greens were indeed the partner in the coalition government, but back then Putin was just elected as a president of Russia and could not possibly influence that decision in any way.
Wait, wasn't that decision taken in 2012, after Fukushima -- is that what you are talking about?!?
Because in that case, talk about "false information"! I mean, sure, it's technically correct -- the best kind of false information -- but misleading AF: Back then Putlin was just elected as President of Russia after a four-year stint as Prime Minister to circumvent (then-)constitutional term limits, following his previous two terms as President. You know, those weird years 2008-2012 when suddenly the Prime Minister of Russia turned out to be a much more important and powerful position than President? (Weird how that suddenly ended after Putler's re-ascension to the Presidency in 2012.)
Russia invading Ukraine gives China license to further deepen its relations with its neighbours, without worrying too much about Russian blowback.
It's the same situation as when the US invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. China got a get out of jail free card in terms of ramping up military and establishing territorial claims in the South China Sea. No kerfuffle with the US, who were simply too deep into a quagmire to care.
They are literally more interested in USA than German interests.