We’ve been phoning it in since the Clinton era and assuming that “norms” and oligarchs would keep Russia at bay. End of the day they got tanks, nukes and are learning what they can get away with.
Thing is that energy is traded in EEX (https://www.eex.com/en/) so everyone who is trading there is feeling Germany's stupid decisions. For example Sweden is not in EEX and has no problem with high energy prices.
Other countries now have an enormous economy entering the market, driving up prices and effectively controlled by Russia, as Russia supplies most of the gas. Russia and most eastern european countries have a poor relationship.
Now money is expensive and there's no time to build alternatives. And Russia knows this.
I will link to only one as people need to do their own homework.
Here is such an example: https://www.rferl.org/a/Germanys_Gas_War_Nabucco_Vs_South_St...
"So I think that when both the Russians and the other players want to find a lobbyist, they very naturally look at Germany first. In this respect, I am not surprised that Schroeder and Fischer were the two [chosen]," he said.
The same is true in the US, Japan, Canada, France, New Zealand, UK... all of these countries have been nerfing their nuclear plant programs due to pressure from "green party" lobbyists that are veiled Russian interests.
“Germany represented 46 % of the total brown coal consumption of the EU in 2021, followed by Poland (19 %), Czechia (11 %), Bulgaria (10 %),Romania (6 %) and Greece (5 %).”
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...
Meanwhile poland is being fined for extracting said coal.