Two mismanaged nations, two energy stories

Estimates are that Cuba requires about 100,000 barrels of oil per day (b/d) to maintain their economy and produce electricity.  

The island produces an estimated 40,000 B/d onshore.  Last year Mexico sold Cuba about 19,000 B/d, and the communist Maduro regime in Venezuela provided about 37,000 B/d.  Analysts say Cuba didn't pay cash for much of the Vz oil, but instead sent doctors and security personnel to Vz in exchange for some of that oil. 

Mexico says it will keep selling the same amounts as last year.  Question is, will Trump allow Venezuela to keep selling oil to Cuba under the current part-cash, part-services arrangement.

Of course any exporting nation would be happy to sell oil to Cuba at the market price, but Cuba is unlikely to have the foreign exchange to pay world prices.

Without its oil-for-services deal with Vz, Cuba will likely have to buy 10,000 to 20,000 b/d on the world market.

The larger figure would cost Cuba's communnist government an extra $30 million a month.  Hmmm... 

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Another energy story:
   Thanks to the communist former chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, that nation was an early, aggressive pusher of Global Warming [now climate change] and started replacing all their allegedly climate-killing coal-fired powerplants with solar and wind power.

Germany had lots of nuclear powerplants, and not one had ever had an accident.  But around this same time Angela's merry band of communists started wailing that those nuclear powerplants were dangerous, and that now that solar panels and windmills had been shown to be SO faaabulously successful and reliable, the country could now shut down all its scary, dangerous nuclear generating plants.  

So since Angela's party also controlled the legislature, her party passed a LAW ordering all the nukes shut down and dismantled.

Yay!  We have now solved all the problems, citizen!

Only then did they begin to realize solar didn't work at night (sarc) or when it was cloudy (and there are LOTS of clouds in Europe).  And sometimes--big discovery!--the wind didn't blow as fast as the pols said it should.  So Angela's party huddled and quietly mulled: Whatever shall we do?  We can never admit we fucked up, cuz we'll lose office!"

So...they started re-opening...the coal-fired plants they'd closed to fight Gobal Warming.

As you already predicted, the Greens were horrified!  "We thought you agreed that Global Warming was the greatest threat to life on Erf!" they screamed.  So the pols huddled again, and said "If we keep the coal-fired plants running, the Greens say they'll vote against us and we'll lose control of the country!  Ohh NOOOooo!!"

But without the coal plants, we won't have enough electricity, so we'll have to double prices AGAIN, and the voters will be mad!  And we'll lose control!"

Looks like our only option is to...wait for it...re-start the nuclear plants we just ordered torn down."

Problem is, of the 17 flawless, perfect nukes Angela and her band of communists ORDERED shut down, 11 have been dismantled to such an extent that re-starting them isn't economically feasible.  There's a chance 6 of the 17 could be re-started, but a) the Greens will scream as loudly about 6 as about 17; and b) just six won't be enough to fulfill demand.

Ironic, eh?  Germany built clean, safe nuclear plants, and Angela and her lackeys built costly, intermittent wind and solar solely to enable 'em to shut down the coal-fired plants they were sure were gonna kill duh Erf.  Then after they shut down the nukes they found wind and solar weren't putting out as much as the "experts" said they would--which has forced Germany to try to re-start both the coal-fired and nuclear plants. 

Except 11 of the 17 nukes that were running--perfectly--have been dismantled so completely that they essentially can't be re-started.

If someone wanted to destroy Germany and impoverish the people, this is how they'd do it, so no one could hold them responsible.