OPINION:
The left’s agents of chaos are growing bolder by the day. On Saturday, self-styled environmentalists torched Berlin’s critical electrical infrastructure, leaving 45,000 residents to shiver in bone-chilling temperatures that dipped below 20 degrees.
Schools closed, and hospitals resorted to emergency generators until service was restored Wednesday. Germany’s capital hasn’t had a power outage like this since the Allies bombed the city during World War II.
This was an act of war from leftists who have convinced themselves that extreme measures are righteous in the service of Mother Nature. Vulkangruppe, a cadre of radical ecowarriors, said so in a 2,500-word screed that admitted responsibility.
“The attack on the gas-fired power plant is an act of self-defense and international solidarity with all those who protect the earth and life,” the manifesto said. The rambling document goes on to justify arson by referencing the disturbing rise of artificial intelligence and even President Trump’s momentary invasion of Venezuela.
“Our public welfare-oriented action is socially meaningful,” the note goes on to say. “We are trying to interrupt the exploitation of the earth, prevent the CO2 deaths and stop the diseases associated with the climate catastrophe.”
This band of merry firebugs has previously committed a dozen assaults against other instruments of capitalism. This includes disabling a smaller power station in September and disrupting Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory in 2024.
German officials responded to similar organized pressure campaigns in the past by surrendering to the agitators. Chancellor Angela Merkel enlisted in their cause and closed many of the coal plants that had, until then, kept prices low.
Bowing further to the will of professional protesters, Ms. Merkel pulled the plug on nuclear energy, with the final plant ceasing operation in 2023. A once great nation devoted its considerable resources to the deployment of windmills and solar panels without giving any thought to reliability or the 23% increase in cost borne by consumers.
Those claiming to represent the interests of Mother Earth insisted that eliminating fossil fuels and atomic power would be a good thing, but a PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis found that Germany’s electricity could be 94% “emission-free” if the nuclear facilities were reopened.
By “emissions,” PwC means carbon dioxide, the molecule that feeds plant life and makes the world actually green. Just because members of a movement refer to themselves as “green” doesn’t make it so.
Credulous German authorities bent over backward to avoid prosecuting these antifa-adjacent saboteurs because they sympathize with their goals. Given the damage done in Berlin, the German left is now scrambling to limit the reputational damage to their movement by transferring blame to Russia or the right-leaning Alternative for Germany party — never mind that Vulkangruppe’s destructive antics are just like those elsewhere around the globe.
On our shores, Democrats love to close their eyes and pretend antifa isn’t real as it burns down cities. Activist judges happily open prison doors so the left’s street thugs never spend much, if any, time behind bars.
With this free pass in hand, liberals everywhere target priceless works of art and history. The environmentalists convicted of dumping red powder on the U.S. Constitution in 2024 were sentenced to “supervised release” despite a rap sheet filled with vandalism. French climate crazies likewise throw soup on the “Mona Lisa,” and Greta Thunberg stains the Grand Canal in Venice.
No one faces meaningful consequences for their actions. As Berliners learned, however, indulging the left’s lunacy will lead to darker outcomes.
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