Europe, Germany.

As one of the leaders of the European Union today, Germany is enjoying the dividends. It is now the largest economy in Europe and the country with the best economic development in Europe.

Apart from the lack of nuclear weapons, Germany’s military power is no weaker than that of France.

The Franco-German alliance has dominated the entire European Union for ten years, and even the United Kingdom, one of the original three giants of the European Union, has been constantly excluded and marginalized.

Both sides are promoting European integration, intending to promote military integration on the basis of economic integration, forming a European coalition through the French and German rapid reaction forces, gradually replacing NATO and driving the Americans out of Europe.

Today in Europe, there is a general consensus that if Europe wants to truly achieve its integration goals, it must drive the United States out of Europe. The United States is the biggest obstacle to European integration.

As China and Southeast Asia integrate, the integration process has made rapid progress, which has put great pressure on the EU while also providing a reference for those with lofty ideals in the EU.

Berlin, the capital and largest city of Germany, is the political and economic center of Germany, with a current population of 350 million.

Today, major media outlets around the world have sent press delegations to Berlin to witness this historic moment.

Just as everyone was looking forward to it, the crowd started to get agitated and everyone couldn’t help but walk towards the red carpet.

I saw a convoy slowly driving towards this side. The vehicles in the convoy were very interesting, including German car brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Volkswagen.

In the automobile market, German brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, Saab, Seat, Skoda and Opel not only occupy an important position in the German domestic market, but also enjoy a high reputation in the international market. They are well-known for their high-quality, high-performance automobile products and technological innovation capabilities.

The automobile industry occupies a very important proportion in German industry and is also a pillar industry of Germany.

Germany’s armored vehicles, tanks and other military equipment are world-renowned and are sought after by European armies. It can be said that this is due to Germany’s powerful automobile industry.

The convoy stopped, the doors opened, and the VIPs from Russia got out of the cars.

Everyone’s eyes were involuntarily focused on the man who was not considered tall among European and American men but had a strong aura.

This man, who has held the highest power in Russia for more than a decade and has always been a political strongman, a tough guy, etc., is one of the most powerful people in the world.

Even in Europe, he has many fans.

On the other side of the red carpet is the auntie who has held the highest power in Germany for more than a decade. Merkel was called “Kohl’s girl” back then, but now she is the Iron Lady of Germany and is called “German Auntie” by the Germans. She has many excellent qualities of the Germanic nation. In national construction, she is the first engineer of economic innovation and development; in political development, she is an excellent leader with endless energy and fighting spirit; in the field of diplomacy, she is a cunning and sly fox in the international political world.

It was during her tenure that Germany’s economy developed rapidly, becoming the fastest growing, most open-minded and largest economy in Europe, making Germany’s GDP far surpass that of Britain and France and firmly ranking first in Europe. Politically, she continued to bridge the gap between East Germany and West Germany, making the two Germanys truly integrated into one, and the pragmatic policies she adopted helped stabilize Germany’s political situation, and no one could challenge her in all the elections. In diplomacy, she handled relations with major powers well, maneuvered between them, and put relations with France first, making the Franco-German alliance still unbreakable.

From the Franco-German alliance to the embryonic form of the Franco-German-Russian alliance, Germany happened to be the center of this alliance.

During her tenure, Germany drove out the American and British troops stationed in Germany, achieved Germany’s independence and autonomy, and made Germany a truly independent country.

It was also during her tenure that the German Bundeswehr was vigorously reformed and German military power was vigorously developed, which led to a significant increase in Germany’s land, sea and air power. Together with France’s rapid reaction force, it has been providing national defense and security for Europe and is gradually being transformed into a European coalition force, thus replacing NATO.

During her tenure, she worked continuously to ease relations with Russia and import natural gas and oil from Russia, so that Germany, which lacked oil and natural gas resources, could use cheap energy from Russia, thus ensuring the development of German industry.

Such a big event today is that the “Nord Stream 2” natural gas and oil pipeline led by Merkel has finally overcome numerous obstacles and difficulties and has been built to realize gas and oil transportation.

This super project, which has an investment of more than 200 billion euros, has now been completed. The Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline can supply 550 billion cubic meters of gas to Germany annually, and the oil pipeline can supply 3000 million tons of oil to Germany annually.

This super project is undoubtedly a win-win situation for both Germany and Russia.

Germany can use cheap natural gas from Russia, making the price of natural gas in Germany cheap and stable. This is very important for Germany’s industry and residential use, and can increase the competitiveness of German industry.

Similarly, oil from Russia will greatly ensure Germany’s oil security. It should be noted that Germany imports about 8500 to 9000 million tons of crude oil every year.

The oil output of this project accounts for one-third of Germany’s imported crude oil!

As for Russia, it has rich oil and natural gas resources. Russia has proven natural gas reserves of 48 trillion cubic meters, ranking first in the world; proven oil reserves are 252 billion tons.

What Russia lacks is not oil or natural gas, but markets.

After all, the cost of oil and natural gas extraction in Russia is much higher than that in the Middle East. Coupled with the obstruction of the United States in the past, Russia has been constantly hindered from selling oil and natural gas to Europe.

And now, with the commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and oil pipeline, this means that Russia will increase its revenue by approximately 150 billion to 200 billion euros.

Energy exports are the absolute mainstay of Russia’s exports.

It is the foreign exchange earnings brought by energy exports that enables Russia to import automobiles and other goods.

With China, the “world factory”, as long as you have money, you can import almost any goods you want from China.

When the two met, they hugged and kissed each other warmly.

The two have always had a good relationship and a very good personal relationship.

This time, it is the gas delivery ceremony of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and the oil delivery ceremony of the oil pipeline.

The ceremony was very grand. As the two people pressed the buttons, oil and gas began to be supplied from Russia and Germany.

Soon, the news spread rapidly throughout the world.

In the Internet age, information is transmitted very quickly.

Such important news can be spread around the world via the Internet in just a few minutes.

On the other hand, the US energy market ushered in Black Monday.

Energy sectors fell one after another.

The hyped-up shale oil was like being poured with a basin of cold water, chilling everyone to the bone.

In recent years, the United States has been touted as the world’s number one in shale oil extraction technology. Energy companies have continuously invested in shale oil extraction through large-scale financing, making the current scale of shale oil extraction in the United States reach 800 million barrels per day, thus turning the United States from a net oil importer into an oil exporter.

Where will the United States export all this extra oil?
There is no doubt that Europe is the best target for shale oil exports.

After all, Europe has some foundation and money, but it lacks oil and gas.

With the help of the ‘Arab Spring’, the United States has almost controlled North Africa. The channels for Libya to export oil and natural gas to Europe have been cut off, and the natural gas and oil exported from North Africa to Europe are in the hands of Americans.

Shale oil has many disadvantages. For example, shale oil extraction will cause great pollution. In order to reduce the cost of pollution control, the US government, under the promotion of energy giants, abolished the River Protection Act. In addition, the cost of shale oil extraction is relatively high, much higher than that of Russian oil extraction.

This means that in order for shale oil to make money, it must raise international crude oil prices. The Americans continue to stir up trouble all over the world in order to create chaos, raise international crude oil prices, and make profits.

It is for this reason that the Americans want to force Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members to reduce oil production.

If oil prices are not raised, the profits from shale oil in the United States are actually very slim at the current international crude oil prices.

Americans continue to create concepts to boost investors’ confidence in shale oil.

However, the operation of “Nord Stream 2” has dealt a blow to the market’s confidence in shale oil.

Then, Black Monday happened.

Liu Tao looked at the news with a calm expression, without any ripples.

This news has a huge impact on Germany, Russia and the United States. It is significantly good for Germany and Russia, but bad for the United States.

But for China, it has no impact.

China imports about 7 million tons of crude oil every year, and the remaining 8 million tons of oil are mined in China, including onshore oil extraction, offshore oil field extraction, and part of it in Southeast Asia.

Oil-producing countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia all hope that China will reduce oil production and increase oil imports.

China is now the world’s largest oil importer.

China not only needs to meet its own oil consumption, but also needs to export to Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Every year it is said that the world’s oil reserves are only enough to last for fifty years, but decades later, it is still enough to last the world for fifty years.

The reason behind this is naturally the work of these oil-producing countries.

As the world’s largest economy today, the dividends of regional economic integration are enough to make people jealous.

Many people suddenly found that life seemed to have become better than before and there was no need to roll anymore.

Just get to and from get off work on time!
Many companies even don’t want to pay higher overtime pay and directly prohibit employees from working overtime.

This is the market bonus!
The market has become larger, the living space has improved, and the living environment has greatly improved.

Many problems are actually development issues.

Many problems will be solved as development progresses, and then more problems will emerge as development progresses.

For example, it used to be difficult for children to go to school in China. As the number of students decreased, kindergartens entered a cold winter.

For those private kindergartens that were thriving in the past, they are now having difficulty recruiting students. Some kindergartens even have too few students and are not making any money, so they have chosen to close down.

The same thing will happen in primary schools. Due to the decrease in the number of students, there is no need for so many primary schools.

Liu Tao was thinking thoughtfully that once the Franco-German-Russian alliance was really formed, the impact on the world would be extremely huge, and the entire world pattern would directly usher in subversive changes.

After all, once France, Germany and Russia form an alliance, it means that no one can stop the unification of Europe, not even the United States, let alone other small European countries.

Europe’s industry, combined with Russia’s resources, is simply exciting to think about.

Faced with such a behemoth, I’m afraid the United States will have a headache and will have to retreat.

You know, once that kind of situation occurs, it will not only mean the unification of Europe, but it will inevitably extend its hand to Africa. Within a few decades, the whole of Africa will be controlled.

And not just Africa, but the Middle East as well!
I am afraid that in the face of such a terrible situation, China and the United States will have to put aside their past grievances and embrace each other.

However, it is not easy to evolve from a Franco-German alliance to a Franco-German-Russian alliance.

The color revolution in Ukraine and Crimea’s referendum to join Russia have created a huge rift between Europe and Russia.

This crack is very clear.

European countries bordering Russia have to be wary of Russia.

It is true that Russia’s ‘European steamroller’ and ‘European gendarme’ are engraved in the DNA of every European country, which arouses their fear of Russia.

Even though many European countries look down on Russia, they are actually afraid of Russia.

Even now, Russia’s military power is still very strong, and it still has the world’s largest number of nuclear warheads.

Liu Tao just doesn’t believe that the Americans will sit still and not take any action when the Franco-German alliance is about to evolve into a Franco-German-Russian alliance.

Liu Tao couldn’t help but think of Ukraine. He was afraid that at some point, the entire situation in Ukraine would be detonated, and at that time the entire situation would undergo earth-shaking changes.

Although China has a lot of trade cooperation with Ukraine, Ukraine is not China’s core interest.

Core interests are the red line that must be negotiated as much as possible, even at the cost of launching a war and resolving the issue through military means.

Rather than core interests, one party in this game will give up if it cannot be achieved.

This is the same all over the world.

Just like the United States’ core overseas interests are in Europe, in order to protect their core interests, Americans will use any means, including war.

China’s core interests and boundaries are also very clear.

When it comes to non-core interests, they will naturally smile and not go too far. But when it comes to core interests, the tone will become stern, and they will clearly tell all parties that this is a red line that cannot be crossed.

Liu Tao stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking towards Dianchi Lake. He could even see students boating on the lake, carefree and enjoying their college life.

The entire area around Dianchi Lake has undergone decades of construction and is now very complete. A large number of people are distributed in the area around Dianchi Lake.

The most important area in the entire Kunming City is the Dianchi Lake Economic Zone, which is home to a large number of scientific research institutions, more than ten universities, hundreds of Internet technology companies, and hundreds of high-tech companies.

It is for this reason that this place is also known as the ‘Silicon Valley of Southwest China’! (End of this chapter)