— Populo Iratus (@astronomy89) March 14, 2026
The Most Expensive Science Lesson in European History https://t.co/P15kRnbyPo
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 14, 2026
Authored by James Hickman via SchiffSovereign.com,
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan and triggered a massive tsunami that slammed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three of the plant’s six reactors melted down, and it became the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
On the other side of the world, German Chancellor Angela Merkel panicked.
Her government had extended the operating lives of Germany’s 17 nuclear reactors just five months earlier. But, because of the earthquake in Japan, Merkel reversed course overnight and mothballed eight German reactors.
But Merkel’s decision wasn’t really about natural disasters. It was political.
Merkel was terrified of Germany’s Green Party— which was literally founded on anti-nuclear activism in 1980 and had been gaining ground. A critical regional election was just two weeks away, and Merkel was hoping that she might pull out a victory if she killed the reactors.
Her gambit didn’t work, and the Greens won anyway.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/most-expensive-science-lesson-european-history