BUENOS AIRES/BERLIN (Own Report) – The German government seeks to purchase larger quantities of fracked gas from Argentina. This is one result of the three-day South American trip from which Chancellor Olaf Scholz returns Tuesday. The gas will be imported in liquefied form and will help replace Russian natural gas completely. It will be produced from the Vaca Muerta (“Dead Cow”) shale formation in western Argentina, where the German company Wintershall Dea is also active. Residents of the region have complained for years about serious environmental damage and that hundreds of earthquakes have been recorded since fracking began. While Berlin wants to stock up on gas there, Buenos Aires is taking new steps to shake off its outdated Western dominance. For example, it has applied for membership in the BRICS alliance, arguing that the current “world order” was “demonstrably created by and for the benefit of a few.” Argentina categorically rejects recent Western demands to supply Ukraine with Russian-made weapons in its stockpile. Read more