Basically, what Economics Minister Robert Habeck describes in the event of a complete halt to the supply of Russian gas already applies to the federal government's options for action: Then there would no longer be right and wrong, but only more or less wrong options.
The story of the Siemens turbine for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which was serviced in Canada, illustrates this aptly.
Actually, it sends the wrong signal to Moscow that the federal government has lobbied the Canadian government to make an exception to national sanctions against Russia and allow the turbine to be returned.
But given the difficulties Germany faces if the pipeline is completely shut down, trying to deprive the Kremlin of an excuse to do so is probably the less wrong option.
What were the causes of the blindness?
Of course, this concession will not have any serious influence on the decision of the Russian leadership.
If the Kremlin has concluded that the immediate end of Nord Stream 1 will benefit it in its fight against the West, it will find some irreparable damage during the upcoming maintenance work, or dispense with flimsy technical justifications altogether.
Germany is in this awkward position thanks to politicians and business leaders who should have known that Putin's regime was using Russia's natural resources as a political weapon.
Research into the causes of their blindness may yet become an unsavory chapter of German politics.
For the time being, however, a lot would be gained if politicians like Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) refrained from throwing stones at the federal government from their own glass house.
For the green part, it also applies that, unlike Söder, he never sang in the blue-eyed choir.