Tag Archives: Angela Merkel

When Angela Merkel took office as Federal Chancellor in 2005, she was more prepared for the challenges on the EU’s eastern border than any other West European head of government. However, Berlin had, already before Merkel’s take over of the chancellorship, sent wrong signals to the new neo-imperial leadership in Moscow by inviting Putin to the Bundestag in 2001 and starting the Nord Stream projects in 2005. Consequential missteps before and after Merkel came to power put German Ostpolitik on the wrong path in the new century. In 2014, there was only a partial correction of the Russia course set by Germany’s 1998-2005 Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Today, politicians, diplomats and experts in Moscow likely wonder what has gotten into the Germans since the annexation of Crimea: Weren’t Russian special rights in the post-Soviet space an unwritten law of post-Cold War Eastern European geopolitics accepted by Berlin?

On Sunday, Germany elected Angela Merkel as chancellor for the fourth time, matching the postwar record set by the late Helmut Kohl, who was chancellor of West Germany at the time I was born there. Helmut Kohl has cemented his place in German and European history as the unifier of East and West Germany and one […]

An overview of what to expect in the coming week. Headlined by Brexit talks, the German election, and Trump’s first official conference at the U.N.

Schulz’ relative obscurity has allowed him to position himself as a fresh-faced outsider free from the entanglements of the Berlin establishment.

Last year, the world celebrated the Paris climate deal. Less than a year later, elation has turned into depression. Who will assume leadership now?

The latest string of violence increases risk of anti-migrant feelings and political tensions as Merkel is weakened by the refugee crisis.

The outcome of the Brexit vote is a harbinger of a pivoting away from the globalization process and the strengthening of supranational institutions.

The best argument against Brexit is that one cannot fully tell what the effects of the UK leaving the EU would be as no member state has ever left the union before. However, there is certainly the feeling that the EU and UK would go through a messy divorce.

Should Beijing refuse to honor a potential ruling against their claims of sovereignty, we can expect China to again attempt to assert its economic muscle to persuade other regional nations to settle the disputes bilaterally.

Jeb’s strategy for avoiding being bogged down by his brother’s own failures appears to be shifting the conversation from his family’s political history to that of an old-but-new common enemy: Russia.

by Hristiana Grozdanova & Anna Maria Barcikowska When both sides of the Atlantic face fiscal and macroeconomic challenges at home and around the globe, it seems like the only way to overcome to shortcomings is to stay united. Looking back at the history of the European Union, one could see that in the somber times it […]

At least 23 and perhaps as many as 26 of the 27 members of the European Union have agreed to an inter-governmental agreement that may or may not save the euro from the bond market vigilantes. A full-blown treaty failed because there was not unanimous support for the idea – Britain stood alone in saying […]

The bad news keeps rolling in for the “nuclear renaissance” that has been much touted in recent years.  The relentless, heedless proponents of more nuclear have tried to bull their way forward, even in the aftermath of Fukushima.  Well, thankfully, and perhaps predictably, the democracies, at least, are saying no more, thank you, it’s well […]

That’s how I imagine Variety would have headlined last week’s very big news that Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, is abandoning any push for new nuclear power and will make a concerted effort to promote renewables.  I lauded Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, when she made essentially the same decision in March.  A panel of experts […]

I wrote here recently that the Germans, in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, are seeking the right path:  phasing out nuclear power.  What is astonishing to me, and gratifying beyond my fondest wishes, is that the whole country is embracing it.  That means the public, and the Chancellor and her ministers, including the environment […]