Three days after Putin’s war against Ukraine started, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in a special session of the Bundestag, proclaimed a Zeitenwende, in the sense of a historic shift. The Russian invasion of Ukraine shattered many fundamental convictions of German politics, including “change through trade” (Wandel durch Handel), which had prevailed for decades. In a … [Read more...] about Did Germany Inadvertently Encourage Putin’s War?
Europe
An Impressive Failure – Angela Merkel bows out
On October 29, 2018, a day after the Christian Democrats in the State of Hesse suffered double-digit election losses, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a meeting of the CDU executive council that she would not stand again as candidate to head her party. “Angela Merkel is the first postwar German chancellor who managed to succeed where most politicians fail: to end her … [Read more...] about An Impressive Failure – Angela Merkel bows out
Europe’s Post-Trump Sigh of Relief
When the major news networks and the Associated Press declared Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential elections on November 7, there was a big sigh of relief all over Europe, especially in Germany. But when U.S. President Donald Trump claimed victory in the days following the election and declared that he would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the counting of postal … [Read more...] about Europe’s Post-Trump Sigh of Relief
Europe´s Covid-19 Battle
Faced with the monstrosity of the global Corona crisis, the editors of the International Economy (TIE) thought it advisable to have the impact, implications, reactions, failures and prospects relating to Europe covered by its decade-long German contributor in a “Letter from Berlin” on “Europe´s Covid-19 Battle” - As it turned out the letter had a surprisingly … [Read more...] about Europe´s Covid-19 Battle
How Macron Won It All
The French did it again. By recalling Christine Lagarde, who has served as managing director of the International Monetary Fund since 2011, from Washington and throwing her into the race to succeed Mario Draghi as head of the European Central Bank, French President Emanuel Macron effectively won the real power game in the competition for the top European positions after the May … [Read more...] about How Macron Won It All