Renewed calls for rapprochement with the Kremlin bear the fingerprints of Gerhard Schröder, who still pulls considerable weight inside the SPD.
Schroeder
Germany Can Take That Smug Look Off Its Face
Germans are discovering that their society is not as equitable as they once believed, nor immune to the blather of populists.
Germany’s Assumptions About Peace and Power Are Out of Sync With Reality
Before the fighting broke out in Ukraine, Germany behaved like a big Switzerland, with no obvious interests abroad apart from developing new markets for its exports.
How Vladimir Putin’s Skewed View of World War II Threatens his Neighbors and the West
Remembering the Great Victory is more than an instrument to consolidate Russians. It has also become a way to prepare people for war.
25 Years After Its Fall, Vladimir Putin Puts Berlin Wall’s Lessons Front and Center
Putin punished Ukrainians by dismembering their country not only because he saw a threat to his power. It was late revenge for the world he lost in 1989.
Taking on Merkel
Bespectacled and balding, Peer Steinbrück has the charm of a bank manager. The only moment I saw him betray any emotion was when he punched the air at the end of the delegates’ 10-minute standing ovation.
Inauguration in a Ghost Town
Vladimir Putin is not a loved president, he’s a default president. Just because he has managed to check off the boxes “nomination,” “election” and “inauguration,” doesn’t mean he’s home free.
Germany Sheds Its Pacifist Role
“For the first time since the end of World War II, German soldiers are on a combat mission,” Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said. “We cannot exclude dangers to life and limb for our soldiers.”
Embattled German Conservatives Try ‘Girl’ Power
Angela Merkel is the most unlikely personification of the conservative political party she is trying to save.
Curb-Side Symbolism as Berlin Rebuilds
The proposal to demolish the Palace of the Republic has fed suspicions among eastern Germans that the West is attempting to erase all signs of their past identity.
