Word: germanizing
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While Merkel may be able to look at Germany's domestic conditions with some confidence, there are profound international challenges ahead. Some sense of Merkel's priorities can be gleaned from her Nov. 3 speech to Congress. (She is only the second German Chancellor accorded the honor.) The speech, with its heartfelt and moving thanks and tributes to the U.S., could have been made only by someone who grew up in a Soviet satellite state. Throughout, it was easy to see how her past had shaped her view of the world. There should be, she said, "zero tolerance towards...
With such commitment to humanist and democratic values, Merkel has declared herself willing to pursue policies that could cost her country dearly. Germany is Iran's largest trading partner in Europe, and many German businesses oppose any restrictions on trade with the country. But she has recently suggested that she would back new sanctions if the government in Tehran does not curtail its nuclear ambitions. In the past, U.S. officials doubted whether Germany's actions on Iran would match its tough words, but they seem to have confidence that Merkel means what she says. "When it comes to crunch time...
...even trickier diplomatic and economic mire. Germany is a generous donor of humanitarian aid there - as it is elsewhere in the developing world. But at 4,300 troops, Germany also provides the third largest contingent of forces in the theater, after the U.S. and Britain. In December the German parliament voted to extend the deployment in Afghanistan for another year, and the European allies - as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has acknowledged - have reduced the number of so-called caveats that limit when troops may be deployed in combat. (Most German troops, for example, have been based in the north...
...even comparatively low casualty figures are shocking for many in Germany - a country that eschewed armed conflict for more than 50 years - who had persuaded themselves that their nation's role was solely humanitarian. Then in September, German forces called in a U.S. air strike in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan to destroy oil tankers that had been hijacked by the Taliban. Some 140 people were killed, many of them civilians. That changed the perception of the mission among the German public and politicians alike. Franz Josef Jung, who was Defense Minister at the time of the bombing, resigned over...
That view did not go down well at home. Most Germans - 69% in a recent poll - want their troops out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. Merkel is now under growing pressure from Washington and other contributors to the Afghanistan mission to boost the German presence as part of Barack Obama's surge strategy. As a genuine Atlanticist, she will not want to snub the U.S. call for help. But as an arch-pragmatist, she knows that public opinion in Germany will not blithely countenance a significant increase. She refuses to comment on her plans until she attends an international...