Posted on 10/26/2012 11:48:01 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Berlin does not feel like an imperial city. … Yet while the German capital has deliberately eschewed the trappings of imperial power, the fact is that Berlin is increasingly the de facto capital of the EU. Of course, the EU’s main institutions—the commission and the council—are still based in Brussels. But the key decisions are increasingly made in Berlin. …
This steady accretion of power to Germany is greeted with ambivalence in Berlin. For obvious historical reasons, postwar Germany has never sought a dominant role within Europe. After reunification, the goal was always said to be “a European Germany, not a German Europe”. That instinct to try to submerge German interests within a general European identity remains powerful. But exasperation with rule-breaking and fiscal incontinence elsewhere in Europe is making the Germans less shy about insisting on the need for a more “German” Europe. The price of German financial assistance is, increasingly, going to be the acceptance of rules and laws designed in Berlin. This kind of power can lead to arrogance. …
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Q. Why is the Champs-Élysées lined with Big Chestnut trees ?
A. So the German Soldiers can march in the shade
Q. Why do so many Germans learn French ?
A. Because they go there so often.
No surprise here. Anyone with any foresight saw this who experiment ending in the Fourth Reicht. The questions are:
1. When will they start jailing political enemies or have they already?
2. Will the UK draw a line in the sand and follow through or will they cave to the recent threats out of Germany?
3. Who will the USA officially back once the proverbial feces if the fan? Wish that curve ball had been asked somewhere along the line in the presidential election.
Just a new canned term for some good ole 19th century mercantilism.
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