LyrArc Article Gist
China's COSCO taking an ownership stake in Hamburg port was opposed by the Greens and Free Democrats parties in the three party coalition government with the SPD in Germany. Scholz of the SPD went ahead over their opposition saying this will preserve jobs in Hamburg port. In the compromise reached the ownership is capped at 24.99% so that no foreign country owns a majority stake. At one point Germany's cyber security agency BSI classified the Hamburg port as critical infrastructure.

China is Germany's largest trading partner  for 7 years with trade reaching a record $320 billion.

LyrArc Article Gist
NHK shows that over her 16 years as chancellor in Germany Merkel conducted policy that built the overconcentration of trade and investment in China. This policy is now seen as posing serious risks for Germany now that lessons are being learned from the failure of the overconcentration of investment and dependence on fossil fuel supplies from Russia, a policy pursued by Merkel. It was  the deputy chancellor Habeck as Energy Minister who did the remarkable job of getting new supplies from other countries to replace Russian oil and gas. This made it possible for Germany to make it through the winter without supplies from Russia. Germany is now shifting away from this overconcentration in its supply chain in the new security strategy. This may only be the beginning of a larger change in Germany's policies.

LyrArc Article Gist
Jorg Wuttke, chairman of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China says Germany exports 600 million euros worth of good to China every day. China exports $1.3 billion euros world of goods to Germany every day. Germany companies have heavily invested in Germany and millions of jobs in Germany depend on investments in China from engineering services to engine parts. Big companies making cars, chemicals and engineering goods make in China and have markets in China. This makes it very difficult for Germany to develop its own independent policies in relation to China for its own security following the war in Ukraine where China has supported Russia. Two decades of Merkel and CDU policies with the participation of the SPD leadership have led to this situation. Scholz is aware of this as his coalition partners Lindner of FDP, Habeck and Baerbock of the Greens oppose the dependency on China which restricts Germany from developing its own independent policies during a period when there is war in Eastern Europe with Russia. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
US Russia relations improve in 2025. The new national security document of US put out by the DJT Administration says that Russia is not a threat.  It sticks to migration and western identities when facing civilizational erasure over next two decades as key threats to the US. It poses questions for the European Union, Germany and France, yet also offers away out of the "mess" in Ukraine with the Russians saying NATO was too close to their borders as the real issue, and the US not aligning itself with NATO reducing big power tensions including nuclear arsenal expansion. Germany rebuilding the Bundeswehr and it's military offers a rebalancing of the military situation yet is not the long term solution to the Ukraine problem, NATO limiting it's role and the US limiting it's role in NATO offers a solution that preserves the long term interests of Western Europe(Germany, France, Italy, UK, Spain) and preserves world peace and dialogue. It also promotes integration of India and Russia into the world trade and world economy as it diversifies from the dominance of China in world trade and the world economy of the last 20 years of free trade that deindustrialized US and Europe. What this national security document does not say is that China's dominance in world trade and the errors of the US, Europe, Japan, Russia, India in world trading relationships and their economic approach that made this possible is the central issue and calls for diversification of supply channels in the world economy. This shifts the direction of the world in a peaceful direction where the US, Japan and Europe, India can compete in economic growth and trade with China on equal terms. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
As Macron struggles to present EU's case in Washington DC the problems in Germany loom large.The debt brake Merkel to stop debt based infrastructure investment is what ails Germany and the EU. It has had two pernicious effects. It created the AfD's surge by lowering economic growth and investment in public needs - housing, transport, public services. It worsened the SPD and CDU performance by not investing in security, with no policies to return crime committing refugees to their home countries. A combination of aid and other assistance, diplomacy, would have secured the cooperation of countries to take them back. A strong display of action on removing refugees committing any offenses would have lessened the number of terrorism incidents and reduced a surge in the AfD performance with loss of confidence in chancellor Scholz.  CDU's Merz says he wants to remove the constitutional brake from the German constitution. The SPD under a new leader would want the same as it seeks to invest in the economy. Scholz lacked the foresight not to enter into a coalition with the Free Democrats in 2021 who flatly opposed public spending to meet pressing infrastructure needs lowering growth.  Both CDU of Merkel and SPD of Scholz lacked the foresight and the courage to invest and not settle for less for Germany. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Care home care or nursing home in Germany goes from $1700 a month in 2018 to $3760 in 2025 doubling in 7 years. Most of it is from increase in nurses pay and training that has gonu up after years of stagnant pay levels.

In Germany 85% of older citizens elder care is in their own homes with help of relatives and outpatient care assistance is covered from a nursing care insurance fund that pays $330 to $990 a month depending on level of care required. The average pension is $1100 a month.

Statutory long term care insurance is part of German Social Security System with long term care insurance compulsory paid for by employers and employees and 3.6% of pay income going to contributions for this long term care.

LyrArc Article Gist
Germany is trying not to choose sides in the trade and security disputes between China and the U.S. Yet it owes a lot to the U.S. from the days of the Marshall Plan and U.S. taking on the role of defending Germany after the Berlin Wall. China was then a partner with the Soviet Union in the Cold War.  Today China is Germany's top market for its car industry. Yet the U.S. export market is much larger than China at $119 billion with China's at $96 billion. In Germany 28% of jobs are linked to exports, and in manufacturing this goes up to 56%, according to Germany Ministry of Economic Affairs. Germany supplied much of the factory  equipment from its engineering companies and the infrastructure that powered up the China transformation. A transformation now underway in India.  There are signs of a shift as engineering companies in Germany grew faster in the U.S. than China, increasing by 6-10% a year. India remains a key growth market for Germany over the next 10-15 years as growth in China slows and India accelerates with its younger demographics and investment in infrastructure. Much of the infrastructure in China is built and it is approaching the saturation Japan reached in the 1990's with additional investments adding little in the way of productivity. Longer term Germany has more potential for growth in countries in South and South East Asia  that will need to make huge investments in infrastructure and technology for manufacturing to meet the aspirations of the people there. Other issues related to freedom going back to the Berlin Wall and the rebuilding of Germany after World War II will emerge. German companies are running out of patience says this report in the WSJ with the bureaucratic obstacles, forced technology transfers, subsidies by state model to extinguish competition, and protectionist approach to home markets, even as state funded companies in China put other companies in Europe, Asia and the U.S. at a disadvantage. Germany will need to transition to a shift in its global relations, a process that is only now taking place. Just as with austerity policies in which it has now made the shift from going with the northern European countries (Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland) to the Southern European (France, Italy, Spain) in favor of common solidarity even at the short term cost of common debt, Germany now is facing the shift for solidarity with the U.S. for its support of Germany from the period of the Berlin Wall in the 1950's, for the U.S. and European solidarity in the face of the post-coronavirus world. The U.S. showing its generosity and openness to Germany and war torn Europe even as it took on the added responsibilities for creating a new alliance with Europe.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The rapidly changing situation in energy is shown by the $15 billion German government rescue of Uniper, which contains the legacy fossil fuel assets of Germany's E.ON electricity maker. The war in Ukraine has made energy security a priority, leaving fossil fuel assets at risk of getting stranded. This is what happened at Uniper as Germany moves quickly to develop renewable sources to replace Russian fossil fuels. Clean energy investment is increasing rapidly as many green energy options are cost effective. Two thirds of electricity is generated in countries where it is cheaper to build new solar or onshore wind facilities than to run existing gas or coal powered facilities. Offshore wind with newer technologies will soon be cheaper also. Higher fuel and emissions prices, the cost of running older facilities in extreme weather, also increase risk of stranded assets.   To understand how quickly the situation is changing and can lead to stranded assets - solar energy is now half the cost of energy from coal or natural gas at today's prices as shown in the graphs in this WSJ article. Large investment in research and new technology will only decrease the cost of solar and wind energy to 2025 and 2030, increasing the investments in renewable energy and speeding up the curve for transition to renewable sources, with the added impetus of government support to achieve COP26 targets. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Documents cited by German magazine Der Spiegel show the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) spying on the European delegation to the UN. An open letter to Britain's prime minister David Cameron published on Sept. 1, 2013 in Nordic newspapers, Sweden's Dagens Nyheter, Finland's Helsingin Sanomat, Denmark's Politiken, and Norway's Aftenposten, says: "We are deeply concerned that a stout defender of democracy and free debate such as the United Kingdom uses anti-terror legislation in order to legalize what amounts to harrassment of both the newspaper and individuals associated with it." The reference was to the Guardian newspaper which was asked to hand over Snowden document files to the British government. The Guardian newspaper destroyed computer equipment containing Snowden files after being pressured by the Birtish government. The open letter said Cameron's action "were undermining the position of the free press throughout the world." The issue of spying by the NSA has aroused strong sentiment in Germany and the Nordic countries because of memories of the period before 1945....

LyrArc Article Gist
Russia invades Ukraine on multiple fronts, across Belarus, across its western border with Ukraine, on the pre dawn hours of February 24, 2022. Russian foreign minister Lavrov says "tense and detailed discussions" with US and NATO are still taking place. In talks with the US, president Putin of Russia had demanded that Ukraine commit to not joining NATO. The US insisted that this was upto Ukraine and that the territorial integrity of Ukraine had to be respected. Interventions by Macron of France and other leaders failed to bring the two sides closer. The US and Europe with a reluctant Germany looked at sanctions as a deterrent. This proved to be wrong. Mr. Putin has a passionate view of Ukraine and Kviv's historical role in the formation of the Russian state, evident in his televised address only 48 hours before the actual invasion. Ukraine has shifted between Poland and the Baltic states, Germany on one side and Russia on the other in its thousand year old history. The shift away from Bolsheviks and Communists under the Soviet Union after 1990 changed the relationship of Ukraine with its neighbors once again as Ukraine became closer to Poland and the Baltics, and Germany. Germany remains reluctant to revert to the relationship with Russia that led to 2 World Wars. During the leadership of Willy Brandt and successive German SPD leaders, as well as with Konrad Adenauer and CDU leaders, the goal was to build a good relationship with Russia. Merkel of the CDU went as far as accepting dependence on Russia for 40% of its gas supplies, after shifted out of nuclear energy and supporting a new Nordstream undersea pipeline for gas supplies.  The early reaction on DW.com and German television was one of shock as no one really expected that this would lead to a full scale invasion. Scholz of the SPD the new chancellor in 2022 was not active in forging anew consensus allowing NATO's Stoltenberg who is a former Norwegian prime minister 2005-2013 to frame the response of Europe. Norway's role in European security was marginal for most of the twentieth century. Other events had detracted from bringing active German and American participation in coming up with a framework of dialogue to address concerns of both sides and still build a common ground for peace- Afghanistan, the pandemic in its third year, China's deteriorating one sided trade relationship with America that hurt American workers and manufacturing. As a result China and Germany were essentially absent in building the framework for peace. Afghanistan hasty withdrawal made it harder for president Biden to come up with new approaches to build a common framework. President Macron made some faltering efforts on the fringes even as president Putin focused on the US response and its intentions with NATO on European soil, and declared that it was directly US Russia negotiations that needed to work. With this the whole framework of relations since the presidency of Reagan and the relations with Russia and China come to a close. And a new framework needs to be constructed that draws in India already or soon to be the most populous nation in the world, in an effort to build an enduring new framework. The voices of Eastern Europe need to be heard, yet balanced with the voices from India, China, Germany, Russia, and other countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa that are affected by world events. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The New World- Russia's new relations with US as US accepts Russia as a Northern European Power and Russia respects Monroe Doctrine of 1823 of American power in the western hemisphere in return. What the Europeans do not understand is that the new US policy will bring more oil to the market and cut oil prices to lows that will reduce the cost of living in US and Europe, and will also give Russia fewer dollars to fight the war in Ukraine. Denmark only foolishly calls it the end of NATO if Greenland becomes American as this will only make it difficult for the European nations against Russia. As DJT pointed out NATO is not much without the US and the US intends to stay with NATO. Germany had a long conflict with Denmark over Schleswig Holstein. Norway has disputed Denmark's claims to Greenland  till 1921.US Navy explorer Rear Admiral Peary discovered northern Greenland and claimed it for the US  in 1880's, and every US administration since 1867 with Seward till Harry Truman a Democrat in 1946 has wanted Greenland for the security of the US eastern seaboard, and called it in the words of the US Commanders in Chief in 1946 "completely useless for Denmark," vital for US security across the Atlantic from Greenland. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
German chancellor Merz says the old order is unraveling. He says -

"We have entered an era of great power politics," Merz said. "The new world of the great powers is founded upon power, strength and when necessary, force. It is not a cozy place."    

The German chancellor says Russia's invasion on Ukraine is the beginning of a "new era, but change runs much deeper."

"China, with strategic foresight, has worked its way into the ranks of the great powers," Merz says. He said Washington is reacting to these challenges from these other "great powers" by radically reshaping its foreign and security policy."

"Europe [and its] like-minded partners must stand closer together. European countries must do more to make their economies competitive and to invest massively in our ability to defend ourselves."

LyrArc Article Gist
Fewer workers will support the elderly in the U.S. and the process is accelerating, posing new problems for Social Security programs. Census figures show in 2017 there were 25 Americans 65 years or older for every 100 people in working years, by 2030 this figure goes up to 35 retirees. By 2025 it will reach 33 retirees. By comparison in 2025 Canada would be 40 retirees, Germany 44, Japan 58, and on the lower side India at 13, Mexico 16, China 22. Trustees for Social Security are dipping into the Trust fund in 2018 to pay benefits for first time since 1982.

States are in worse shape $2.6 trillion in assets cover $4 trillion in liabilities in fiscal 2016, according to data from Pew Trust.

LyrArc Article Gist
Munich Security Conference is being organized by Christoph Heusgen, the conference chair, who was an adviser to Angela Merkel and previous German  Representative at the United Nations. It will be held Feb 14-16 at the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich. JD Vance will be attending for the US with alarge delegation including Keith Kellogg US DJT envoy to Ukraine and Zelensky of Ukraine. German federal elections are on Feb. 23, 2025 with CDU's Merz holding a lead. Pete Hegseth Defense Secretary is not attending the conference. Hegseth has expressed views skeptical about Ukraine. Mark Rutte, the former Dutch PM is attending as Secretary General of NATO. The Munich Security Conference Report cites DJT and says- "Indeed, the notion of 'resource scarcity' has become a central premise of Republican foreign policy thinking." Germany barely spends 2% on defense. DJT wants to see 5%. DJT's comments are published in the Munich Security Report- "We were being ripped off by European nations both on trade and on NATO." "If you don't pay, we're not going to protect you." ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Stalled peace process for Ukraine after Alaska meetings September 2025. Europe is looking ahead to no quick end in the war in 2025. Russia seeks better relations with US but wants to end the war in Ukraine on its own terms. Congress supports Ukraine, as DJT looks for ways to improve relations with Russia as a nuclear superpower, and find ways to bring both sides closer to end the war without success. Following the Alaska meetings a few signs of progress but not enough to reach a settlement of the war as Russia seeks to keep territory in the east and Ukraine looks for security guarantees that Russia has not yet agreed to. Germany under Merz ramps up its defense forces as the US seeks to avoid involvement in a conflict in northern Europe.

LyrArc Article Gist
The total government expenditure of the US including the individual states spending is 37% of US GDP (IMF). Musk $2 trillion cuts is 92% of the 2.17 trillion excluding defense, veterans benefits, interest on debt, Social Security, Medicare. The simple math means he plans to shut down the government. US  37.5%  Germany 48% France 57% UK and Canada 43% Japan 42% This shows that the US that has no universal health insurance and  subsidized public transportation, spends less than the developed OECD countries as a percentage of its GDP. Of the Budget of $6.75 trillion in 2024 Social Security $1.46 trillion   22% Medicare            $874 billion   13% Interest on Debt  $880 billion    13% Trump plans to remove tax on Social Security which would take this from 48% to over 50% meaning half of the Budget is off limits. If defense spending goes up not down then $874 and $325 for Veterans benefits are $1.2 trillion also off limits.  This means cuts of $2 trillion on $2.17 trillion or 92%. Do the simple math and this would shut down the government. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The 28 Point Peace Plan offers a basis for further work to arrive at an agreement acceptable to Ukraine and to the European Union, is the view emerging at the G20 talks in Johannesburg, South Africa. The leaders of Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Italy and Spain met on Saturday, November 22 2025. Separately Leyen and the EU council president Costa meet with Meloni of Italy and Macron of France on Saturday after conversations with Zelensky on Friday.  British prime minister Starmer has this view of the 28 Point US plan negotiated with Russia-  “There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a cease-fire, and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians.” Ms. Von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, says-  “Ukraine can count on us because this is not only an aggression against Ukraine, but it is an aggression against the principles of the U.N. charter." “It’s on European soil. Therefore, we will support Ukraine for as long as it takes.” Macron of France commended American efforts to reach a peace deal but said EU nations would work with Ukraine to map out a plan for way forward in 48 hours.  "What is at stake is Ukrainian sovereignty and European security.” It is this aspect of European security that may be the reason the EU and Germany may decide to modify the plan to offer a counter proposal on several points. One on limits to the size of Ukraine's defense forces to ensure its defense. Another on the stationing of forces by NATO in a peacekeeping role in Ukraine as proposed earlier. Third on the ceding of territory now in the hands of Ukraine so that these parts of Ukraine can remain independent after 4 years of ragged defense. Germany under CDU Merz and with Pistorius of SPD at Defense in a strong coalition government may be the deciding factor as Merz has already set the goal for the Bundeswehr to become the strongest army in Europe, with plans and action to prepare for this transition to defend European interests. It is true that Ukraine is at a difficult point yet if the Europeans see this as a "capitulation" and a US DJT deadline of one week to push this through Europeans may come up with a counter offer that includes these points that would make it clear that they are not an obstacle for peaceful resolution of this conflict. The history of Europe shows that in such situations with most of Europe on one side and Russia or some other major European power on the other side, eventual settlement ends up with all sides making some concessions, and in no way seen as "capitulation." Asian powers China and India have been pulled out of the conflict to a large degree in 2024-2025, with US shifting to a neutral position. Making this a purely European conflict with the Russian economy mobilized for wartime yet facing all the nations of Europe led by Germany, France and the UK in a transition towards military preparedness and unwilling to see any form of capitulation. In such a situation the larger economies and resources of the EU could effectively counter a Russian threat leading to a settlement that is better for all parties to the conflict.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Former Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi (2012 -2022) and its senior official makes these comments at the Munich Security Conference on US shooting down Chinese spy balloons. Yi says it was "absurd and hysterical." He says China is going to put out a paper on Ukraine that would underline the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty. For China its crucial relations with Germany, trade with Europe are critical for its economy and growth. Germany's coalition government itself is divided on investment by China in the port of Hamburg, with the Greens not supporting that decision by chancellor Scholz. The issue for Biden is not simply the balloons. As The Guardian points out the US is pushing for China to withdraw or at least make conditional its support of Russia in its invasion of Ukraine that is a clear violation of the UN Charter that China says it supports. 

LyrArc Article Gist
U.S. president Obama's chief of staff and former deputy national security advisor, Denis McDonough, meets with Peter Altmaier, Chancellor Merkel's chief of staff, and Gunter Heiss, head of Directorate-General 6 of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service in July 2014. The meeting was part of an effort to improve U.S.-German relations following the problems created by NSA spying in Germany. This meeting took place following the shooting of a Malaysian airline flight over Ukraine and the call for stronger western sanctions on Russia. U.S. president Obama sought to convey to Merkel the importance he placed on German-U.S. relations after Obama failed to make a serious effort to soothe tensions with Germany over spying revelations.

LyrArc Article Gist
Germany's SPD Deputy Chancellor says in Kiev on August 25, 2025 after the abortive effort by DJT in Alaska for peace talks that improved Russia -US relations as two leading world nuclear powers but did not have the basics in place for Ukraine- Russia direct talks, with Putin asking for territory in the east. "In the three and a half years that this war has been going on, we have always shown that we are not ducking away, but stand by the side of the Ukrainians. And that will also apply to security guarantees."  The big change is that the SPD under Klingbeil in Germany is now working with CDU's Merz to build up Germany's defense forces to act as a deterrent for Europe. There is a change in the mood in Germany and in Europe, from Sweden and UK , France, Italy, for concerted action in Europe that was not seen before. By taking on responsibilities for Europe with 2-5% defense expenditures this has removed the differences between the US and Europe. It means a prolongation of the war but also means this may lead to a stronger Europe, better Russia- US relations, and a Russian and Ukraine more willing to come to a peace agreement based on terms where no side appears to be the loser. Klingbeil added- It is important to have a "really strong Ukrainian army that is also capable of defense. And the second thing is that armaments production is also being ramped up here in Ukraine as well, thereby putting Ukraine in a position to defend itself and deter attacks." If European history since 1400 is any guide when the powers on either side were eventually counterbalanced the power that took a an aggressive position early had to settle for a peace settlement with both sides not appearing the loser. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Russian view at SCO Summit-"A fair balance in the security sphere" meaning a fair settlement on the expansion of NATO and EU that may threaten Russia, something Northern Europeans have not settled.  Le Monde covers this side of the Summit at Tianjin, a coastal city near Beijing in northeastern China. Over long periods of European history since 1600 Northern Europe including UK, Sweden, Denmark, France, Poland and Germany have contended with Russia and seen purely from this perspective Russia sees itself as a Northern European power and seeks to protect it's interests. Britain, Sweden and France have for the most part been on the opposite side since 1600. US under a Republican administration, and this is not just DJT, sees the larger interests beyond Europe of Asia and the American continent in addition to Europe, and seeks a diplomatic way out of the war in Europe.

LyrArc Article Gist
Guido Westerwelle, foreign minister of Germany, and former head of the Free Democratic party, made another misstep by describing Germany's support for economic sanctions as a key factor in the fall of the Gaddafi regime. He did not credit NATO's military intervention as the main reason. Westerwelle opposed German support for NATO's military intervention and Germay abstained in a UN security council meeting vote to authorize military force in protecting Libyans from Gaddafi's regime. The results of this policy are seen as diminishing Germany's international image, and seen as isolating it from its allies in Europe and NATO. The new head of the FDP, Phillip Rosler came out strongly to credit NATO for the military intervention, saying: "our deep respect and thanks goes to our allies, who decisively thwarted Gaddafi's murderous units." German chancellor Merkel sidestepped the issue by crediting NATO for its leadership. FDP's rank and file supporters believe that voters will hold the party to account for this and other missteps by Westerwelle. Former German foreign minister, and former Green's party leader Joschka Fischer told Der Spiegel magazine: this was "perhaps the biggest foreign policy debacle in Germany's post-war history." ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is at the center of talks for resolution of the crisis in Europe over Ukraine. Under the arrangement setup under OSCE with Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France as members the security arrangements in Europe are set forth- all nations as member states will respect each others national sovereignty. Russia's approach to settle its concerns about Ukraine joining NATO on its borders was to exclude European Union and deal with this entirely as a US Russia issue. For Europe turning to the OSCE emphasizes Europe's role to solve disputes in its own backyard. This opens up ways to bring all parties to the table for talks. This is because the US position remains firm not conceding on the point of Ukraine choosing its own future and foreign affairs, in effect preserving the right of all of Eastern Europe to choose its own future, something gained after the fall of the Soviet Union. The US approach is also to use an information war of sorts to deter invasion by saying an invasion is imminent. This places the ball right back in the European court in this war of nerves. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Most of the media has failed to cover this aspect, yet the Collective agreement is a big, a huge plus on June 17 2026 at the G-7 Summit (G-9 expanded with India and Brazil). There was discussion and effort to convey different points of view which was an healthy aspect of this G-9 meeting in Les Bain, France, near Geneva. German chancellor Merz described the atmosphere as very constructive with lots of open thoughtful discussion- "This is the ​first ‌time since [US] President [Donald] Trump took office that we ‌have issued a joint ‌declaration ​at a G7 summit and found common language on the major ​foreign and security policy issues of our time. ⁠I ​consider that ​a real success."  "This ⁠sets a new tone, including ⁠regarding ​trans-Atlantic unity and resolve." Merz says all issues on the summit agenda were talked about "very openly" and "very constructively." Merz  says he will support a peace deal in the Middle East, including a possible military mission if there is "a lasting ceasefire."  A series of "preconditions that are not yet fulfilled, so there is no immediate hurry." What this means, as most of the media has failed to cover this aspect including NYT, WSJ and Washington Post, is that the US and the EU, India and China, Brazil, the poorer countries  Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, are now in a lot better positions, coming at it from different angles,  and are all aligned for their own interests, to push hard to support the US effort to get to the Memorandum of Agreement with Iran, and future settlement in Ukraine. The onus is for Iran and the entire Middle East to collectively come to an agreement to live with harmony among the neighbors for the mutual interest- including a nuclear free Middle East that is in their mutual interest- so that the rest of the world's people, a massive 5 billion compared to 500 million in the Middle East can industrialize, modernize, and make economic progress that benefits all the people of the world. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Merkel tells a Davos meeting in January 2011, that "the euro is much more than a currency, it is the embodiment of Europe today." The idea of the euro as needed for the political and economic integration of Europe is accepted. Merkel also says "that "solidarity and competitiveness are two sides of the same coin." Suggesting that the slower economies in Europe will have to remake their economies, just as East Germany did when it joined a reunified Germany. Mathias Dopfner, CEO of Axel Springer, says Merkel knows from personal experience the traumas faced by a bankrupt economy. At the time of reunification the deutsche mark would become the national currency, even though the value of the mark reflected productivity levels and the strength of the economy of the western part. East German businesses were priced out of the job market. About 14,000 businesses were shut down and 4 million jobs were lost in the first five years after formal reunification in 1990. Unemployment jumped to 20% in East Germany in 2005. After the fall of the Berlin Wall two million people of the 16 million living in the East moved west, most of them younger people. For West Germans there was a price also. Germany has raised 1.7 trillion euros through an income tax "solidarity surcharge" for modernizing East Germany. Volker Perthes, director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, says Merkel knows what resistance and what dangers come with structural adjustment programs. And she has to sell the programs and insist on strict conditions for German aid to Portugal, Spain and Greece. After many years the project has paid off. The unemployment rate in the east is 11.7%, much closer to the 6.4% in the west than before, and the growth rate in the east is 2.7% compared to the 3.6% in the west. The antiquated industrial base in the east has been replaced with a solar power sector and new chemical engineering and microelectronics industries....