Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Germany: The Laughingstock of Europe

Even Der Spiegel admits that Germany has a problem.

Should one laugh or cry? The highway toll system, railway price system reform, health care reform – one failure after the other has brought Germans to doubt their own land. Are we a nation of failures, not fit for the future, governed by bungling amateurs? Or must we take the carnivalization of politics with humor?


Gee, you'd almost think they were talking about the United States.

Of course, this being Der Spiegel and all, you can't expect them to be lucid for very long. In this week's issue it describes Operation Iraqi Freedom as a "disaster" and President Bush as "hunted."

I wonder if there is any correlation between provincial and blinkered reporting on events outside Germany and that country's inability to be taken seriously on the world stage?

At least now the French have a lovely bunch of friends to commiserate with. Of course, Paris has been leading the way by recognizing they are globally isolated and losing ground to the simplistic cowboys.

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