The country is again a borderland playground for mightier neighbors Kiev has lost eastern Ukraine to Russia. The turning point came on August 27, as the first direct invasion of Ukraine by Russian regulars broke the Ukrainian army’s siege of…
A Face-Saving Invasion
Sending troops into eastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin risks NATO involvement The long-feared direct Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine has now begun, unannounced. This is no war of necessity, but the ultimate war of choice – an arbitrary personal…
Canny Merkel plays the long game with Putin
No, Angela Merkel did not experience a sudden epiphany about imposing tough sanctions on Russia when the MH17 airliner was shot down two weeks ago over Ukrainian rebel territory. The German chancellor’s wake-up call from her own reluctance to open…
Merkel Shows Her Mettle
Reacting to Crimean annexation, Merkel sets a hard line precedent It was not inevitable that Angela Merkel would become Europe’s geopolitical as well as financial leader when Vladimir Putin pulled off the continent’s first armed land grab since World War…
Merkel and Germany: Take Three
Yes, it was a soporific campaign that led to Sunday’s coronation of Angela Merkel as Germany’s third-term German chancellor and (still) the world’s most powerful woman. But no, that doesn’t mean stagnation in Berlin’s foreign policy. As skillfully as she…
Merkel Goes Trekking 9 Weeks Before Election
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has now given her July press conference and vanished into the Tyrolean Alps on her usual summer vacation free of public politics. Her trip highlights another way in which Germany lags behind the United States in…