"In January 2018, when Donald Trump was in the second year of his first term as US president, Angela Merkel, in her 13th year as German chancellor, gave a gloomy speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. She opened her remarks with a warning from Europe's past. Politicians had sleep-walked into the first world war. As the number of surviving eyewitnesses to the second world war dwindled, she added, subsequent generations would have to prove they understood the fragility of peace."
"To the west, Trump, now in his second term and guest of honour at Davos, threatens to annex Greenland. This is not a world that has internalised the lessons of the 20th century. Merkel's reputation has not improved since leaving office. She is criticised often harshly, sometimes fairly for presiding over stagnation and calling it stability. Hindsight condemns her for failing to prepare Germany's economy, defence and energy infrastructure for the coming age of turbulence."
In January 2018 Angela Merkel warned that politicians had sleep-walked into the first world war and that dwindling eyewitnesses to the second world war meant future generations must prove they understood the fragility of peace. Eight years later Vladimir Putin's territorial aggression harries Europe's eastern flank while Donald Trump, in a second US term, threatens actions such as annexing Greenland. Merkel's reputation worsened after leaving office amid criticism for presiding over stagnation and failing to prepare Germany's economy, defence and energy infrastructure for coming turbulence. Merkel conditioned US-German cooperation on shared democratic values and managed NATO relations with diplomacy and restraint.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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