LOS ANGELES TIMES: Germany is the unquestioned boss amid Europe's debt crisis and economic woes. But the turnaround has inspired discomfort among its neighbors and among Germans.
Reporting from Berlin— For nearly 70 years, Germany'sgrand national ambition has basically been not to have one.
After losing two world wars and carrying out a horrific genocide, the country set to working its way back into theEuropean fold, content to focus on rebuilding its shattered economy while dutifully leaving continental leadership to the likes of France.
The plan has been a roaring success — so much so that, in one of history's great ironies, Germany today finds itself right back where it wasn't supposed to be: dominating Europe.
As the region's richest, most populous nation, with control over purse strings rather than panzers, Germany is the unquestioned boss amid Europe's stubborn debt crisis and deepening economic malaise. But the turnaround has inspired a fair bit of discomfort and unease, not just among some neighboring nations but also among some Germans.
"We have an ambivalent relationship with power," said senior research fellow Ulrike Guerot of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. "We've never gotten it right." » | Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times | Monday, February 27, 2012
