Epstein Secrets

pinpricks," we appear hardly credible or formidable. Obama himself seems unable to fathom the fallout from the NSA's tapping of German chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone or from allowing Vladimir Putin to adjudicate the Syrian mess. It is unclear whether Obama has even appreciated the traditional U.S. r

om the NSA's tapping of German chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone or from allowing Vladimir Putin to

ingly Islamist prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is closer to the Obama administration than is Israel, America's best friend in the Middle East. The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi came to power in Egypt on assurances of American support — before being removed by Egyptian generals for subverting the constitution.

n other advanced economies as well. Germany's general election appears likely to produce a repeat of the current government coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and the Free Democrats, with opinion polls suggesting that a grand coalition between the CDU and the Social Democrats

urrent government coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and the Free Democr

yria, Libya, Morocco, and Palestine "We are not against Hamas as a resistance movement , but we are against its complicity in seeking to spearhead [Muslim] Brotherhood projects in the region, and dissolve national issues, including the Palestinian cause. We are against Hamas's policies because they aim to scrap a

Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of the world's worst anti-Semites. Political leaders in Berlin have a different answer than Germans at large. Does Angela Merkel mistrust the very people she governs? Is she uncomfortable with the German people? In October 2011, the German chancellor stood onstage at the acad

e Jewish Museum, in Berlin, next to conductor Daniel Barenboim. The celebratory concert had concluded, and the museum's director had just presented Merkel with its Award for Understanding and Tolerance. This is one of many awards the chancellor has received from Jewish institutions over the last coupl

orld: the eurozone, with its seemingly endless financial uncertainties; the Middle East, with its many upheavals, including, but hardly limited to, the Muslim Brotherhood's accession to power in Egypt and Syria's savage civil war, which has already claimed more than 60,000 EFTA00693035 lives; and the Asia-Pacific reg

one stumble from one failed bailout to the next, jeopardizing a still-fragile global economy. The world's most impressive current leader, Germany's Angela Merkel, rejected Mr. Obama's advice to blow out her country's balance sheet with stimulus spending in 2009 and is thankful she did. Her economy is stronge

most impressive current leader, Germany's Angela Merkel, rejected Mr. Obama's advice to blow out her cou

s after it expired. The following day, a panel of Mubarak-era judges ordered the dissolution of the newly elected Parliament, where the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood held a large majority. The generals quickly carried out the court order and claimed all legislative powers for themselves. Then, on Sunday, the gen

s, the bogeymen of the west and the enemies of all autocratic Arab regimes, have not - yet - played a significant role. Still, Ennahda in Tunisia and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt have new opportunities in multi-party systems that will in turn change them. The killing of Osama bin Laden was a timely reminder of the def

n the other foot. To save a poorly designed and overextended monetary union, the political must ride to the rescue of the economic. That will require Angela Merkel's leadership. If we are talking about the European economy and currency, Germany is the indispensable power. Only the combination of Germany and the Eu

y the combination of Germany and the European Central Bank, working in unison, has a chance of calming the mighty markets. For more than a year now, Merkel has attempted to find the narrow — perhaps nonexistent — line where the minimum that can be done to save the embattled Eurozone periphery meets the m

religious bent, disconcerting in itself, can easily spin out of control. The lesson of the AKP experience for the Arab world, particularly give that Muslim Brotherhood-led governments may take over in the region, is that religious orthodoxy is an ideological beauty contest in which the winner is always the ugly guy.

. There were strong arguments on either side of a Libyan intervention, but with a massacre looming in Benghazi, Germany had to stand with its allies. Angela Merkel has proved herself more a maneuverer than a leader. Germany often conveys the sense that it now resents the agents of its postwar rehabilitation — th

d, and as long it’s on hold the future of the euro is at risk. The German-French alliance will remain under strain. Obama should look to Sarkozy, not Merkel, for strategic support. A last thought. This restless French leader is at his best with his back to the wall. He’s shown that. The same quality mean

al leadership also sought by Iran. In Egypt, too, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist forces look set to reap an ele

ready. SPIEGEL: The German government has also announced that it will not support the Palestinians’ plan. Elaraby: I heard what (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel said. She cited the Germans' unique responsibility to the Jews. But the Germans also have a responsibility to the Palestinians. SPIEGEL: The radical

Elaraby: I heard what (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel said. She cited the Germans' unique responsibilit

s at a time when democratic changes are giving public opinion new weight. As part of its broader outreach, the Obama administration has also met with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group whose political party is poised to win a major role in the country's new Parliament and remains the biggest political counterweig

loyed. And German leaders are wrong if they think their country will remain unscathed as its major trading partners and neighbors unravel. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany has been talking a more pro- European line. But she is still insisting on growth-killing austerity as the price for European bailouts and

as the price for European bailouts and still blocking the European Central Bank from printing more euros and acting as a lender of last resort. Mrs. Merkel's advisers insist that she is doing what the German people want. That is not leadership. She needs to challenge her voters' simplistic stereotypes of