“German Greens Dream Big: Too Big?” Walter Russell Mead asks:
Vague, cloudy and romantic dreams of Eurasian Weltmacht were the great curse of Germany during the 20th century. Now that the Fifth, Berlin-based Reich has replaced the old postwar Fourth Reich headquartered in Bonn, those dreams seem to be stirring once more. A recent article in German weekly Der Spiegel casts the humdrum Durban climate talks as a major crossroads for China, believed to be choosing between a wasteful “Chimerica” future or an environmentally responsible partnership with Europe:
After quoting from Der Spiegel, Mead responds, “It would be stretching the meaning of words to call this geopolitical thinking. Cloud cuckoo land, Wolkenkuckucksheim is the place where this kind of thinking is common, but if it is geopolitical nonsense it is of a very familiar kind.”
And as 1n 1917 and 1939, this latest vision for German economic domination has its followers in America as well, who express their love for Germany’s latest romantic-based assaults on reason in the most unlikely places.
(Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday; I was down in L.A. visiting PJM HQ.)
Related: On his homepage, Mark Steyn takes time off from caroling to ask, “Where are all the environmental poseurs when it comes to China?” Probably getting their news from Thomas Friedman.
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