Nov 172012
Merkel stands up to Putin’s human rights violations while Obama provides them aid and comfort .
Rising public disgust with Russia’s drift toward reactionary and incompetent authoritarianism, combined with business revulsion at the wholesale corruption consuming what is left of the Russian economy, have reduced the attractiveness of the “Russia pole” for German foreign policy. Today we see something no one could have imagined even a decade ago: the chancellor of Germany is using tougher language with Russia than is the president of the United States.
via The Complicated Geopolitics of Decline: Germany & Russia Edition | Via Meadia.