HAMBURG: What has happened to Germany? It is only a few years ago that Mikhail Gorbachev convinced himself and his Kremlin colleagues that they had to accommodate Bonn over unification because Germany would be the main actor on the continental European scene. More recently, a hard-nosed French former central banker, Michel Aubert, published a book in praise of "Rhineland Capitalism", elevating Germany to a model society combining economic dynamism and social justice. Now that model is deflated, and Europe's supposed leading power is in the doldrums.
HAMBURG: What has happened to Germany? It is only a few years ago that Mikhail Gorbachev convinced himself and his Kremlin colleagues that they had to accommodate Bonn over unification because Germany would be the main actor on the continental European scene. More recently, a hard-nosed French former central banker, Michel Aubert, published a book in praise of "Rhineland Capitalism", elevating Germany to a model society combining economic dynamism and social justice. Now that model is deflated, and Europe's supposed leading power is in the doldrums.