Der Spiegel Assesses Merkel's Unprecedented Commitment to the US
Der Spiegel writes that Angela Merkel has aligned herself with the US more closely than any previous German Chancellor. However, due to public skepticism and the SPD’s general mistrust of the Bush administration, Merkel must remain cautious. Some commentators have expressed concerns that the US might expect too much from Germany, but Merkel has done her best to keep recent improvements in US-German relations relatively quiet, and has not been the strong ally in the war on terror that Bush had hoped for. Balancing progress in the US-German relationship with public ambivalence towards US policies has been a major condition of Merkel’s successes in foreign policy.
Note: The article refers to the generous ‘gift’ offered by Merkel on her latest visit to the USA: a world map from 1507 which uses the name ‘America’ for the first time. However, as various sources point out, the map is actually not a ‘gift.’ It was sold to the US Library of Congress for 10 million in 2001.
