Apprenticeship Loyalty in Hannover
Today we went to the MMBbS, an information technology and media vocational training school two hours south of Berlin by train, and learned about the school that was built on …
Dual System Dilemmas
Germany was derided not too long ago as the “sick man of Europe” after years of economic malaise. It is now lauded as the world’s Exportweltmeister; its current-account surplus even …
The Day the Berlin Wall Really Fell
Contrary to popular lore, the Berlin Wall did not fall on November 9, 1989. Nor did it fall in Berlin. It fell on October 9 some 120 miles away, in …
Post-Soviet Apprenticeship
After the hustle and bustle of the capital city, our train passed through the countryside. Small family farms with goats abutted a busy railway. Our destination also lay in between …
New EU Commission
“Your objective is to make Europe a world leader in information and communication technology, with all the tools to succeed in the global digital economy and society. […] To do …
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October 3: Lessons for the Future of Europe
This week Germany again marks its anniversary of formal unification on October 3. Next month, on November 9, we will remember how the division of Germany ended, seeing dramatic pictures …
Mars vs. Mercury: Germany, America, and the Global Order
Germany and America: Two Reluctant Pivotal Powers Germany and the United States rank as the two most influential and powerful Western liberal nations in a world challenged by the rise …
2009 and 2014: Reflections
Time flies. I am struck by how recent the events of the twentieth anniversary of the Mauerfall feel. A rainy, but magical, memory. At first blush, 2009 seems a more …
After the Wall: Survivors’ Expectations
There were many expectations when the Wall came down. Not least among them that Holocaust survivors living in Eastern Europe would finally receive payments from Germany for their suffering. But …
Eurasian Heartland or Atlantic Civilization: The Ukrainian War of Cultures
The Road to the Present Why was the West surprised about the escalation in Ukraine? What went wrong on our side? And what conclusions do we need to draw from …
German Military Aid to the Kurdish Peshmerga
The German government’s decision to provide arms and military equipment to aid the Kurdish Regional Government in its fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant provides further …
November 1989
Like December 7, 1941, November 22, 1963, and September 11, 2001, November 9, 1989, is one of those dates remembered in freeze frame. But it’s the rare exception that most …
