Alexander J. Motyl: Germany must lead in Europe
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini (L), President of European Parliament Martin Schulz and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) talk on the second day of the fourth European Union (EU) eastern Partnership Summit in Riga, on May 22.
Nothing could be more unlike the Russo-Ukrainian war in the Donbas than Munich's remarkably well-ordered condition. The desperate desire of Germans to look away from the death and destruction beyond their eastern border makes sense: War is too disruptive of their near-perfect orderliness to be thinkable, least of all real. Unfortunately for them, Germany has no choice but to play the role of Europe's "well-meaning hegemon." The European Union needs leadership, and, as distasteful as seizing the initiative may be to most Germans, who associate hegemony with the disaster of Nazism and World War II, only Germany has the geopolitical resources to be a consistent leader.
