In early August, President Donald Trump was able to celebrate a small yet tangible success in his beloved trade war. The European Union and the United States had just signed an agreement on the import of American beef to Europe – one in which the EU committed to accepting up to 35,000 tons of hormone-free beef from American suppliers over the next seven years. As the total of EU imports …

An August evening on Sonnenallee, Berlin-Neukölln: Tires screech as police vans come to a sudden stop. Officers enter hookah bars and cafes. Men sitting at tables look surprised. The officers are accompanied by tax investigators and employees of the public order office. They’re controlling whether bar owners are following industrial codes, whether their accounting checks out, whether they’ve installed more slot machines than are permitted. What’s happening here is what’s …

It was mid-August, just before regional elections in Brandenburg and Saxony, when German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for a “new solidarity pact.” What the president was demanding was not more money, but a “solidarity pact of appreciation,” especially for achievements during eastern Germany’s peaceful evolution and the transformation of its economy from socialist planning to the capitalist market.

The transformation of eastern German that began in 1990 was an immensely …

The future of Afghanistan is obscure. Nobody can say what it is going to bring for the people of the Hindu Kush, but all signs point to the beginning of a new chapter in the country’s long and bloody history – a chapter in which the role played by Western countries shrinks until one day in the not-too-distant future, when they will have disappeared from the country entirely.

Withdrawal is …

When Jean-Claude Juncker assumed leadership of the European Commission in Brussels in autumn 2014, the world was more or less united; Washington and London issued good tidings, not stink bombs. And Juncker could rely on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was at that time riding the height of her power.

Five years later, Juncker’s successor, Ursula von der Leyen, faces an entirely different terrain. The economic situation has worryingly deteriorated …

Recent meetings of the Group of Seven (G7) have been rather ominous affairs. One never knows what US President Donald Trump will make of these summits, which he regularly and openly disparages. To agree on an initiative for talks between the United States and Iran, of all countries, at the meeting in Biarritz was therefore even more surprising, including to many of those present at the posh Atlantic seaside resort.…

Trade wars are good and easy to win, US President Donald Trump boasted in one of his toxic tweets. He confirmed his message last month: “We will soon be winning big on Trade and everyone knows that, including China!”

Yet in reality, the grand deal with the People’s Republic, which has been Trump’s target for more than two years, has turned out to be ever-more elusive. The tariff dispute has …

It’s still too early to bid farewell to the era of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Yet there are increasing signs that his power is weakening. The next presidential elections are in 2024, but they appear to be already casting a long shadow. A power struggle for the country’s future seems to be breaking out and its outcome is entirely uncertain.

Although Putin succeeded in achieving high approval ratings after annexing …

In the past several years and decades, the European Union has become increasingly important to German politics. At the same time, the United States remains unchallenged as Germany’s most important partner outside the EU. Today, in spite of President Donald Trump, Germans continue to be bound by common interests with the US. And yet, when it comes to the American president himself, it is almost impossible to speak of a …

Perhaps we should begin by recalling some of the phrases contained in the coalition agreement signed by the CDU/CSU and SPD in 2018: “Our country is going to have to assume more responsibility for its own security and defense capability in the future,” and “We want a European Union that upholds our interests and embodies our values. In order to achieve these goals, we are going to need strong foreign, …