Will Angela Merkel enter history for her ‘meek’ appeasement of a tyrant?

Reflecting on decades of interactions with Putin, Merkel said she’d always known that commerce and dialogue alone wouldn’t turn him into a good neighbour. – AP

THERE she was again, six months after exiting the German chancellery. Relaxed but pensive after long walks on blustering Baltic shores listening to Macbeth on audiobook, Angela Merkel had so much on her mind, so much she wanted to explain for posterity. But she didn’t come to offer apologies or mea culpas.

Reflecting on decades of interactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Merkel said she’d always known that commerce and dialogue alone wouldn’t turn him into a good neighbour. But what was Germany supposed to do: Ignore the largest country on its continent?