jack_cerf:

Germany has been the dominant economy in central and eastern Europe since Bismarck's time, and German was the language of higher education and culture. It always had the soft power to dominate the region. The great tragedy of 20th century Europe was that the German state and people, unified and militarized under Prussian auspices, thought it had to be done militarily instead. What Magdalena is complaining about is the predominance that a pretty much demilitarized Germany enjoys through other means.

The tragedy is that the US through fear of communism and under the influence of our Neocon neocolonialist reached the same conclusion as the German Prussians. It seems our great historical thinkers, such as Henry Kissinger, didn't study their European history with the intent to learn how to balance the power and maintain the peace, like General Marshall successfully advocated after WWII, but instead to find how they, in their arrogance, might "run the table" when given the chance. Compared to the US, modern Germany and Japan are indeed model world citizens but you have to forgive the other people of Europe and Asia for still experiencing some discomfort toward them in the context of past history, Psychologically it is probably depressing to them as well that "the world's only superpower" hasn't had much regard for international cooperation or law for most of the past four decades.