“The Chancellor of the Free World” headlines the American magazine “Time” and raises Angela Merkel on his cover with a painted portrait of serious-looking head of government. The magazine explains his choice for Person of the Year, and writes that the Chancellor had saved Europe in the past year on several occasions before the break.
“Not once or twice , all three times it was this year reasons to wonder whether Europe would continue to exist, not culturally or geographically, but as a historical experiment ambitious statecraft, “writes editor in chief Nancy Gibbs.
Merkel had previously as indispensable actor occurred in the European debt crisis, and they have led the response to Vladimir Putin Diebeszug in Ukraine. “But now the prospect of a Greek bankruptcy endangered the existence of the euro zone. The immigration and refugee crisis threatened the principle of open borders. And finally the carnage in Paris has revived the reflex to slam doors, building walls and to trust no one “writes” Time “.
In all three cases Merkel have taken the lead. “Germany has Greece saved with its own strict conditions. It has received the refugees as victims of radical Islamist cruelty and not as a carrier. And it has sent troops abroad for the fight against IS.”
This is recognition and encouragement for Merkel, currently is so controversial in their home as never before since the beginning of her chancellorship. But it is also a recognition of the total power in Germany. For 70 years the country had antidotes tested against its own toxic nationalist, militarist and genocidal past, writes Gibbs.
Now Merkel had a banner for different values planted : humanity, generosity and tolerance. And the face of considerable opposition. These include “Time” as well as a published by the “world” intelligence report, which warned of the dangers of immigration. Although Merkel’s approval ratings had fallen in some cases by 20 percent, they have with their “We are creating the” confidence shown in the German people.
Spare Empress for the absent President
The award of “Time” can be understood as a criticism of Barack Obama. Commonly, the US president is regarded as the leader of the West, which determines the direction and attempts to combine the will of the free world. DC eleven US presidents have been a total of 19 times awarded the coveted title Time. But of pioneering leadership can be seen in the fall of Obama’s tenure little.
He just need a demonstration again by Vladimir Putin in Syria. Merkel is thereby a kind of substitute Empress. If the president is missing as “missing in action”, it must provide the other judge. And given the economic weakness of France and the many years of foreign policy shrunken Britain, it is now just the “Chancellor of the Free World”, who suddenly sets the direction, trying to hold together the store.
particularly aggrieved by the award Merkel, however, the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump seems to be the “Time” had also taken on the short list, but only finished third. “I told you, that’s Time ‘magazine would never choose me as a person of the year, even though I’m the big favorite,” tweeted Trump. “You have chosen the person who ruined Germany.”
The vote is also an appeal to the politicians in the West, not so despondent and fainthearted to be , “In a moment when the world once again a heated tempers debate via the balance between security and freedom, the German Chancellor to the German people demanded from a lot, and as a model to the rest of us,” writes Gibbs. Among other things, to welcoming others welcome, not fear, and “to believe that great civilizations build bridges, not walls, and the wars are won both on the battlefield and beyond”.
Democracy is dependent on consensus and on the approval of the citizens. But “Time” reminded that leadership also consists precisely in democracies that politicians go ahead and then try to convince citizens. “Leaders are only tested if they do not follow the people,” writes Gibbs. And Merkel did not opt for the easy way out. “She has her country demanded more than most politicians would dare,” it says in the explanatory memorandum. You have moral leadership demonstrated in a world in which there was a lack exactly that.
In a group of mass murderers
A greater praise can hardly get a head of government. This also benefits the CDU. Whether the party will thank the Chancellor, is open, but probably show at the latest at the beginning in Karlsruhe on Monday Congress.
If Merkel winner and Trump Third has become become the 2015 “Time” -Podest, who was then silver medalist? Malala? Aung San Suu Kyi? Not at all. Second place goes to the leader of the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, showing that influence in the reading of the magazine also in the negative is certainly measurable. Just as in 1938, when Adolf Hitler Person of the Year was, or a year later, Josef Stalin, in 1942 even once made it on the cover.
” Time “magazine named the chancellor in a group of great people like Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi, but also from mass murderers, brutal fanatics and racist agitators. Why? Because it’s not about moral backing, but to find the most influential people in world affairs, and the biggest news of the year in question. Angela Merkel is not for the worst choice.
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