Why Germany might let Europe fall

By Fareed Zakaria, CNN
 August 18th, 2011

This is the moment of truth for Europe.
...
Today what people are basically asking is: “Is Europe’s debt going to be centralized or not?” In other words, is Europe going to be willing to say, “All our debt is pooled together and theoretically, as a single entity, we’ll pay it back.”
The key to this commitment is Germany. Germany is the only country that can pay.
...

Despite what people say, Angela Merkel has been extraordinarily willing to bail out weaker states in Europe.  Obviously, she's tried to get a good deal in terms of forcing some structural reforms in Greece and places like that.  But the real story is that she did this despite German public opinion, which is now 75% opposed to any kind of bailout. This German opposition to bailouts will surely remain going forward.
And if that is the trend going forward, the Europeans are going to have a very, very big problem. There really is no way you can make the numbers work without a much more substantial German commitment of resources than there is now.  If that doesn’t come through, it’s very difficult to see how the euro in its current form survives.
The key to Europe’s future is how Germany conceives of its interests.  If it does so in a way that would be perfectly normal (it is important to emphasize there is nothing scary about Germany simply saying that it wants to do what’s right for Germany as well as Europe rather than always putting Europe above Germany) this might be the end of Europe as we've known it.  It might be the end of Europe as a constructed, political entity built and supported by key nations, particularly Germany, no matter the cost.

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Εχθές Το Βήμα είχε ένα εκπληκτικό ιστορικό ντοκουμέντο, σύμφωνα με το οποίο, όταν τα τουρκικά στρατεύματα εισέβαλαν στη Σμύρνη το 1922, ο Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος συνομιλούσε με τον άγγλο υπουργό Εξωτερικών και έκραξε θυμωμένος  
"οπότε επέρχεται η συµφορά, µάς αφήνετε",
ενώ αναφερόμενος στις Μεγάλες Δυνάμεις  
“Θα διακηρύξω εις όλον τον κόσµον ότι τα έθνη, άτινα εξώθησαν την Ελλάδα εις το πυρ τούτο, δεν είναι άξια εµπιστοσύνης, ότι ο λόγος των δεν αξίζει δύο παράδες και διά να αποδείξω ότι ο λόγος της Αγγλίας και της Γαλλίας δεν αξίζει τίποτε είς όλον τον κόσµον ...”.