West Germany was anything but an artificial construct. It was the historical Germany, being almost geographically identical to what was, for almost 1,200 years, the only Germany. Julius Caesar named the land ...

wow. What a ludicrous premise. So yeah. no, just no in the first instance.

This essay is a wonderful example of "casual" bigotry. Thanks, Helen. File in "Romanticism" / Contemporary Polemic / AfD Sympathizer / Failed States.

2. Answer: Comparison of political (ethnic) divisions in the other 26, especially the united kingdoms' and Catalunya at the moment, demonstrate why it is always a mistake to isolate current events from their historical, contemporaneous contexts. Indeed, but for Roman empire and the Napoleanic dynasty --not US magisterial authority after VJ Day-- neither "nationalism" across europe nor EU federalism would be of much concern to the author today. He'd be a back-stabbing courtier.

3. "Politics are local." And local politics invariable concern distribution of tax receipts among citizens. Adenauer and Kennedy understood that identity, as was convenient for them, as anethema [!] to the demos during Reconstruction.

4. Germans are heavily taxed. And Brits are about to be retroactively taxed heavily, too, for the same purpose --mediating political malfeasance including cost of re-unification. #2019Charge, #NoRetroTax and tax avoidance

With Donald Trump's wavering on Nato and his noisy anti-German protectionism, along with Brexit, the West may no longer seem vital to Germany's future.

Hawes is barking up the wrong tree.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.