Germany chooses to loose

Unfortunately the growing apprehension concerning Germany appears to have been well founded: The German electorate continues to err towards the left, supported by Schröder's tactical deftness & Stoiber's total lack of it. I am prepared to revise my judgment on that specific instance in the hopefully unlikely event that Stoiber comes out on top after Merkel's more or less voluntary ultimate sacrifice, but I reserve to replace it by far worse in that case. Furthermore, I am flabbergasted by the outgoing Chancellor's incredible stomach (others might call it arrogance) & tactical resilience in already claiming a mandate to form a new government. There can be no doubt that he is indeed a virtuoso tactician, but the veneer of respectability has grown transparent a long time ago.

Nonetheless, congratulations to the German liberals on their surprise performance! Eventually, I hope they will recognise that the only responsible course of action will be to form a Jamaica-coalition with the pragmatic Greens & CDU/CSU. At any rate, Germany may use the humour & singlemindedness of the Jamaican bobsled team shown in Cool Runnings. Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme! Yeah, man! As for us Swiss, let's make sure next weekend that our borders remain open for the expected inflow of Germany's best & brightest!