Reader Robert asked:
But really, how would you explain Germany leaving the rest of continental Europe in the dust, so to speak?
Here is how this worked on the example of a country I know best, namely, Spain. For centuries, Spain has had an image of a not-fully-European country. There is this famous saying, “Africa begins in the Pyrenees” that has produced an enormous amount of shame and discomfort.
In the efforts finally to become fully European, Spaniards sought the entrance to the European Union. The prestige of being called “European” was so painfully desired that the country agreed to destroy its entire productive economy and allow Germans to sell their goods instead of the local goods that weren’t produced any longer. Later on, other peripheral countries did the same.
Germany is now selling admission tickets to a prestigious identity label. To buy admission to this label, one country after another destroys its productive economy and adopts the goods and services of the countries that have positioned themselves as gatekeepers to this identity label: Germany, UK, and France. France has mostly taken itself out of the running in the last decade because of its immigration policies. The UK is going in the same direction. So who’s left? Right you are, Germany.
At this very moment, Germany is trying to force Ukraine to buy the identity label and destroy its agriculture to help out German farmers.
Of course, this explanation is a little more complex than the childish blabber about “work ethic.” But this is a blog for people with brains, so let’s analyze and avoid platitudes gleaned from the NYTimes and TV shows.
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