
I prefer the interpretation that the German government was insane, stupid, irresponsible, narrow-mindedly selfish, and incoherent (and in that no special in the EU), and I think I supplied lots of evidence especially for the last. (Add to that some out-of-context quotes reported in international media, see downthread.)

On the issue at hand, I do think that über-hawk Weber would very much like to go after the unloved Landesbanken, whatever the potential damage for the entire German economy, and thus seized the moment.

On the "cold war", what happened at the EU summit regarding austerity and stress tests seemed like the end of it.

On your broader theory, which if I got it right is that since February, Germany's elites collectively want to crash the Euro to have an excuse to bail out Deutsche Bank, it just doesn't make sense to me. First, it starts with speculation that DB is in trouble. Second, Germany is not the UK, there are industries other than the financial industry, and the loss of the Euro would hurt them a lot. Third, given that the austerity drive itself hurts German exports in both the medium and long term (medium: recession reduces EU consumption, long: Germany's depression of labour costs would be reproduced elsewhere), the whole push has all the hallmarks of short-term thinking.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Mon Jun 21st, 2010 at 01:58:44 PM EST
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