Germany, not the United States, is the world's biggest single exporting nation. The German-dominated European Union is the world's biggest single market. Additionally, the German-based euro is increasingly the international currency of choice. Few realize how significant these economic factors are.
by Melvin Rhodes
A brief news item on the main evening news in early April left me stunned. It came halfway through the 30-minute program.
The short news clip showed Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, giving a press conference at which he announced a willingness to enter peace talks with the Palestinians. Absolutely nothing was said and no attention was given to the woman standing next to him. That's what left me stunned!
The lady was none other than the German chancellor and current president of the European Union, Angela Merkel.
It was as if she did not exist.
Given Germany's fairly recent history with the Jews, surely a visit by the head of the German government ranks a mention, showing at the very least that German-Israeli relations have come a long way since the Holocaust.
But, putting aside history, Chancellor Merkel is one of the most important personages on the world stage. What was she doing in Israel and was she the one who brought the prime minister to the negotiating table? America has been Israel's main source of support for five decades. Only the United States has previously had the clout to lead Israeli leaders to peace talks. Does the European Union now have the same power?
These are questions that, at the very least, should have been asked on that evening news broadcast. But they weren't. It's as if Europe doesn"t count and is of no relevance to the United States or the Mideast.
But Germany, with a population about 27 percent of America's, has been the world's biggest exporting nation for four years now, accounting for 13 percent of the world's trade. With the German dominated euro slowly increasing in value against the American dollar, you would think that Germans would be having difficulty selling their goods internationally, but this is not the case. German products are among the best in the world and last a long time.
