Nordstream 2 and Huawei both an indicator that Germany's political class unwilling to give up its comfortable position: to explore economic opportunities with everybody in a world protected by the US. That's how (West-) Germany was born in 1949 and lived ever since.
Germany loves to wander through the worlds without geopolitical package. It takes world over for granted. Yet in a world of geopolitical competition, with Russia and China aggressively bidding for influence, this attitude (naivety) risks turning Germany into a playground.
Nordstream 2 and Huawei both should be wake-up calls for German elites that Germany's independence and sovereignty is not anymore uncontested. To claim that both are "economic" issues and not geopolitical / national interest and security issues is a dangerous path.
In other words, Germany must start thinking about national interests and national security -- or run the risk of selling out both.
Next Sunday Merkel will host an event that has all ingredients of the role Germany strives to have: a peace conference in Berlin under the auspices of the UN.
Yet to stay neutral, or flirt with equidistance between the West and the East, is not a sustainable position in the new power competition.
As a liberal democracy and a market economy, Germany must clarify its position and defend the principles of the free and open international order -- against autocratic pressure.
Germans loved Obama, because despite being less interested in Germany, he had a "soft" global agenda (at least that's what he wanted), not a hard geopolitical agenda. Obama allowed the Germans to live a few more years in their geopolitical niche.
Yet with Trump a rude awakening has come, leading to discomfort and confusion. The foundations of Germany's world are shaking. Nobody to lean on anymore.
Germany finds itself increasingly alone, as others are adapting to the new power competition, trying to carve out new roles for themselves. Germany's political DNA and its instincts are anti-power, the country has been perfectly adapted to a post-modern world beyond geopolitics.
It's not just Merkel, it's Germany that is confused, trying to save as much as possible from the status quo: its own mental equipment and its international environment. Because it is both that made Germany such an incredible success in the last decades.
In the first half of the 20th century Germany was obsessed with power; in the second half it accepted to live in the shadow of a more powerful country, the US, which made the Germany quite happy, and its neighbors too.
Yet that's not the end of the story. Germans have no choice but to figure out themselves a path ahead in the new, challenging environment, where choices are risky and mistakes not forgiven. They need to reconcile themselves with the idea of power in all its shades.
