[Steve]

Europe’s most powerful leader is a refugee from a time and place where her power would have been unimaginable. The German Democratic Republic, where Angela Merkel grew up, was neither democratic nor a republic; it was an Orwellian horror show, where the Iron Curtain found literal expression in the form of the Berlin Wall. The shy daughter of a Lutheran minister, Merkel slipped into politics as a divorced Protestant in a largely Catholic party, a woman in a frat house, an Ossi in the newly unified Germany of the 1990s where easterners were still aliens. No other major Western leader grew up in a stockade, which gave Merkel a rare perspective on the lure of freedom and the risks people will take to taste it.

Her political style was not to have one; no flair, no flourishes, no charisma, just a survivor’s sharp sense of power and a scientist’s devotion to data. Even after Merkel became Germany’s Chancellor in 2005, and then commanded the world’s fourth largest economy, she remained resolutely dull—the better to be underestimated time and again.

German pundits called her Merkelvellian when she outsmarted, isolated or just outlasted anyone who might mount a challenge to her. Ever cautious, she proudly practiced what Willy Brandt once called Die Politik der kleinen Schritte (the politics of baby steps), or as we call it in the U.S., leading from behind.

Then came 2015. Not once or twice but three times this year there has been reason to wonder whether Europe could continue to exist, not culturally or geographically but as a historic experiment in ambitious statecraft. Merkel had already emerged as the indispensable player in managing Europe’s serial debt crises; she also led the West’s response to Vladimir Putin’s creeping theft of Ukraine. But now the prospect of Greek bankruptcy threatened the very existence of the euro zone. The migrant and refugee crisis challenged the principle of open borders. And finally, the carnage in Paris revived the reflex to slam doors, build walls and trust no one.

Each time Merkel stepped in. Germany would bail Greece out, on her strict terms. It would welcome refugees as casualties of radical Islamist savagery, not carriers of it. And it would deploy troops abroad in the fight against ISIS. Germany has spent the past 70 years testing antidotes to its toxically nationalist, militarist, genocidal past. Merkel brandished a different set of values—humanity, generosity, tolerance—to demonstrate how Germany’s great strength could be used to save, rather than destroy. It is rare to see a leader in the process of shedding an old and haunting national identity. “If we now have to start apologizing for showing a friendly face in response to emergency situations,” she said, “then that’s not my country.”
And so this time, the woman who trained as a quantum chemist did not run the tests and do the lab work; she made her stand.

The blowback has come fast and from all sides. Donald Trump called Merkel “insane” and called the refugees “one of the great Trojan horses.” German protesters called her a traitor, a whore; her allies warned of a popular revolt, and her opponents warned of economic collapse and cultural suicide. The conservative Die Welt published a leaked intelligence report warning about the challenge of assimilating a million migrants: “We are importing Islamic extremism, Arab anti-Semitism, national and ethnic conflicts of other people as well as a different understanding of society and law.” Her approval ratings dropped more than 20 points, even as she broadcast her faith in her people: “Wir schaffen das,” she has said over and over. “We can do this.”

Take a look at the short list, tell me it doesn't make you cringe.

PERSON OF THE YEAR
THE CHOICE

ANGELA MERKEL

THE SHORT LIST
ABU BAKR AL-BAGHDADI
DONALD TRUMP
BLACK LIVES MATTER
HASSAN ROUHANI
TRAVIS KALANICK
CAITLYN JENNER


http://time.com/time-person-of-the-y...merkel-choice/

[Azimuth]

Originally Posted by Top Gear ↗

Take a look at the short list, tell me it doesn't make you cringe.

PERSON OF THE YEAR
THE CHOICE

ANGELA MERKEL

THE SHORT LIST
ABU BAKR AL-BAGHDADI
DONALD TRUMP
BLACK LIVES MATTER
HASSAN ROUHANI
TRAVIS KALANICK
CAITLYN JENNER

They're all equally choices. I strongly disagree with her views on the "refugees".

[Steve]

Originally Posted by azimuth ↗

They're all equally choices. I strongly disagree with her views on the "refugees".

Most people do.

[spudigitti]

Wasn't Hitler times man of the year in 36

[Oswald2001]

Originally Posted by spudigitti ↗

Wasn't Hitler times man of the year in 36

Time isn't the only magazine that put her on the cover.

[souris]

she's destroying Germany

[bob351]

The contrast is astounding, chick with a dick and radical ultra conservative religious leader. These times we are living in when these are the most influential people candidates.

[Xfactor]

A computer was person of the year

[facing_reality]

"Time Magazine" is the Soviet-era Pravda with a little polish. It's a Leftist rag that's too pokey & stiff to ever be good for its only useful purpose: wiping your ass.

Anybody that these morons swoon over, you should take an immediate disliking to.
-------------------------------------
"The German Democratic Republic, where Angela Merkel grew up, was neither democratic nor a republic; it was an Orwellian horror show, where the Iron Curtain found literal expression in the form of the Berlin Wall."

How interesting, and yet "Time" and it's affiliated businesses promote politicians like Bernie Sanders who want to introduce that Orwellian state here in the U.S. And to push their agenda, their national "Common Core" doesn't even mention the Berlin Wall.
-------------------------------------
"...a survivor’s sharp sense of power and a scientist’s devotion to data."

Of which neither quality is shared by "Time" nor its pundits...
-------------------------------------
"Germany has spent the past 70 years testing antidotes to its toxically nationalist, militarist, genocidal past. Merkel brandished a different set of values—humanity, generosity, tolerance"

Yep. Because no German anywhere for the last 70 years had the values of humanity, generosity, or tolerance. But it fits in with the collectivist identity... and subsequent excoriation and demonization of certain archetypal groups: the German, the Christian, the European White Man.... as propounded by the Left.
-------------------------------------
"...showing a friendly face in response to emergency situations,”

And there it is! The ultimate reason they like this stupid Broad. The ultimate PC statement; the affirmation of "Coke & a Smile" foreign policy; the Left's hallowed, willow-wisp response to Terrorists trying to kill you.... Put on a friendly face, swallow their shit, and ask for heaping seconds!!!

And Merkel tops it all off with a wonderfully nebulous, do-nothing plan akin to Obama's "Hope & Change" --- "We can do it!"
How wonderfully emotional, inspiring, encouraging, and..... useless.

[Oswald2001]

Originally Posted by facing_reality ↗

And Merkel tops it all off with a wonderfully nebulous, do-nothing plan akin to Obama's "Hope & Change" --- "We can do it!"
How wonderfully emotional, inspiring, encouraging, and..... useless.

It's far worse than "useless".

It is almost incomprehensibly destructive and mind numbingly dangerous.