Angela Merkel has reached a possible agreement on a new coalition government five weeks after the German gave her Christian Democratic Party a strong, but not majority, vote. The proposed coalition includes the Christian Democrats, the Christian Social Union, and the Social Democrats. The agreement needs the approval of the Social Democrat membership before it can go into effect. The deal that brought the parties together includes an increase in the minimum wage in Germany, revisions to pension rules, and an expansion of the laws requiring renewable energy. The wage increase was the most difficult pill for the Christian Democrats who generally dislike government interventions in the market. It also rhetorically undermines the German position in the European Union which favors austerity approaches to market management.
James Fallows is an exceptionally astute defense analyst who write for the Atlantic. He posted an article on the Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone which has aroused so much controversy. He does an excellent job of explaining some of the intricacies of the Zone (which I did not know before) as well as some interesting interpretations of why the Chinese decided to make the unilateral announcement of the Zone. The US has come out with a categorical statement affirming the Japanese claim to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Not a surprise at all, but the Chinese cannot be pleased.
The P5+1 agreement with Iran signals a rather dramatic shift in world politics. If the temporary agreement does lead to a permanent agreement in 6 months, the tectonic plates of the Middle East will change all previous alliances in the region. The one country that seems to be left out in the cold in this shift is Israel; Saudi Arabia does have other allies in the region. There is pressure building within Israel for at least a major change in tone toward the US and the other permanent members of the UN Security Council.
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