Weak Merkel missing bargaining power

"AS Obama Exits World Stage, Angela Merkel May Be the Liberal West's Last Defender" - that was how The New York Times portrayed the German chancellor in 2016. She was supposedly standing up to right-wing nationalist governments and anti-immigration movements in Europe, while being assaulted by proponents of illiberal democracy, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and, yes, the then-newly elected US President Donald Trump.

The German chancellor was protecting the foundations of the liberal international order, saving globalism and the entire Enlightenment Project. It was springtime for her and Germany.

Indeed, for members of Washington's chattering class, who imagine that the West is being dragged into the Dark Age of nationalism, protectionism and despotism, that President Trump and his lackeys are controlling the press and curtailing immigration and religious freedoms, Chancellor Merkel had emerged a…