On a recent cover of Der Spiegel, Germany's leading newsmagazine, she's referred to as "Angela Mutlos". Translation: Fainthearted Angela. The headline of a recent article in The Economist asks where she can be found.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's response to the world's economic crisis has been slow and hesitant, earning her the nickname of Madame No in media across Europe.

Now, it has drawn criticism from within her own Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and particularly from its more conservative sister party, the CSU. And although her party still leads in the polls, the percentage of Germans who credit her with strengthening the country's economic power has slipped 17 percent in about a month.

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I was home in Paris recently and two articles I read struck me: one in Le Monde was an interview of Donald Morrison, the recent author of a book that develops an argument first presented in a Nov. 2007 Time Magazine article, "The Death of French Culture". The other one was a poetic account by Roger Cohen, the New York Times columnist, of his nostalgia for the Paris of his youth.

For both authors, Paris has lost its luster. No more intellectuals in the cafés of the Latin Quarter. No more Ernest Hemingways and Henry Millers drawn by the city's cultural edge. Now, French authors and scientists flock to the United States, where they find the vitality that Paris seems to have lost.

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No stranger to famous generals, Rome served as a fitting backdrop last week as General Petraeus addressed a mixed crowd of military officers and civilians at the Center for American Studies. For forty-five minutes, the man in charge of the U.S. Military's Central Command gave an Iraq status update, highlighting the tumultuous road that country has traveled especially since the beginning of 2004.

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Three German spooks are back home after a nine-day sojourn in a Kosovo prison, and a European rule-of-law mission named "EULEX" is now stationed in northern Kosovo after a nine-month vacuum there. Between them, the two events define the new landscape in the world's newest state.

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During recent climate talks in Poznan, Poland, several players made public statements that lowered the bar on what could be achieved during the coming year. The United Nations' top climate chief, Yvo de Boer, said he doubted a new treaty could be achieved by next year's deadline to replace the Kyoto Protocol after it expires in 2012. He emphasized aiming for a "robust political agreement" instead.

That may sound discouraging to some, but it could also be an opportunity for the Obama administration to reorient the transatlantic dialogue on climate change toward the energy technology revolution we will ultimately need to deal with this challenge in a meaningful way.

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