ANGELA MERKEL, like many Germans, views Russia with both suspicion and sentiment. As the first German chancellor from the ex-communist east, she has few illusions about the legacy of the Soviet Union or the nature of Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB man who served in Dresden. She is more willing than her predecessors to speak out against his human-rights record. Yet she also understands his dismay over the loss of Ukraine. On her desk she has a portrait of Catherine the Great, the German-born princess who became Russia’s empress and conquered Crimea. Such mixed feelings, to which one might add post-war guilt and even pacifism, help to explain the paradox of Germany’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Crimea. Mrs Merkel is Europe’s most powerful leader, yet her country has so far been the main obstacle to a firm, unified Western response. When America suggested Russia should be thrown out of the G8 rich-country club, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, opposed it. When east Europeans wanted to threaten explicit sanctions, he insisted that dialog should take priority. “Diplomacy is not…
