Thus Der Spiegel today. “The conflict in eastern Ukraine threatens to escalate, but that didn’t stop former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder from celebrating his seventieth birthday with Vladimir Putin on Monday,” elaborates the newspaper. “By doing so, he is making a mockery of Berlin’s foreign policy.” Not to mention America and European Union’s foreign policies, of course. As I argued nearly two months ago, the intrepid ex-chancellor has much to teach all concerned about oil and gas in Europe (“Ukraine, Schmukraine,” March 4, 2014). And it is good to remember that Germany is Europe nowadays.