In an interview for Der Spiegel, the Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk discusses the crisis in the relationship between the European Union and Russia. The picture he paints is rather bleak, but the first interchange in the interview is still delightful to read:

Spiegel: Mr. Prime Minister, when you took office in February, you compared your mission to that of a kamikaze pilot. How close are we to a crash?

Yatsenyuk: I was recently asked the same question by Chancellor Angela Merkel. I answered that I am sitting on a ticking time bomb. She said: “Previously, you said you are a kamikaze pilot, and today it’s a ticking time bomb, so things have improved.”[1]

In the continuation of the interview, this is interpreted as gallows humor, which it undoubtedly is. Nonetheless, I was delighted by Merkel’s felicitous remark. In my experience, this is the very first time that she has come alive. All of a sudden, I felt a bit more optimistic about the fate of both Germany and the Union.

Footnote

1. Matthias Schepp and Christoph Schult, “Ukrainian Prime Minister: Putin Needs Annexations,” Der Spiegel Online, December 21, 2014 (www.spiegel.de/international).