German turbulence

Given that Germany is the most powerful country in the eurozone and exercises complete control over the common currency bloc while also entertaining ambitions of a more international role, the magnitude of the defeat sustained by the established right-wing in Sunday's elections was much greater than the percentage collectively secured by the Christian Democrats and the Christian Social Party. 

That the losses of the country's traditional conservative parties were not even greater is without doubt due to Wolfgang Schaeuble, whose management as finance minister of the debt crisis and the deficits in the eurozone helped amass the wealth of Europe in German coffers. 

Schaeuble is indisputably a respected man, not just among the German right, but more generally among the German electorate. Nevertheless, he was eventually "convinced" to abandon the post of finance minister in...