Until recently, Germany was one of the United States's best friends. The Americans could rely on its enthusiastic moral, if not military, support in most global matters. Within hours of the terrorist attacks on the United States a year ago, Gerhard Schroeder, Germany's chancellor, was among the first to pledge his "unlimited solidarity", describing the event as "a declaration of war against the entire civilised world". But now he has categorically rejected any German support for an American-led attack on Iraq, even if backed by a United Nations mandate. The relationship that has been the cornerstone of German foreign policy since the second world war is under severe strain. Though several European governments feel much the same towards Mr Bush's policy, Germany's has gone furthest out on a limb. What has happened? Over his four years as chancellor, Mr Schroeder has presided over democratic Germany's coming of age in foreign affairs. He courageously led his country into its first armed conflict (in Kosovo) since the second world war, then into its first war outside Europe (in Afghanistan), on both occasions risking his government's downfall. "The days when Germany could stand timidly on the sidelines, declining to participate in foreign military missions, are irrevocably over," the chancellor declared after last September 11th.
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