I also wonder what historical narratives the current controversies fit into most neatly from the German point of view. Here in the USA, it seems as though Obama has put considerable effort into repeating Macaulay’s James II as farce. I can’t think of any comparably close historical match for the current German politics, but that might just be because I’m largely ignorant of the long history of empires and vast coalitions that the locals could mine for analogies to the current multinational political and financial weirdness.

Also, looking at this from another angle, it’s too bad my dimly remembered highschool German is inadequate for twisting “hier stande ich” into “here I sell [like hotcakes], I can do nothing else”.