Michael Naumann, editor of Die Zeit is pondering in the leader of this week’s Die Zeit about stereotyping Tschermans as blonde beasts, Kraut bashing and the historical hand “we” have been dealt.

He’s basically writing about the same I wrote about in my Kraut bashing comment from January, re-posted below. But his perspective is rather different. I suppose that must be a consequence of his age, and, in return, the age of the people he interacts with.

It’s not his best article, top be honest. Naumann thinks that the Berlusconi remark is a useful indicator for the state of Europe and the way people think of Germany, and the Germans.

Such a statement could not be further from the truth. To understand this, it actually helps to read Mr Boyles review of last week’s European press I linked to below. No one thought that Berlusconi just called the Germans by their real name, and only a handful thought Berlusconi was even slightly funny, even in Italy.