Each week, the Gaggle Book Club recommends a book for Gagglers to read and—most important—uploads a pdf version of it.

Our practice is that we do not vouch for the reliability or accuracy of any book we recommend. Still less, do we necessarily agree with a recommended book's central arguments. However, any book we recommend will be of undoubted interest and intellectual importance.

Today's book club selection is "Freedom: Memoirs 1954–2021" by Angela Merkel. While this book is definitely not something we would recommend as reading material, it nonetheless offers an important insight into the ideas, policies, tactics and strategy of Europe's dominant political figure during the past quarter-century.

Published in 2024, Merkel's memoirs are a detailed account of her personal and political journey, beginning with upbringing in Communist East Germany and culminating in her extraordinarily lengthy reign as chancellor of unified Germany.

Merkel uses her memoirs to rehabilitate herself. She has come under a lot of criticism in Germany over her supposedly friendly attitude toward Russia, over her supposedly cordial relations with President Putin and over her supposedly giving away too much to Russia. Merkel tries to defend herself from these accusations, but her arguments are not convincing. She is too eager to keep in with the bien pensants of Germany.

Thus she describes Putin as someone deeply affected by the collapse of the Soviet Union, as someone who viewed it as a personal as well as a national tragedy. Putin, she claims, disdained Western democracy and sought to reassert Russia's influence. Probably true, but so what?

Inevitably, she brings up the tale of Putin's inviting his chocolate Labrador to a meeting with her even though, she alleges, he knew that she was afraid of dogs. Putin's action, she has always claimed, was an attempt to assert dominance. It's hard to take this seriously. Putin has always denied that he knew that she had a phobia about dogs. Moreover, it's hard to believe that anyone would think that a Labrador--the gentlest of dogs--would induce terror in anyone. Also, what would be the point of upsetting Merkel? How would Russia or Putin benefit from it?

Merkel addresses the 2008 NATO summit's fateful pledge that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become alliance members. She defends her agreement to the pledge by pointing out that at least she had rejected the Bush administration's idea of inviting Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO's Membership Action Plan. She explains that she feared such a move would provoke Russia into attacking Ukraine. Merkel doesn't explain why she thought it was sound policy to go on, year after year, promising NATO membership to Ukraine. She knew in 2008 that the Russians felt very strongly about the possibility of Ukraine's joining NATO. Why would she think the Russians would change their minds?

The issue was to grow in increasing salience following the Maidan coup, the start of the war in the Donbass and the launch of the Minsk process. When it comes to the Minsk agreements, Merkel declares that they were imperfect; they were however necessary steps to de-escalate the conflict in the Donbass. She argues that the agreements provided Ukraine with valuable time to strengthen its institutions and military capabilities. In other words, Minsk was predicated on a lie.

Merkel discusses the rationale behind Germany's energy policies, including her decision to phase out nuclear power and to become increasingly reliant on Russian natural gas through Nord Stream 1 and 2. She claims these choices were pragmatic ways to Germany's energy needs and climate goals, noting that alternatives such as liquefied natural gas were not readily available or economically viable at the time. There was if course nothing wrong with purchasing in abundance natural gas from Russia. Russian natural gas was cheap and reliable. It was her foolish successors that chose to tear up those agreements. Germany is living with the terrible consequences to this day.

The Merkel era in Germany was characterized by indecision and weakness. On every issue, Merkel was adept at kicking the can down the road. Nonetheless, compared to her two successors as chancellor, she comes across as a giant.

Merkel's "Freedom: Memoirs 1954–2021" may be infuriating, but it's essential to understanding how we got to where we are.