No-one was more heartened to see the election of Angela Merkel as Chancellor of Germany than President Bush. Not because Merkel hails from the former East Germany, whose ascension to the top executive job in the reunified country embodies the ultimate victory of the American-friendly western camp. In fact, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), deeply opposed to the Iraq War, elected in last November Matthias Platzeck, also from the East, as its new leader, who is clearly an ideological foe of the hawks in the White House.

With her beliefs in greater market flexibility and, more importantly, anxieties towards Russia, Merkel came across as a natural ally for the Bush administration.

But the president could not have felt let down sooner.