Ami Go Home

THEIR name sounds like a parody, but it is not meant to be. On January 24th about 1,000 Pegada, or “patriotic Europeans against the Americanisation of the Occident,” took to the streets of Erfurt. In chants and on banners, they warned against a break with Russia and of a third world war, blaming the “terror power” of America. The spread of anti-Americanism in Germany worries John Emerson, America’s ambassador. He is soon to attend an “anti-Americanism conference” in Munich. Joachim Gauck, Germany’s president, frets that “Germans and Americans appear to live on different planets.”

This new mood may even cloud Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Washington next week (see article). It affects everything from the West’s response to terrorism and Russian bullying to free-trade talks between America and the European Union, now in their eighth round.