Where did I say Merkel built NS2 with her own hands? What does this even mean?

We are discussing Merkel, no? You think my opinion of Schroder or Steinmeier is much better than Merkel?

Merkel had the option of using NS2 as leverage against russia. Merkel had the option of applying real sanctions against the russia (not meaningless BS the explicitly targeted some low level goons/orgs directly involved in annexed Crimea). Did she do any of this?

Let me go on a tangent for second. If I am wrong, and Merkel is not a support de facto supporter of russian genocidal imperialism (she may nominally oppose it even in a genuine manner, but I am talking about outcomes and actions), then the following should be easy to answer.

[1] What does "peace through trade" (in context of Merkel) refer to? If this is not a shallow BS slogan to enable russian imperialism, it has to mean something. What peace? For who? When? Where? What does this mean?

[2] Any strategy is based on some cause-effect drivers, right? Otherwise it's not a strategy, but just some BS. What were these driver for the "peace through trade" policy in these two buckets:

• russia internal (rule of law, competitive elections, corruption)
• russia foreign (europe-specific, global)

What about russia's actions/trends in the last 30 years served as a driver for Merkel's strategy? Did putin decide to liberalize municipal elections while maintaining control over parliamentary and presidential election so the goal was to try and provide incentives to maybe get him to allow open regional elections? What sort of good faith actions has russia done in foriegn policy in the last 30 years? Can you provide clear and specific examples?

[3] Any strategy has to have a final desirable state outcome. You need an end goal to strive for and evaluate the performance of the strategy, otherwise it is not a real strategy. So based on the points raised in [2] (those points exist and were defined, right? 🤣), what was Merkel's desirable state outcome? She wanted German engagement with russia to eventually result in open elections for governors, russia reengaging in good faith around the occupation of Moldova. Just some examples.

What was her goal? Surely, this is not an unreasonable ask.

Thank you!