Britain's leftwing New Statesman magazine has branded German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the “most dangerous German leader since Hitler,” as she was “terminating growth.”
The cover of the weekly, published Wednesday, shows Merkel dressed as the Terminator film character.
“Angela Merkel's mania for austerity is destroying Europe. The German Chancellor is terminating growth and pushing us towards a new Depression,” it reads.
In his ensuing article, journalist and broadcaster Mehdi Hasan provocatively asks who poses a bigger threat to global order and prosperity that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
“The answer is a mild-mannered opera fan and former chemist who has been in office for seven years. Yes, step forward, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, whose solution to Europe's financial crisis - or lack thereof -has brought the continent, and perhaps the world, to the edge of a second Great Depression.”
“With apologies to Mike Godwin and his eponymous law, Merkel is the most dangerous German leader since Hitler,” said the article, in reference to a US attorney known for stating that the longer an online discussion, the greater its chance of drawing analogies to Hitler or the Nazis.
“Her eight predecessors - from Konrad Adenauer to Gerhard Schröder -presided over a manufacturing miracle at home and the rehabilitation of Germany's reputation abroad,” Hasan wrote. “Under Merkel, however, the country finds itself isolated once again, loathed and feared in equal measure.” - Sapa-dpa