Mathematicians shouldn't build a theory on one data point, especially if the data point is barely relevant to Merkel's success. she was the protegé of the western chancellor who shepherded reunification, no?

if the ossies were eating wessies for breakfast, we'd find a predominant number of them in positions of power, at the Bundesbank, for example.

Merkel is an ossie, and Helen's point is crap. So?

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin