German Chancellor and leader of the Christian Democratic Union party Nike Air Max Shoes Sale , Angela Merkel, closes her eyes while speaking after exploratory talks on forming a new government broke down on Sunday in Berlin. Photo: AFP
Chancellor Angela Merkel was left scrambling to drag Germany out of a crisis Monday after high-stakes talks to form a new government collapsed, potentially forcing Europe's top economy into snap elections.


Germany now faces weeks, if not months, of paralysis with a lame-duck government that is unlikely to take bold policy action at home or on the European stage.


With no other viable coalition in sight, Germany may be forced to hold new elections that risk being as inconclusive as September's polls.


Merkel, whose liberal refugee policy has proved deeply divisive Nike Air Max Sale , had been forced to seek an alliance with an unlikely group of parties after the ballot left her without a majority.


But following more than a month of gruelling negotiations, the leader of the pro-business FDP, Christian Lindner, walked out of talks overnight, saying there was no "basis of trust" to forge a government with Merkel's conservative alliance CDU-CSU and the ecologist Greens.


"It is better not to govern than to govern badly," he said, adding that the parties did not share "a common vision on modernizing" Germany.


Voicing regret for the FDP's decision Air Max Black Sale , Merkel vowed to steer Germany through the crisis.


"As chancellor... I will do everything to ensure that this country comes out well through this difficult time," she said.


News magazine Der Spiegel called the breakdown in negotiations a "catastrophe" for Merkel and said Germany, long seen as an island of stability, was having its "Brexit moment, its Trump moment."


French President Emmanuel Macron, who has sought Merkel's backing for an ambitious EU reform plan, expressed concern about Germany's political deadlock Air Max Sale Online , saying "it is not in our interest that the situation becomes tense."


The euro fell on the news, but Germany's blue-chip DAX remained largely firm, losing just 0.47 percent in early trade.


The acrimonious negotiations stumbled on a series of issues including immigration. Merkel let in more than 1 million asylum seekers since 2015, sparking a backlash that allowed the far-right AfD party to win its first seats in parliament.


Its parliamentary co-leader Alexander Gauland relished the collapse of the talks, saying that Merkel had "failed" and that his party "looks forward to potential new elections" in which it stands to make strong gains.


(Agencies)


by Liu Chang


CAIRO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- As Iran and the world powers are almost certain to miss once again the self-imposed deadline for a comprehensive nuclear agreement due to lingering divide, Washington should act to reduce its trust deficit with Tehran Air Max Mens Sale , the real reason behind the difficulties.


In Vienna, Austria's capital, where negotiators have gathered for the last round of nuclear talks before the June 30 deadline, miracles seem to have not arrived yet as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, according to reports, has traveled back to Tehran to discuss with Iran's top leadership on removing sanctions.


Zarif's temporary departure, which he himself did not explain and has put the talks on hold Air Max Womens Sale , has suggested that inside the meeting room, the representatives of Iran and the P5+1 group, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China Air Max Shoes Sale , and Germany, have failed to make major breakthroughs in some of the biggest hurdles, such as sanctions and access to Iran's military sites.


The eleventh-hour drama has already prompted observers and media to speculate more months of tough and marathon talks that would easily run into the same roadblocks just as today's.


After a year and a half of on-and-off dialogues since the ice-breaking telephone conversation between U.S. President Barack Obama and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, in late 2013, no one can deny the fact that the two key negotiating parties have been been slow in consolidating mutual trust.


Looking back, the history of Iran-U.S. relations are crowded with animosities. The United States staged a coup in Iran and restored the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1953 for oil resources. However Air Max Sale , the Shah of Iran was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and that was exactly when Tehran and Washington began to turn against each other as adversaries.


In later years, Washington supported Iraq in an eight-year war against the Islamic Republic, and has slapped rounds of economic sanctions that have seriously plagued Iran's economy for the alleged nuclear arms ambition that even to this day no one can prove or falsify.


Because of those animosities, it is such a hard job for the two countries to resurrect their long-lost trust in such short time even though they know the importance of a rapprochement.


However, the difficulties to shrink the trust deficit are no excuse for not trying, and the United States should take the lead in tearing down the wall of distrust.


The Obama administration's strategy to solve the Iranian nuclear problem is innately flawed. From its outset Nike Air Max Black Sale , the U.S. leader's pursuit of a nuclear deal with Iran is largely driven by the adrenaline surge to build up his legacy before leaving office. Yet his administration has refused to take any meaningful steps to improve ties with Iran. What's worse, Washington continues to chastise Tehran on human rights records, and accuses it of sponsoring global terrorism.


With these jarring acts of finger-pointing and name-calling, it's natural for the Iranians to keep on piling up their distrust toward the Americans in all of their limited bilateral conduct, including the nuclear talks.


Nevertheless, Mr. Obama is no fool. He has his own logic to do so. On the one hand, the reason he is willing to take limited political chances.