THE FINE ART of high diplomacy:

Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said at a press conference Sunday that the German Socialist party's "better than expected" showing in the recent parliamentary election is due to outgoing German prime minister Gerhard Schroeder's "personality. "He added that if the election results are compared with pre-election surveys, they were a "failure" for Christian Democrat candidate Angela Merkel.

Does he even realize that Merkel might build up a coalition in which she's the chancellor? I guess that after offending the American people and cheering Kerry as only a teenager would (a grown up would hedge his bets a little, at least until the result is 100% clear) Zapatero has shown that diplomacy is not one of his assets. But even so, is he aware that he may have to deal around important issued with Merkel at the next EU summit?

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