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.”