Angela Merkel's Unfinished Business

Zhang Fan / Chine Nouvelle / Sipa

German Chancellor Angela Merkel greets her supporters outside a studio ahead of the TV debate in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 1, 2013.

Angela Merkel has a face she makes when things don't go according to plan. She has arrived in Recklinghausen, a city in Germany's industrial Ruhr district, to deliver a stump speech at a rally of her Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) ahead of elections on Sept. 22. As protesters whistle and heckle, she narrows her eyes and stares into the distance. This isn't an angry expression. Merkel is doggedness personified.

Germany's first female Chancellor and the first raised behind the Iron Curtain has already gone down in history as a trailblazer....

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