Angela Merkel, Escape Artist

“The beginning of the end of Angela Merkel as chancellor,” read one headline. “Imagining a post-Merkel Europe,” read another. They might have been written yesterday, before Merkel struck a last-minute migration deal to save her government from possible collapse. But they were published back in November—the last time German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced her own downfall, and then escaped it.

At issue then was the 13-year chancellor’s following the country’s September general election, in which the among numerous political parties, making it nearly impossible to form a coalition. (The outcome ultimately left Merkel in charge, but drastically weakened—the German newspaper dubbed it a “.”) This time, the crisis revolved around a rogue Cabinet minister,