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The current euro zone debt crisis centers on Germany and is an existential crisis about European Union political integration. Chancellor Angela Merkel explained that if the euro falls, Europe falls. She described the challenge as the most difficult since the Second World War. The Eurocrisis is reminiscent of two European conflagrations lasting three decades, the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) and the two twentieth century World Wars (1914-1945). Over the past two decades, united Germany has accepted its political EU integration responsibility to move toward a European Monetary Union, to introduce the euro, and now to resolve the current euro crisis. There is little doubt that Germany is obligated to support EU integration constitutionally, historically, and morally. The role of Germany and its politics are the center attraction in the drama, and all the world is watching Berlin. In a recent article published in the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Ambassador J.D. Bidenagel discussed the euro zone debt crisis and its importance to the global economy, and he will share his views on the crisis for this ICFRC program. Ambassador Bindenagel is an expert on German politico-military history and policy. He is a former U.S. Ambassador and career diplomat who served in East, West and united Germanys during the end of the Cold War, the reunification of Germany, the Balkan Wars, the debates on North Atlantic Treaty Organization security policy and expanded membership, and on German national security from 1972 to 2002. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1999 as U.S. Ambassador and Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues. He was a consultant and interviewed as an eyewitness for 'The Wall: A Country United', Houston PBS documentary interview of the fall of the Berlin Wall, produced, written and directed by Eric Stange, premiered on PBS January 10, 2011. More information on the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council can be found here.