On the flight from Nairobi, I peered down at the thin, twisting valleys etched through parched, dusty-brown land dotted with fluffy green treetops.
As we drove on, the road turned into a rocky track, wound up the slope of a pretty, wooded valley, thin streams of smoke rising from stove pipes, ducks in puddles.
What they badly need is some American can-do optimism.Special report Waiting for a Wunder In a bind Wasting brains Squaring the circle Land of cliques Thinning blood Reincarnation valley Letting go Sources & acknowledgmentsReprintsSince the new government was installed in November, the mood has much improved.
"It's just getting too much," exclaims one MP who is also a mother.Special report Waiting for a Wunder In a bind Wasting brains Squaring the circle Land of cliques Thinning blood Reincarnation valley Letting go Sources & acknowledgmentsReprintsTo understand such complaints, you need to know a bit about the history of German education.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the firm Carl Zeiss had more than 1,000 employees.Special report Waiting for a Wunder In a bind Wasting brains Squaring the circle Land of cliques Thinning blood Reincarnation valley Letting go Sources & acknowledgmentsReprintsIt continued to grow rapidly, helped by the two world wars, but also suffering from them.
Yet given that the state's coffers are empty and growth is likely to remain moderate, that is an impossible task.Special report Waiting for a Wunder In a bind Wasting brains Squaring the circle Land of cliques Thinning blood Reincarnation valley Letting go Sources & acknowledgmentsReprintsSo what is an "exhausted state" to do?
"We have always welcomed immigrants", explains Albrecht Magen, head of the city's integration department, "because we live and die by our internationalism".Special report Waiting for a Wunder In a bind Wasting brains Squaring the circle Land of cliques Thinning blood Reincarnation valley Letting go Sources & acknowledgmentsReprintsThe politicians in Berlin, alas, are being less positive.
In the two narrow-valley mountain areas, the population is aligned in thin strips along the valley bottoms, and towns are small.
Despite the mineral riches of this valley, its thin soil is starved of the soluble nitrogen and phosphorus that are essential for plant growth but so easily washed away by rainfall.
Painted in 1879, during Renoir's first visit to the country estate of his patron Paul Berard, it defines a sloping hill and valley in thin, unexpectedly smooth wipes of hallucinatory greens, purples and deep blues.
