Actually I enjoyed my role as the go between. My ability to walk on eggs got me some assignments in the Middle East as well... (the main reason I don't share Bundesbiers opinion on Qatar). It helps to understand who you are talking to... (even if you are not inclined to agree with them).
Of course there are other constellations nessie, but certain attitudes can stick around for a LONG time. Serbs and Croats are perpetuating a 500 year old disagreement. I got into a rather heated debate recently regarding Cornelius Gurlitt. The American TV news magazine, 60 Minutes, (who tend not to be very journalistic sound), did a piece slamming your government's handling of the issue. That is legit because Focus was essentially doing the same thing. It is the contention that there is a little
NSDAP sympathizer, or anti-Semite, hiding in every German is what sends me into a rage. Most of my friends live there, and are anything but.
Let's say you are good looking, dignified, intellectual,
but speak with a heavy Schwaebisch accent. Where would you be most or least likely to land a management position? Canada, the USA, or the U.K.? Ever wonder why the U.K. has never joined the Schengen Agreement; maintained it's own currency and shunned European monetary integration? They are still smarting over Helmut Kohl's coup to locate the ECB in Frankfurt! (...everyone knows that London is the center of European commerce
).
There is an island mentality there, where here we in Canada have the "cultural mosaic", and Americans the "melting pot". My employer used to hold sessions to train the "Europeans". I once asked, "what are you?" The answer was...
"We are British!"
Maybe Jogi Loew will be headed the way of Berti Vogts by then.