Measuring up The largest city between Paris and Moscow, Berlin still exudes a certain air of self-conscious provinciality incongruous to its population of 3.5 million. The roots lie in the island mentality of West Berlin and the isolation of East Berlin from outside influences. While the easygoing cosmopolitanism of Berlin in the 1920s is returning to the city, Berliners still seem uneasy about their place in the world, constantly measuring themselves up against New York, London, or Paris, cities certainly not burdened with inferiority complexes. The capital has three airports but only two intercontinental flights - to Havana and Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital. And Berlin boasts three daily newspapers but not one that speaks for the nation.
Berlin is a collection of villages.
The funniest thing about Berlin for a comedian is that it's not worth parodying a single city politician. They are really provincial. Yet Mr. Staub doesn't assess Germany's inherited cold-war unpretentiousness negatively. In that sense, I would welcome the modesty of Bonn. It is inevitable though that the view from Berlin will change the perspective of Germany's political elite.