About twenty years ago, there was a common belief that military power meant little, that the soft power of Germany and Japan would rule the world.

NEWYORKER: After America

Although it pointedly declined a bail-out in America, it has been happy to take grants and soft loans in Germany and Romania to develop an efficient engine.

ECONOMIST: State aid proliferates in Europe

Mr. KARSTEN VOIGT (Coordinator, German-American Cooperation, Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany): The mood is that the Germany is soft on Iran.

NPR: German Chancellor Merkel to Visit Bush

Whatever the outcome of the summit, France and Germany were likely to soft-peddle any bilateral disputes in the run-up to the EU summit.

CNN: French assembly approves EU treaty

Turkey, which had sided with Germany only reluctantly, was reckoned to be a soft target.

ECONOMIST: Alec Campbell | The

At almost the same time, and apparently by entire coincidence, stuffed bears were also being introduced to Germany, where they were first manufactured by Margarete Steiff, who'd been making soft toys since the 1880s, and who'd recently been joined in the business by her nephew Richard.

BBC: A Point of View: The grown-ups with teddy bears