&gt; If you say things like &quot;But Germany is an exception because X&quot;, then think why East Germany couldn&#x27;t be as rich. East Germany was about as poor as West Germany after WW2.<p>West Germany was an exception because the US, primarily, poured vast resources into it as a bulwark against communist expansion, both ideologically and militarily, into Western Europe.<p>The reasons why that doesn&#x27;t apply to East Germany are, well, pretty obvious.<p>&gt; Similarly, Korean split was another one of those examples.<p>Well, yes, there <i>is</i> a similarity between South Korea and Germany...