I mean, "international leadership" are your words. I don't know what Merkel personally has done (or what her "useful idiots" have personally done, or even who those "useful idiots" are). But you are positing that there's a contradiction between Germany's dependency on China and Russia, and Merkel's perceived achievements in international leadership. I'm just saying that there's no contradiction or hypocrisy in being in an influential international leadership role, while being from a country with its own national security issues.

Essentially, I'm saying that the last part of your argument falls under the "vaguely gesturing at imagined hypocrisy" category.