BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's challenger in the approaching German election, Peer Steinbrueck, took a stark stance against Western military action in Syria on Friday in a play to anti-war sentiment ahead of their only TV duel in the campaign.
After two days of telephone diplomacy by Merkel, who faces a tricky balancing act between backing Germany's allies while heeding German voters' opposition to an attack, Steinbrueck tried to differentiate himself in typically blunt style.
