We discuss the physics of the Bochum NN potential (Ruhrpot). In contrast to conventional one-boson-exchange models (OBE) we calculate the potential within two phases which are (i) meson exchanges at long distances and (ii) direct NN interactions, coming from the intrinsic nucleon structure, at short distances. The interaction vertices are calculated in a self-consistent way. The most important resonant two- and three-\ensuremath{\pi} correlations are included. As the meson exchange is negligible at high ${\mathit{Q}}^{2}$ we have several advantages: (i) resonable meson scales, (ii) SU(6) limit for vector mesons, (iii) perturbative QCD asymptotic, (iv) no need for \ensuremath{\sigma} mesons, and (v) very good description of the nucleon-nucleon data.