Insightful commentary as usual and it will be interesting to see how whatever governing alliance in Germany navigates a second Trump administration and Chinese/Russian imperial ambitions. I think we disagree on the issue of populism and how to respond to it. Mainly, the rise of the AfD is the result of the governing and economic failures of the democratic middle. Namely, the pursuance of net-zero while off-shoring fossil fuel production to Russia has proven to have been a colossal mistake for Germany. On the question of refugees and immigration, does Germany have the ability to absorb the large number of immigrants to the Middle East that they've taken in? In Berlin just this past week, the chief of police told Jews and LGBT people that they should hide their identities for their own protection mainly under threat from Islamist radicals. That would suggest that Germany's melting pot is not working as Merkel and others hoped. If responsible leaders don't acknowledge the failures of their own policies and correct course, then Germans will turn to irresponsible leaders. If you want to contain populism, then us liberals (as in the classical sense) need to correct course soon.
Insightful commentary as usual and it will be interesting to see how whatever governing alliance in Germany navigates a second Trump administration and Chinese/Russian imperial ambitions. I think we disagree on the issue of populism and how to respond to it. Mainly, the rise of the AfD is the result of the governing and economic failures of the democratic middle. Namely, the pursuance of net-zero while off-shoring fossil fuel production to Russia has proven to have been a colossal mistake for Germany. On the question of refugees and immigration, does Germany have the ability to absorb the large number of immigrants to the Middle East that they've taken in? In Berlin just this past week, the chief of police told Jews and LGBT people that they should hide their identities for their own protection mainly under threat from Islamist radicals. That would suggest that Germany's melting pot is not working as Merkel and others hoped. If responsible leaders don't acknowledge the failures of their own policies and correct course, then Germans will turn to irresponsible leaders. If you want to contain populism, then us liberals (as in the classical sense) need to correct course soon.