As you know, I normally really like George Friedman's columns on foreign affairs. Today's example is an exception. His topic was the AfD win in Saxony-Anhalt and I expected his usual level of insight and nuance.
Instead what I read was a fine Jewish scholar (which he is) convincing himself AfD's conservatism was no big current threat after all. In this effort he succeeded and I suppose he felt constrained to go on the record about his rationale.
His comments about the pro-Russia sentiments of AfD being largely irrelevant are good. One small 'state' out of Germany's 15 can't have much of a foreign policy any more than, for example, Connecticut can.
AfD is a long way from National Socialism, and truly closer to Trumpism or MAGA than I suppose Democrats would like. It's part of a anti-immigration nationalism that is growing in Europe, perhaps too late to matter.
Now isn't the time to worry about Nazi revanchism. Ask me again in 5 years after current trends have a chance to either mushroom or, more likely than not, fade away.
