If you've been following the rise of the AfD Party in Germany, and the corresponding faltering of the CDU/CSU coalition, you know the AfD has been gaining strength in state elections. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's position is is jeopardy as a result.
Henry Olsen, an American who writes widely on conservative geopolitics, deals with this upheaval in German politics in a column for the Brussels Signal. He argues Merz should risk a coalition with AfD in Saxony-Anhalt to see if AfD is willing to back away from its pro-Russia positions and join CDU in pursuing its shared social and nationalist goals.
Offering the AfD that chance in Saxony-Anhalt would give the CDU the chance to test the AfD’s resolve, and test whether it really wants to be part of a Germany centred solidly within the West.
The AfD wants to restart imports of oil and natural gas from Russia, something that all mainstream parties reject on national security grounds. It also harbours strong anti-American and anti-NATO sentiments.
A CDU offer of potential power, then, could force the AfD to choose how strongly it is attached to this aspect of its platform. The CDU and AfD share many goals with respect to fiscal and cultural conservatism.
This would be especially potent if the AfD refused to join a reasonable coalition because of its pro-Russia and anti-American views. (snip) An AfD decision to choose its pro-Russia wing over its new converts would reveal its true colours and likely make it much less attractive to people who only recently started to back it.
Olsen's suggestion seems sensible to me, but neither of us knows precisely how strong the pro-Russia bloc is in AfD.
