Ted, Walid, and I have all emphasized a need to pay close attention to political happenings in Germany because the Central European nation has a long history of political manipulation in order to justify expansionist military programs that are a constant throughout her long history, going all the way back to the days of the Roman Empire.
Right now Germany is under the political rule of the Christian Democrat Union (CDU) with Chancellor Angela Merkel, who became internationally famous for the refugee crisis of late 2015 and all 2016. However, the reign of the CDU may be in crisis as the second-in-command of the CDU is stepping down, placing doubts about the future of the party.
Following a series of reports in the German and broader European press claiming her imminent resignation, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer – better known as AKK – has confirmed that the rumors are indeed true. She will step down as the leader of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, the center-right party that has ruled Germany for two decades, and won’t run as the party’s candidate to succeed Merkel during the federal election to pick Germany’s next chief executive in 2021.
AKK reportedly resigned in protest over flirtations by the party’s conservative wing to ally with Alternative für Deutschland, or the AfD, to achieve common political aims.
The centrists in the CDU, including Merkel herself, have denounced the AfD as a far-right borderline hate group populated by Nazi sympathizers. Meanwhile, AfD’s leaders have taken steps to expel Nazi sympathizers and others who might alienate the general German public.
This political fracture was recently exacerbated by CDU members in East Germany, the formerly Communist region where the AfD’s popularity is at its highest, who recently allied with AfD members to oust the left-wing premier of Thuringia. Merkel criticized the decision, which provoked general outrage throughout Germany.
Now, the FT says the race to succeed Merkel has been “thrown wide open.”
Not that this is that big of a surprise. We’ve been reporting on the increasingly strained relationship between AKK and her one-time political mentor for nearly a year, a feud that supposedly inspired Merkel’s decision to come out of retirement and once again play a more active role inside the CDU after handing the reins to AKK. Merkel now reportedly doubts AKK’s ability to lead Germany, as well as the CDU.
A series of gaffes and political missteps have also eroded AKK’s popularity over the last year. She has reportedly lost her status as a “shoo-in” for the chancellorship, according to the FT. (source)
It is very possible this is all true in the objective sense. However, one must also look at Germany’s history of manufacturing instability for political change. Whether it is “defenstration” of old or the Reichstag fire and the Gleiwitz incident, Germany uses political chaos for her own gain just as how the Americans act in a similar manner.
There are any number of possibilities, but consider that right now nationalism is rising in Germany, and is only becoming a stronger force. Economically speaking she is OK, but as many have warned, a downturn in economic conditions could result in a massive rise in nationalism and xenophobia against migrants, which would be blamed for the instability in Germany and bringing about a collapse.
It would be from this turmoil that it would be easy to see the rise of a new political leader who would promote nationalism and be the “opposite” of Merkel. In fact, such a leader may even promise to “clean up” the degeneracy and “make Germany” great again, and would likely rebuild and modernize her military.
Many would cheer it right now, but they would not in the future, for it would not be about making “Germany great again”, but about reviving from the grave that which the European Union was created to put under control- the Teutonic war machine, and make no mistake, she would not have any problem, all at a future time, in turning against the US as she has done in the not recent past.
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