The Grass Is Not Always Greener Next Door

Spain has spent weeks focused on its southern border and the seriousness of the Ceuta crisis. The spectacle has encouraged the conclusion that the country lacks even a basic sense of state responsibility, with government and opposition unable to present a united position on an issue described as a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity.

But looking beyond the window offers a less comforting comparison. Elections in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt could give the far right an absolute majority for the first time in a German state. Whether or not it reaches that threshold, the Alternative for Germany is expected to win comfortably, damaging Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU and reopening the argument over the Brandmauer, the firewall intended to keep the radical right from power.

Germany’s perceived border threat is not Morocco but Russia. This week, the German minister said in a formal statement that the country is not at war but is the daily target of a hybrid war. Berlin has also closed the Russian House in the capital and the Russian consulate in Bonn, increased investment in drones, and deployed fighter aircraft to Poland.

One might expect such a threat to push German society toward unity behind its government. The article argues that nothing of the sort has happened. Even alignment from the European Union and the broadly uniform view of traditional media have not produced that political convergence. The far right, which also leads federal opinion polls, favors easing tensions with Moscow and restoring Russian gas purchases, while accusing the government of mishandling the country’s security and political choices.