‘A Whiff of 1932,’ Germany’s Migration Policy, Record High Support for EU
Watch Germany. This has been the Trumpet’s consistent message for decades, and Herbert W. Armstrong’s for decades before us. Our feature story this morning, from Gerald Flurry in our latest print issue, describes how the volatile and angry political climate in Europe’s most powerful country is fueling the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland. It shows how a leadership void in the face of mounting crises and a withdrawing America will lead to a strongman taking control.
A story today from EuroIntelligence makes a rather dramatic point about this:
“A whiff of 1932”: The new German parliament convened for its first session yesterday. And although the party is excluded from the incoming government, “[t]he AfD, with its 152 M.P.s, appeared to be the overwhelming force in the new parliament, which has 630 seats,” the article states. “The geography of front row seats in the Bundestag reflects the number of votes. The CDU/CSU has five senior M.P.s in the front row, the AfD has four, and the SPD has only three. It is one thing to look at election results. It is quite another to see the people sitting in chairs.”
This article points out how swiftly the Nazis gained power, going from 18 percent to 33 percent of the vote between 1930 and 1932. Though they were still not part of the government, that “was the moment when they start to wreak havoc with parliamentary procedures.” “The AfD is not a Nazi party,” the article says. “But centrists in the newly constituted German Bundestag yesterday felt that they had a 1932 moment.”
It is not only a visible change but also an audible one. AfD M.P.s are louder and angrier in any case, but 152 of them is a source of significant volume in the Bundestag. If you add the 64 members of the Left Party, this is now a much larger group of M.P.s that scream from outside the political firewall.
And as Josué Michels reported yesterday, the AfD’s popularity has only risen since the election, especially as Christian Democrats grow disenchanted with Friedrich Merz breaking political promises and ceding ground to the Social Democrats to form a new government.
This despite Merz’s government toughening Germany’s migration policy: The CDU/CSU and SPD are certainly trying to pacify angry voters. The new government agreed to implement stringent anti-migrant measures, including significantly expanding detention capacity for deportees, suspending family reunification for migrants, and expanding the list of countries migrants can be sent back to. These are the toughest such policies Germany has passed in decades.
Europeans like safety in numbers: A new poll shows citizens’ support for the European Union has reached a record high, as 74 percent of the bloc’s citizens believe EU membership benefits them. Security fears are a strong driver of regional unity across the Continent—and prophecy shows this trend will intensify.
A ceasefire … of a sort: Yesterday the White House announced a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea, finalized during talks in Saudi Arabia over the past three days. Though not a comprehensive truce, it ensures safe navigation, bans force and military use of commercial ships, and extends a prior halt on energy infrastructure attacks.
But the details are murky and conflicting. Ukraine claims the deal went into effect immediately. But after it was announced, Russia insisted that its implementation hinges on it receiving sanctions relief for agricultural exports and banking access. The U.S. is already making considerable concessions based on the dubious notion that Vladimir Putin, deep down, wants peace.
Iran also ready to bargain? Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reportedly been authorized by senior officials to pursue indirect diplomatic initiatives with the U.S., focusing on nuclear issues. However, direct talks remain off limits unless the U.S. shifts its “maximum pressure” policy, reports say. Here too, we see an effort to exploit the Trump administration’s yearning to solve all through negotiation.
How long will the Houthis hold out? The U.S. has intensified air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. They are reportedly inflicting heavy losses, including the destruction of over 60 percent of their military arsenal and key fortified positions, according to Pentagon and CENTCOM statements. The relentless campaign, involving B-52 bombers and precision strikes, has targeted command centers, weapons facilities and leadership, significantly degrading the Iran-backed group’s capabilities amid escalating tensions in the Red Sea region.
China seeks closer ties with Europe: Chinese leaders are hosting Portugal’s foreign minister in Beijing this week to promote Chinese-European relations, Peter van Halteren reports. More European officials will visit Beijing this week as well.
Political crisis in China? In a move that China expert Gordon Chang says may be among the “most dangerous developments in the world today,” some high-ranking leaders of China’s People’s Liberation Army, including third-in-command Gen. He Weidong, have allegedly been detained. Their disappearances earlier this month are believed to be part of the Chinese Communist Party’s military purge. The purge has been underway for more than a decade, with thousands of officials being removed from power by Xi Jinping, and many never seen again. But if He, a longtime Xi loyalist, has been added to the list, it could mark a new phase in the trend, in which Xi’s enemies are causing some of his devotees to be ousted. “General He was instrumental in Xi’s earlier purges in the military, so his disappearance, if confirmed, could indicate a great threat to Xi’s authority,” Charles Burton of the Sinopsis think tank told the Hill. If Xi does perceive his power to be under threat, watch for him to get even more aggressive on the global stage.
Wildfires are burning across the Carolinas, scorching thousands of acres and prompting mandatory evacuations. These fires have been fueled by the debris left from Hurricane Helene six months ago.
Good reason not to make Canada the 51st state: After President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, more migrants are self-deporting into Canada across America’s northern border than are entering the U.S. from the south, the New York Post reports. It’s amazing how quickly those numbers have shifted because of a will to enforce the law.
A step toward election security: Yesterday President Trump signed an executive order on U.S. election laws, tightening rules around citizenship and mail-in voting. The order mandates proof of citizenship on the federal voter registration form and requires states to reject ballots not received by Election Day. Expect the courts to dogpile to block these commonsense measures.
