Will Democracy Survive?

The Christian Democrats more than halved, the AfD nearly doubled

The election results in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt particularly shocked former Chancellor Merkel, as she explained in an interview with the news channel NTV.

I transcribed ans translated her remarks. Her unedited, verbatim German text is attached to this blog as an appendix.

You can see it in the polls in the days leading up to the election, but when you see it in black and white on Sunday evening, it’s simply shocking - at least that’s how I felt.

 
This is a turning point - a real turning point - that we’re witnessing in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, and to add a personal note, as a CDU member, it breaks my heart; I really have to say that.

Our former chancellor, visibly struggling to find the right words

But now we have to consider, for example, the reach that the AfD has on social media - in other words, its influence over the flow of information. It’s not enough to simply say, “Well, we don’t use TikTok”- we have to face this head-on and meet people where they are. We won’t be able to win them all back - I want to make that explicitly clear - because the AfD also wants to abolish public television. So how do we achieve this now?

  

In the spirit of the Enlightenment, we really must not allow a situation where, when it’s said that unemployment has fallen in Saxony-Anhalt and individual prosperity has risen - a position that could win a majority or nearly win a majority - the leading candidate then says, “Maybe so, but that’s not how it feels,” because then the emotion is being played upon. Emotion suddenly becomes just as important as the facts.

And if we allow that - and this, again, is a responsibility we all share - that was the progress of the Enlightenment: that the collective could agree on facts, and based on those facts, people then arrived at different preferences for political parties and so on.

But no one has ever disputed that the facts matter. When we communicate with one another now—and we’re actually supposed to be having a meeting to discuss specific facts - people say, “I’m just not feeling it today. We can’t talk about it.” If that mindset takes hold, then we’re taking steps backward in terms of civilization - at least that’s what I believe - and we need to raise awareness of that again.

I’ll be completely honest: I don’t have the answer. I just know that some things - AI aside - are perhaps even more important than they were before: addressing citizens on an individual level. And this is becoming crucial now, because everyone has their own information sphere.

But what’s also being demanded of candidates, for example - they now have to, so to speak; it’s no longer the case that the slogan comes from the Adenauer Haus* and then you walk out the front door and tell them that, and they say, “Nah, we’re not interested.” I have a question - I mean, the candidates also have to be really on top of things.
*The CDU party headquarters in Berlin

What’s happening to some extent now is that the AfD is so dominant that the others are already intimidated and don’t even show up anymore - and that’s not illegal yet - so as a democratic party, I have to seek out contact with citizens all the more.

 
So much for Angela; she tries desperately, but doesn’t have the answer.

Red Baron fears that our Western democracies may be destroyed by people’s selfishness and stupidity.

The reasons to vote AfD

Let’s try to analyze the situation for Germany: Why did people in Sachsen-Anhalt vote for the AfD? A poll shows:

21% are dissatisfied with the Merz administration.

Pluralism and democracy are always good as long as freely elected governments can hand out benefits. In that case, citizens even accept - sometimes grudgingly - that the distribution isn’t always fair and that the gap between rich and poor keeps widening. But with sufficient economic growth, the pie gets larger, so everyone gets a bigger slice.

But when economic growth stagnates or even “shrinks,” and tax revenues are low, there’s nothing more to distribute. When it comes to the point where our government has to take back some of those previously granted benefits, it hurts.

In a stagnant economy, apparent growth can only be produced artificially by taking on debt or increasing the share of the pie at others' expense.

An example is China. Chinese automakers are now flooding the European market with cheap, government-subsidized electric cars after the American market shut them out. The European auto industry is powerless against these dumping prices.

Fast-rising Chinese national debt

The price China is paying is a rising national debt. They couldn’t care less.

With the cornucopia of benefits empty, the erosion of democracy begins insidiously, and it accelerates when reforms roll back established privileges. AfD’s co-chair Alice Weidel swears: “Those at the top are flat nose pliers* (dimwits) who can’t get anything done.”
*Flachzangen in German, coined by Alice

In her statement, Weidel represents the 22% of AfD voters who are discontent with the political system. 

 
Decision-making in a democracy almost always involves compromise, and that takes time, so people voice dissatisfaction with the democratic system. Do they prefer a “strong” man or woman?

 
Germany’s postwar constitution was written to produce a “militant” democracy, with a robust toolkit for battling extremism.

As early as 2023, the Saxony-Anhalt Intelligence Agency for the Protection of the Constitution classified the state chapter of the AfD as a confirmed far-right extremist movement: “It holds views that undermine the central principles of the Basic Law*, such as the guarantee of human dignity under Article 1 and the principle of democracy under Article 20. The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt seeks to abolish parliamentary democracy in its current form and attempts to delegitimize the democratic system and its institutions.”
*The German constitution

Winston Churchill already said in the House of Commons on November 11, 1947, “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

So let us fight for democracy. What alerts me most is that 34% of AfD voters in Sachsen-Anhalt cite the interests of the German Volk as their reason.

Nationalism, which reared its head in the France of Louis XIV and was elevated to prominence during the French Revolution, has brought nothing but disaster to Europe. Nationalism has erected borders, separated European neighbors from one another, and ultimately erupted into two bloody world wars.

The AfD wants to leave the Schengen Area, abolish the euro, and give the German people back their Germany. This would be a disaster not only for the common European House but also for our economy.

Where do we go from here?

And once again, a rift is opening up between Europeans who see the far right as a threat to democracy, and a growing number who see it as democracy’s savior.

The former warn that the far right will dismantle checks and balances, while treating minorities as second-class citizens. So far, Meloni, after a flirtation with Trump, seems like a good European, but shouldn't we reckon with the German fury?

The latter see the far right as a bulwark against an out-of-touch governing elite that has eroded their national identity and endangered their livelihoods. On average, people in Germany’s eastern federal states are worse off financially than those in the west. They criticize Germany's spending on refugees and aid to Ukraine, while many older people have to get by on small pensions.

Next step: How to form a government in Sachsen-Anhalt.

Appendix.
Das Merkel-Interview bei NTV:
Man sieht das in den Tagen vorher in den Umfragen, aber wenn man’s dann am Sonntagabend schwarz auf weiß hat, dann ist das einfach schockierend, jedenfalls mir ging’s so.

 
Das ist ein Einschnitt ein wirklicher Einschnitt, den wir in der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland erleben, und um jetzt noch was aus etwas Emotionales zu sagen, mir als CDU Mitglied blutet das Herz, das muss ich wirklich sagen.

Jetzt müssen wir aber überlegen, welche Reichweite zum Beispiel die AfD in den sozialen Medien hat. Also welche Informationshoheit. Dann ist es damit nicht getan zu sagen, ja aber wir gehen nicht auf TikTok, sondern dann müssen wir uns dem schon stellen und die Menschen da auch abholen, wo sie sind. Wir werden sie nicht, ich will das ausdrücklich sagen, weil die AfD auch das öffentlich-rechtliche Fernsehen abschaffen will, nicht alle zurückholen und wie schaffen wir das jetzt?

 
Wir dürfen im Sinne der Aufklärung wirklich nicht zulassen, dass es, wenn gesagt wird, die Arbeitslosigkeit ist gesunken in Sachsen-Anhalt und der individuelle Wohlstand ist gestiegen, mehrheitsfähig ist oder fast mehrheitsfähig, der Spitzenkandidat dann sagt: "Kann sein, aber das wird nicht so gefühlt", denn dann wird das Gefühl bedient. Das Gefühl ist plötzlich genauso wichtig wie das Faktum.

 
Und wenn wir das zulassen, und das ist wieder eine Aufgabe von allen, das war der Fortschritt der Aufklärung, dass sich die Summe der Menschen auf Fakten einigen konnte, und auf der Basis dieser Fakten kam man dann zu unterschiedlichen Präferenzen für politische Parteien und so weiter. Aber es ist nie in Abrede gestellt worden, dass das Faktum das Wichtige ist.

 
Wenn wir jetzt miteinander kommunizieren und eigentlich sollten wir ein Meeting haben und uns über bestimmte Fakten austauschen, dann sagt man: "Ich fühl mich heut nicht so. Wir können nicht drüber sprechen." Wenn das die Hoheit übernimmt, dann gehen wir zivilisatorische Schritte zurück, das glaube ich jedenfalls, und das muss auch wieder bewusst gemacht werden.

 
Ich sag jetzt ganz offen, ich hab die Antwort nicht. Ich weiß nur, manche Sachen, KI hin und her, sind vielleicht noch wichtiger als sie vorher waren: Die individuelle Ansprache der Bürger, und es wird jetzt ganz wichtig, weil ja auch jeder seinen Informationsraum hat.

 
Aber was wird da auch von Kandidaten zum Beispiel verlangt die müssen jetzt sozusagen, es ist nicht mehr die Parole kommt aus Adenauer-Haus und dann gehst du vor die Haustür und sagst ihnen das, dann sagen die, nee, interessiert uns nicht. Ich hab die Frage, ich hab die Frage, d.h., die Kandidaten müssen auch richtig fit sein.

 
Was jetzt zum Teil passiert ist, dass die AfD so dominant auftritt, dass die andern schon verschüchtert gar nicht mehr hingehen und das ist ja noch nicht verboten und deshalb muss ich jetzt umso mehr als demokratische Partei den Kontakt zum Bürger suchen.
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Rjúkandafoss, Reyðarfjörður, Djúpivogur and Jökulsárlón

Before we arrived at the Hotel Austur in Reyðarfjörður for the night, we enjoyed another foss, the Rjúkandafoss.

Entering Reyðarfjörður.

Reyðarfjörður harbor in the morning sun

The following morning, we packed up for Jökulsárlón (the glacial river lagoon) and stopped at Djúpivogur, a village intertwined with German history, as Hanseatic merchants were the first to be granted trading rights here in 1589.

Today, the residents make their living from fishing and tourism.

The village has colorful houses, including one painted red, Langabúð, considered one of the most beautiful in Iceland. 

A liberty monument

We continued to Jökulsárlón.

In the background, a tongue of the Vatnajökull (Glacier of Lakes)

Around the south coast on our way on the national N1 ring road ...

... we longed Iceland's giant Vatnajökull glacier.

Toward the end of the 19th century, Vatnajökull's tongue, the Breiðamerkurjökull (Glacier of Wide Woodland), extended almost to the sea. Today it is more than 6 kilometers from the coast. Lakes have formed at the glacier's edge, such as the well-known Jökulsárlón, which covers 17 km².

With a depth of around 300 m, the lagoon is Iceland's deepest lake. It never freezes over because saltwater regularly flows into it from the sea. Jökulsárlón

Icebergs up to 15 meters tall break away from the glacier tongue. They may float in the lagoon for 5 years, drift slowly to its mouth, and eventually flow via a small tributary toward the ocean.

Our group booked a boat ride on the lagoon, but it was canceled because of high winds.

On the way to our hotel, we stopped at another foss near Fagurhólsmýri.

During an evening stroll, we tried to approach a flock of grazing sheep, but they kept an eye on us and drifted away, keeping their distance.

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Franco-German Partnerships in AI

Red Baron took part in the French Summer University at the Frankreich Zentrum of Freiburg University once again this year.

One of the topics covered at the Sommeruniversität was artificial intelligence, a field where Europe lags behind and where one looks for Une intelligence artificielle européenne with partenariats franco-allemands dans le domaine.

Our teacher surprised us with an AI-generated photo. Nice try, but you can't see the Minster Church from the lecture hall. Madame had crutches, alright, but she exuded a "few more years" of experience.

AI is almost everywhere.

ChatGPT, how does it work?

AI understands, learns, and generates.

The slide above shows the European misery. Only DeepL and Mistral make it in the European charts, while the software market is dominated by American companies.

 

The challenges

Working together to build European technical, ethical, and competitive sovereignty.

 
Geopolitical and economic challenges
- Digital sovereignty
- Strategic independence
- Competitiveness

 
Ethical and societal challenges
- Respect for values
- Data protection

 
Technological and industrial challenges
- Access to resources
- Brain drain*
*The French have that cute fuite des cerveaux, while in German we simply adopted brain drain since Fachkräfteabwanderung sounds indeed clumsy.

Red Baron thinks the European program is too ambitious and comes too late, especially since international players tend to regard ethical and data protection concerns as secondary when it comes to maximizing profits.

Moreover, the mills of EU bureaucracy in Brussels turn too slowly and are already being steamrolled by accelerating technological developments.

 

French President Emmanuel Macron (l) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
take part in the European Digital Sovereignty Summit
Nov. 18, 2025, in Berlin, Germany (©Kay Nietfeld/dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP)

Still, President Macron and Chancellor Merz believe it is worth a try.

Marianne kicks out Windows while little Linux walks in

American dominance is overwhelming, yet France got the ball already rolling with some housekeeping.

So far, Europe hasn't fully taken Chinese AI into account.

And what about the ecological impact of AI?

A simple query to ChatGPT requires 0.3 Wh and produces up to 4.3 g of CO₂. AI's electricity consumption already accounts for 2% of global electricity generation, and that figure is rising.

 
The lively discussion gave us plenty of opportunities to practice our French.

 

At the end of the course, our teacher invited us to write the lyrics for a chanson, which ChatGPT Suno then set to music. It was fun.

**

Dimmuborgir, Dettifoss and Hverarönd

The next highlight of the Iceland trip was our entry into the surreal world of Dimmuborgir, known as the lava rock labyrinth.

We explored the impressive surroundings on a walk.

The bizarre columns and ridges at Dimmuborgir are the remains of steam vents that formed when lava pooled over marshland. As it flowed over the wet ground, the water within it began to boil, and steam rose to the surface through vents up to several meters in diameter. After the crust of the lava sheet solidified, molten lava continued to flow beneath. Eventually, the crust collapsed, but the vents and parts of the cooled-down lava sheet remained.

Watch out, but we already knew about the faults.

Then we stopped at Dettifoss (Icelandic detta "fall"; foss "waterfall"). The "double fall" underlines that it is the second most powerful waterfall in Europe after the Rhine Falls.

Here, the Jökulsá á Fjöllum River plunges into the Jökulsárgljúfur Gorge.

Spanning about 100 meters wide, the waters plunge 44 meters into the depths, generating about 85 megawatts of electrical power.

The gray-brown waters continue to flow about 30 kilometers into the Arctic Ocean.

 

Many bridges on Ring Road 1, Iceland's main highway, are single-lane. The old bridge is now used by pedestrians to cross the Jökulsá á Fjöllum River, while downstream - in the background - a new two-lane bridge carries vehicular traffic. Note: Iceland has no railroads.

On our way to Hverarönd, a field of volcanic activity with hot springs, we had to cross the Námaskarð Pass (Icelandic náma, "mine"; skarð, "pass") and saw water vapor from a geothermal power plant in the distance.

Hverarönd is characterized by a variety of hot springs, boiling mud pools and mud pots, and solfataras. Sulfur used to be mined here ( náma),

Solfataras are fumaroles with temperatures ranging from 100 °C to 250 °C. These post-volcanic exhalations consist of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and water vapor. The hydrogen sulfide produces the distinctive smell of rotten eggs. 

 
Upon contact with atmospheric oxygen, hydrogen sulfide oxidizes to form elemental sulfur and sulfur dioxide, which dissolves in water to form sulfurous acid (H₂SO₃)

This acid corrodes the rock and soil and, together with the hot water vapor, causes the mineral components to decompose. This often results in the formation of mud pots, from which gases escape as bubbles.

The sulfur-laden soil stifles all plant life.

**

Right-Wing Populism

No, I don't want to write about POTUS here, but rather about the co-chair of "The Alternative for Germany" (AfD).

Wulf Schmiese holds his head so it won't shake (©Fabian Weiss/ZDF/dpa)

During the summer slump, Germany's Second Television (ZDF) interviews leading politicians from all parties about their views on the state of the nation. Alice Weidel of the AfD was among them.

I watched the summer interview and was simply appalled by how it unfolded. Wulf Schmiese, renowned ZDF Berlin correspondent - fully aware that one cannot get away with challenging Alice with provocative questions - had deliberately phrased his queries factually.

"Ms. Weidel, what is your stance on climate change?"

Alice didn't give an answer, but simply emphasized the AfD position: "Climate change has always existed. All this fuss about climate protection makes everything expensive and takes money out of people's pockets. It has to go."


"How does the AfD intend to halt the decline of the automotive industry and strengthen Germany as an industrial hub?"

Instead of an answer, Alice launched a vitriolic tirade against the euro: "The euro is a weak currency. What has it accomplished? It has impoverished the population and led to job losses."


Then Schmiese confronted Weidel with one of her earlier statements: "All Syrian refugees in Germany must have their protected status revoked. They must remigrate. If they do not return to their homeland voluntarily, then they must be deported."

When Schmiese mentioned the lack of readmission agreements with Syria and Afghanistan and thus the de facto impossibility of repatriation, Alice unleashed another tirade against him and the viewers:

"The federal government has enabled unchecked illegal immigration. This has thrown Germany's internal security into disarray. Knife attacks and mass rapes are commonplace. Women and girls no longer leave their homes."

Schmiese returned to his question: "But what about an orderly repatriation?"

There was no answer; instead: "Listen, Mr. Schmiedel, it all starts with prevention. We're closing the borders; we're pulling out of the Schengen Agreement. 1.3 million Syrians will be deported."

And Alice continued, "The people are being systematically lied to by the governing CDU and SPD, and I, too, don't want to be lied to anymore by some Flachzangen (dimwits) up there."


This interview is a lesson in populism. Populists sell complexity as a scam and celebrate simplicity as the solution.

For populists, there's always someone to blame - incompetent scientists, a broken currency, a missing border protection - and all it takes is the stroke of a pen for everything to be fixed.

A classic example is Brexit, which was celebrated as the British people's liberation from the European yoke. Ten years later, it is proving to be a historic mistake. The United Kingdom's gross domestic product is low, investment is lacking, and productivity is suffering. The British were promised sovereignty and a return to their former glory; what they got was bureaucracy and frustration.

Presently, America - and with it, the world* - are suffering from a senseless war that shows no signs of ending (Iran) and from a global economy that is falling into disrepair (tariffs).
*We Europeans, in addition, are suffering from Putin's inhumane war in Ukraine

Note: Aggression is no substitute for competence; anger is not a strategy; and noise does not equate to leadership.

Experience shows (Hungary): Those who give power to populists do not end up with the promised golden age, but rather with chaos and problems.

Haven't we Germans learned anything? Should we not recognize the arsonists in our own house before they set it on fire?

**

Grenjaðarstaður and Myvátn

On the fourth day of our trip to Iceland, we first visited the open-air museum of the Grenjaðarstaður peat farm.

The Grenjaðarstaður parish had been based at the peat farm since 1865.

A layer of peat on the rocks

Volcanic rock, peat from the surrounding area, and driftwood were used to build the farmstead. Most of the driftwood came from Siberia and took up to five years to reach this location.

Immediately to the left of the entrance to this housing complex is the so-called "Golden Room," which is furnished entirely in the style of the 19th-century bourgeoisie. The middle photo shows Pastor Benedikt Kristjánsson, who served here as pastor from 1876 to 1907. His wife, Regina Sívertssen, is pictured on the left. She died in 1884, and Benedikt married Ólöf Ásta, his second wife, pictured on the right.

Initially, cooking was done over an open fire. In the old peat-farmhouses, there was very little ventilation.

The women, who worked at the hearth from dawn to dusk, suffered from lung and eye diseases.

You will find a coffee pot just about anywhere in Iceland

So the modern stove came at just the right time. The women working here could occasionally look out the window and watch what was going on at the neighboring farm.

On the left: By moving the end panel, the bed width could be adjusted to suit individual needs.

Adjacent to the "kitchen" is the Pilthúsið, a room that served as both a sleeping and working area for the workers at Grenjaðarstaður.

On the other side of the corridor is Elísabet Jónsdóttir's room. She was the wife of Pastor Kristjansson's successor, Pastor Pétur Hjálmarsson. Elísabet was exceptionally musical. She was not only the parish organist and choir director, but also one of the first women to publish her compositions in Iceland. In her room, she taught not only music but also needlework.

In the farm's pantry, you admire a barrel used to store salted fish, as well as a butter churn.

The Grenjaðarstaðarkirkja stands in the churchyard. It was built of wood in 1865. The bells date from 1663 and 1740 and hang above the gateway.

The church's interior is kept simple.

Our next stop was the picturesque area around Lake Myvátn, which ranks among Iceland's most remarkable sights, particularly due to its volcanic features.

A basaltic eruption of the volcano Krafla 2300 years ago formed a natural dam, preventing accumulated water from draining away. It pooled into Myvátn, the Lake of Midges.

The midgets were many, annoying, and some of them biting. We bought mosquito nets to cover our heads.

©Wikipedia

The rift between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which we already met at Đingvellir, also runs through this region. The Myvátn area remains volcanically active.

 

The rift is widening. The midges rejoice: Iceland's land area is steadily growing.

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