Opportunism triumphs in Germany

The rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in elections in the states of Thuringia and Saxony on Sunday was expected, as was the poor result of the three parties in Olaf Scholz's federal government (the Social Democrats, Greens and Free Liberals). Since its founding in 2013, the AfD has exploited events to push its "alternative" - first opposing the EU because it supported countries in the throes of the debt crisis, then it turned against immigrants, and then, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, against NATO and in favor of Putin. Sooner or later, this populist opportunism would bear fruit in some part of the former East Germany. But the fact that Sunday's result was predictable, and that the population of the two states is a small percentage of the German whole, does not reduce its importance. It is an earthquake whose impact will be serious and unpredictable. The Scholz...