Q&A: A historic far-right win & are we biased against Trump?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is a global production.
This is the very first time. Since the Nazi era. That mien since World War Two. That any far right political group has won such an overwhelming victory in any German election of this kind. Populists and nationalists and nativists are good at playing on people's legitimate fears, their legitimate economic hardship, and promising that they can provide the answers. This lot also supports Russia. Sorry, they do? They want Germany to stop helping Ukraine, and this is a disaster for Germany and and for Europe. Hello everyone and welcome to the Q ⁇ A episode of the X-Files with me, Christiane in London and
Jamie Rubin here in Amsterdam.
Just wanted to say that you've had a lovely, lovely long holiday, and I hope you're back rested after a pleasant three weeks off. Hope you're well rested.
Well thank you for that. I'm gl thank you for your concern as well.
So everybody out there, this is where we answer your questions. So we are gonna get started after that slight aside. Uh Jamie, I'm gonna ask the first one. Sarah on Instagram, although I've got a lot to say about it, how worried are you by AFD, the alternative for Deutschland's historic victory in the Saxony Anhalts state elections in Germany? Is this party now a genuine threat to the political mainstream? So here's the thing, Sarah, on Instagram. This is the very first time that Since the Nazi era the That means since World War II heard That any far right political group has won such an overwhelming victory in any German election of this kind. It is a state election. It's a Small istate. It's in the former East Germany where a lot of people feel disenfranchised economically, socially, politically, etcetera since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall of their Soviet propelled order.
And they feel that they hate all the immigrants who've come in, uh, especially under Angela Merkel in twenty fifteen. It was the immigrants uh we were talking in our first episode about Iraq. It was a lot of Iraqi refugees from the ongoing war and instability, a lot of Syrian refugees from the war that was going on at that time. Most have assimilated, and God knows we Europeans need a workforce. But it is easy. Uh, and populists and nationalists and nativists are good at playing on people's legitimate fears, their legitimate economic hardship, and promising that they can provide the answers. That it's all the fault of some nameless, faceless elite and they are the representatives of the people and they will provide the answers.
So I think it is very, very dangerous. I think it's tells you a lot about Europe right now and the very difficult circumstances that Europe is in right now. What do you think, Jamie?
Well I agree with all of that. I I guess I would say one thing that I'm pleased about. They didn't get a majority. They got a plurality. So it doesn't look like they're gonna be able to take the government over for sure as having a majority uh of the seats. They also get the largest number of seats. Yeah. So if uh the other parties behave responsibly and put a government together and I expect this'll be weeks and weeks, if not months, of ra wrangling, um this government will not be run by these far right people who are you know, question the Holocaust who don't just talk about immigration in a responsible way, but talk about it in a monstrous way. Um look, immigration is a problem. Immigration. Immigration is a problem in the United States.
Doing it responsibly and well and carefully, allowing for legal and illegal immigration to be cracked down on to make sure you distinguish between the two is the proper role of government. And none of our governments have done a particularly good job of it. I think it's mostly an attack on government itself right now.
What is the significance of the AfD’s historic win in Saxony‑Anhalt?
For a lot of reasons, for many, many years now, the institutions in our world in the Western world have been uh discredited, whether that's uh uh the executive branch of the United States under beginning you know, way, way back under the Nixon administration when Watergate started, whether it's the Vietnam War that made people question government in the United States, or whether it's all the problems that have subsequently occurred uh all over the world.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–4:33
2
What is the significance of the AfD’s historic win in Saxony‑Anhalt?
4:33–10:02
3
Why does the AfD’s victory pose a danger to Germany’s post‑WWII “firewall” against the far right?
10:02–14:24
4
How might the AfD’s parliamentary strength affect Germany’s coalition politics?
14:24–20:22
5
Did the Whitaker‑Kushner diplomatic mission to Moscow and Kyiv achieve any progress?
20:22–25:29
6
What are the realistic chances of a negotiated cease‑fire between Russia and Ukraine?
25:29–30:26
7
How serious was the foiled Russian sabotage plot at Leipzig airport and how is Europe responding?
30:26–33:19
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files
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