RSS
How Germany’s New Leader Can Make History
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party leader Friedrich Merz speaks at the party headquarters, after the exit poll results are announced for the 2025 general election, in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth
JNS.org – The Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant observed that “out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.” Kant’s point was that human actions and the history they create are too complicated and too replete with contradictions to allow for utopian thinking or cast-iron predictions. The latest illustration of that dictum comes in the form of Friedrich Merz, the victor in last week’s German election and the new chancellor in waiting.
Eighty years after the defeat of Adolf Hitler and Germany’s Nazi Party, can it really be said that the leader of a country that conquered Europe, subjugated its nations and murdered its Jews now offers the best hope for the future of the continent, and thereby the rest of the world? Based on Merz’s past record and the promises he made during the election campaign, the answer has to be a tentative “yes.”
Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won 208 seats—well short of the 316-seat majority needed to form a government outright but within realistic sight of a coalition government. For now, Merz is focused on parliamentary horse-trading, opening coalition negotiations with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), whose share of the vote tumbled to just 16.4%—its worst performance for well over 100 years. Extremist parties also performed strongly, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leaping into second place above the SPD, and the Left Party, rooted in the former Communist regime in East Germany, coming fourth with nearly 9% of the vote.
If he can’t pull off forming a government with the SPD, Merz will be under pressure to open talks with the AfD, despite his pledge to retain the “Brandmauer” (“firewall”) that has kept the far right out of government in postwar Germany. That prospect may result in the SPD becoming more malleable in negotiations than they otherwise might be.
Once he begins the business of governing, Merz may well find that foreign policy occupies much of his attention, as well as sets the tone for how future generations will remember him. As this century reaches its quarter mark, Merz is assuming the chancellor’s office during a time of profound change for Europe. All indications are that the transatlantic relationship that formed the basis of the world order after 1945 is rapidly unraveling. After being forcibly pulled into World War II—only to emerge as Europe’s main security guarantor during the Cold War—the United States under President Donald Trump is pivoting towards Asia and the Pacific.
As shocked as European leaders say they are by Trump’s move, it’s been a long time in coming. During the twilight of his first term, former President Barack Obama told the Australian parliament that the “United States is a Pacific power, and we are here to stay.” Events over the last decade and a half—trade wars with China, the future of Taiwan, the threat presented by North Korea—underline that a good deal of merit underlies such a pivot. If the United States has to choose a region to prioritize, especially now, with ever-depleting resources and a public that is tired of foreign wars, it won’t be Europe.
Here is where Merz can make a real difference. Despite the estimate of the German commentator Jörg Lau that there is “hardly a more pro-American politician in Germany” than Merz, the incoming chancellor offered a matter-of-fact response to the signals from Trump that Europe’s privileged relationship with America is coming to an end. “It is clear that [the Trump administration] does not care much about the fate of Europe,” Merz declared during a televised debate. As much as that sounds like scolding, it might be better understood as the voice of a politician sniffing out a historic opportunity.
Merz has declared that achieving “independence from the US” in defense matters is his explicit aim. He is pushing for Germany’s defense budget to be boosted by more than $200 billion—no doubt an example Trump would urge other European leaders to follow. Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, who also sits on the center-right, are leading a push for European nations to take charge of their own defense, warmly citing Poland as a case of a government that has made this a priority, bolstering its defense spending in 2025 to nearly $50 billion.
As daunting as this task will be, it will yield more concrete results than an endless, fruitless debate with a White House that has so far taken a much more benign view of Russia than that found in European capitals. Trump may deem that Moscow is not a threat to Washington—at least not in territorial terms—but it remains the greatest single threat facing Europe. There is much to prevent Russian dictator Vladimir Putin from pushing his forces beyond Ukraine, not least his country’s faltering economy and the eye-watering human cost of his illegal, brutal invasion of his southern neighbor, but any European leader who believes that he will stop there is a fool. Indeed, if Trump does secure a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv, Putin could well see that as a golden chance to regroup and rearm his forces. The challenge for Merz is to be ready for that eventuality and to be prepared to respond to any further Russian aggression with the use of force, with or without the United States.
A militarily strong Europe with Germany at its center (words that would have been unthinkable for most of the postwar era!) would be good news for Ukraine and other states in Russia’s sights. It would also be good news for Israel.
One of Merz’s first acts after winning the election was to announce that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was welcome to visit Germany without fearing that the arrest warrant issued for him by the International Criminal Court in The Hague would be executed on German soil, something the previous government of SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz wavered on.
Merz has also stated that Germany’s relationship with the Jewish state created from the ashes of the Nazi Holocaust is “unique—no ifs or buts.” Following the Hamas pogrom in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Merz said that Palestinian asylum seekers would not be welcome in Germany because his country “already has too many antisemites.” He will also take a tougher stance on Iran, having already criticized current German policy as “characterized by the idea of a cooperative government in Tehran” and declaring “this illusion has to be abandoned.”
Merz could, therefore, shape himself into a European leader without precedent: a Reaganite conservative and admirer of American democracy who nonetheless knows that the writing is on the wall as regards U.S. engagement with Europe. If that is the path he follows, we would be wise to hope that he succeeds.
The post How Germany’s New Leader Can Make History first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
The post Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
The post Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.