The AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt is the biggest in the party's history: a projected 44 percent, more than double its 2021 result, while Merz's CDU lost more than half its voters. Yet the establishment may still lock the winners out with its firewall. Behind the revolt: a shrinking economy, the Volkswagen cuts, and the Magdeburg attack.
The Germany rearmament crisis deepened this week: 5,862 Germans applied for conscientious objector status in 2026, more than all of last year, while only 530 volunteered out of 300,000 registered. See the numbers and how Poland and the Baltics spend far more of their economies on defense, while Berlin still struggles to fill its ranks.
Germany's auto lobby admits it cannot keep all factories open and proposes selling them to foreign buyers. That means China. Green mandates, expensive energy, and Brussels' failed tariff policy created the German auto crisis. Europe's industrial sovereignty is at stake, and the buyers are already inside the gates.
China factory output flatlined in May 2026 as the Iran war energy shock squeezes manufacturers. Germany contracted 2.8%. Meanwhile the U.S. industrial rebound posted its biggest gain in over a year. South Korea surged 7.1%. The global industrial race is being won by nations that invest in technology — not cheap energy or cheap labor.
On May 15, 2026, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz shocked many by declaring he would not send his children to the U.S., citing a sudden "social climate." Said at the 104th Catholic Congress in Würzburg, his remarks reveal a pattern: Merz attacks America for domestic crowds while depending on U.S. troops for Germany's security.
