In the shadow of a widening east-west divide, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has reaffirmed his government's commitment to arming Ukraine, even as a far-right electoral surge in Saxony-Anhalt and softening public opinion test the durability of that resolve. The fracture runs along old lines — the former inner-German border — where memories of division, proximity to conflict, and a different calculus about provocation have made skepticism of Ukraine aid something close to a regional consensus. Germany finds itself navigating the perennial tension between solidarity with a besieged neighbor an