Germany's Far-Right Party Echoes Putin as It Eyes First State Government

In a country that has long guarded against the return of authoritarian politics, Germany's Alternative for Germany party now stands at the edge of governing a state for the first time — carried there partly by messaging that echoes the Kremlin's worldview. The party's rise reflects not only domestic frustrations with energy costs, immigration, and political distance, but also the deeper vulnerability of democratic discourse to foreign influence. What unfolds in Germany may be a preview of a broader European reckoning with the boundaries between legitimate dissent and the amplification of hosti