Berlin Voted for Change
Will Germany’s Political Center Listen? The most striking result of Berlin’s state election may also be its greatest paradox. Die Linke, a party long considered firmly anchored in Germany’s past, …
The 2026 State Elections: AGI Expert Analysis in the Media
In fall 2026, first-place finishes for the far-right and far-left in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Berlin shook up German politics. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) will likely form …
Episode 156: State Election Aftershocks
Regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Berlin saw successes for the far-right Alternative for Germany and far-left Die Linke and “disaster” for the mainstream parties. The episode of The Zeitgeist …
One of 83 Million
Last week, two sports figures offered very different answers to a deceptively simple question: what does it mean to stand with your country? In Washington, Capitals hockey legend Alexander Ovechkin …
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Change at All Costs
Election Impressions from Saxony-Anhalt At 5:59 pm on Sunday, September 6, the anticipation in the whimsical restaurant tucked inside Magdeburg’s historic Millennium Tower was palpable. With all screens turned to …
The Unloved Chancellor
Following the results of the recent Landtag elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the press is already preparing Friedrich Merz’s political obituary. While he may be responsible for some of the discontent and …
AGI Profiles: Kai Wegner
Mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner, Berlin’s first conservative mayor in twenty-two years, initially emerged as the figure who could restore the Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) position in Berlin. Yet after …
The Language of Eastern Resentment
Of the three eastern German states I was responsible for as U.S. Consul General in Leipzig, Saxony-Anhalt always struck me as perhaps the most distinctly eastern. It was also a …
He Inherited Freedom. Does He Believe It Is His?
At the risk of dating myself, I remember a very different mood among young people in post-communist Europe. I was a student in Prague in 1994, five years after the …
AGI Profiles: Alois Rainer
Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Regional Identity Alois Rainer is a member of the Bundestag from Straubing, Bavaria, and serves as Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Regional Identity (Bundesminister für …
“Dear Occupants of Dohrmannstrasse 1”
A House, a Stream, and Two Telephones Looking back, Gary Sternberg could not believe he did it. He simply had been compelled to do so. On August 5, 2019, he …
