This episode, originally published in June 2024 only for subscribers, is crucial backdrop to this Sunday's (23 Feb 2025) snap elections in Germany. 

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On German political derangement.

Independent researcher and writer Gregor Baszak joins us to talk about German centrism being squeezed under pressure from both left and right — Sahra Wagenknecht and the AFD. Meanwhile the German economy is getting squeezed between the US and Russia, and NATO pressures Germany to up its defence spending.  

Is German public life remilitarising? 

What are the prospects for Sahra Wagenknecht’s new ‘left-conservative’ politics? 

What was the original political vision behind the Nordstream 2 pipeline? 

Why are Marine Le Pen and Giorgia Meloni trying to carve the AFD out of pan-European national-populist cooperation? 

Where does Germany now stand in relation to the Ukraine War? 

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