Merz wins a messy German election

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Hello from London,

After last week’s transatlantic tiff, is it time for a patch-up? Donald Trump has made various nonsensical claims in the past few days—propounding a version of Vladimir Putin’s lies about the world. In his telling, Ukraine is to blame for being invaded by Russia, is run by a dictator and should in effect roll over in the face of the aggressor. In an extra twist, Mr Trump added a line that sounded awfully like a mobster setting out a protection racket: Ukraine should hand over hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of mineral wealth in exchange for military aid. As we reported over the weekend, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has rejected the latest version of America’s extortionate plan.

Some of this, I would hope, could be wound back in the coming days. Most recently Mr Trump seems to have conceded that Russia did invade its smaller neighbour. This week he will interact with some new leaders from Europe who could—just possibly—help to improve relations. Most important is the prospect of a new leader emerging in Europe’s largest country after Germans voted yesterday.

Our new story, freshly delivered by our correspondent in Berlin, assesses the results of a messy election in Germany. Friedrich Merz, the winner, has vowed to give Europe “real independence” from America as he prepares to cobble together a coalition. His centre-right Christian Democratic alliance won 29% of the vote. The hard-right Alternative for Germany received 21% of the vote, its best-ever result. My colleagues interviewed Mr Merz recently (read what they concluded). Don’t expect him to emerge as energetic as Mr Trump has proved to be, but he is surely an improvement on the previous German leadership. Presumably he’ll speak to Mr Trump shortly.

Then, as the third anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion is marked today, the French president is visiting Washington, to be followed later in the week by Britain’s prime minister. Neither Emmanuel Macron nor Sir Keir Starmer will be able to simply talk Mr Trump around. Indeed there’s some trepidation. If they bungle meetings, or offer an ill-judged argument, they could worsen ties. But on balance I’d hope that sensible, rational and well-informed leaders can set out for Mr Trump why it’s in America’s interest not to junk the hugely successful transatlantic relationship. Mr Trump has some fondness for both men. It will help, too, if the Europeans show up with serious evidence that they will boost their defence spending. Mr Trump, obsessed with transactions, wants to brag about quick wins. Mr Macron and Sir Keir should give him something to boast about.

In lighter news, we have added a new puzzle to our small collection of quizzes (Dateline and our pint-sized news quiz). Try your hand at a mini crossword that combines British-style cryptic clues with “straight” factual ones.

We have also published the latest extract in our Archive 1945 project, this time looking at the war in the Pacific and the Japanese armed forces. We asked whether, like Italy, Japan might be willing to surrender or, like Nazi Germany, it would fight to the bitter end. Read the project so far, and on to August.

Last week I asked for your views of how smaller countries may cope in a world of might-makes-right. Thank you for all your responses (and, separately, to the many of you who responded to our editor’s observations from the Munich Security Conference. Read a selection of those). We read, and welcome, all your correspondence, even when you strongly disagree with us. Lou Griffith warns me against ranting or being woke and suggests we give Mr Trump more credit, particularly for his courage in shaking up old certainties. Some disruption can be welcome, I agree. Lou also seems to suggest that we didn’t object loudly when Mr Putin first invaded Ukraine, in 2014, and asks me to reprint what we said then. Space is limited, but we condemned “Putin’s inferno” and his “new world order” repeatedly, saying the West had to stand up to him. You’ll note we are at least consistent. Andrew Hammett, in Germany, laments that he sees “only weakness and lack of leadership around us. Please continue to ring the alarm bells.” James J Stark, in Florida, sees Mr Trump overdoing his many actions, getting “over his skis” and expects this administration will have a “short shelf life”.

Please continue to send me your thoughts. Do you expect that we’ll see a summit between Mr Trump and Mr Putin, perhaps in Moscow, in May? Write to me at [email protected].

Adam Roberts, Digital editor

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