AfD and the Western Illusion of Democratic Integrity
Constantin von Hoffmeister
Eurosiberia (Substack)

Fake German democracy at work: It is a controlled theater, where only approved actors are allowed on stage.
Joachim Paul, the AfD candidate for mayor of Ludwigshafen, was recently barred from running in the upcoming election. The official reason: doubts about his “loyalty to the constitution.” The true reason: his political views challenge the liberal consensus that governs Germany today. Without any criminal conviction, and based only on a dossier compiled by domestic intelligence, he was declared politically illegitimate. There was no trial, no public debate, no transparent appeal. A committee, dominated by mainstream parties, simply forced him out. In modern Germany, this is called democracy.
Ten years earlier, in Moscow, a different scene unfolded. Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of the Kremlin, was allowed to register as a mayoral candidate. Shortly after, he was convicted of embezzlement in a case widely seen as politically motivated. Even so, the Russian authorities released him on bail and permitted him to continue campaigning. Western media and governments decried the charges as unjust, and Navalny was elevated to the status of democratic martyr. His case was cited endlessly as proof of Russia’s authoritarianism.—Here lies the double standard.


















