08 : Merkel in a muddle;Schadenfreude abounds.
Even in the depths of our uttermost despair,the faint rays of hope still flicker.. Several weeks have now passed since Merkel's ruling CDU/CSU regime suffered a significant reversal of fortune at the German Bundestag elections. That damage was primarily inflicted by the emergence of the AfD who smashed their way into national federal contention with 12% of votes cast and the concomitant losses of the SPD who plummeted to a post-1945 electoral nadir. All this left Frau Merkel floundering at a disadvantage in a morass of political,factional horse trading that was supposed to lead to the formation of a new and dynamically unstable governing coalition.Which the newly reinvigorated FDP then proceeded to spectacularly torpedo with all the acumen and elan of a U-Boot menacing a hospital ship. For all the deserved vituperative mockery heaped on hapless,spineless ,creedless May for her doldrumesque clarion calls for a strong and stable government; Merkel careered ...