German Ministry of Foreign Affairs hit back at US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after he criticized the decision to classify the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a “right-wing extremist” organization.
The spat deepened on Friday to embroil the foreign office, Rubio, US Vice President J.D. Vance and tech billionaire Elon Musk. It also occurred at a complicated time for Germany — just days before the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and Nazi Germany’s unconditional capitulation.
Plus, a coalition deal between the center-right and center-left parties was just approved, and the German parliament is set to vote next week to elect conservative leader Friedrich Merz as the country’s new chancellor.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Merz has not commented publicly on the intelligence service’s decision.
Oleksii Makeiev, Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, told German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur that he is concerned about AfD’s ties to Russia in light of the classification.
AfD has long faced criticism for Russia-friendly positions and opposes Germany’s stance toward the war in Ukraine. Berlin is Ukraine’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the US.
The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution described the party as a threat to the country’s democratic order, saying it “disregards human dignity” — in particular by what it called “ongoing agitation” against refugees and migrants.
The German domestic intelligence service’s move to classify the AfD, which placed second in national elections in February, as a right-wing extremist group means its officials can now use informants and other tools such as audio and video recordings to monitor its activities nationwide.
However, it also risks fueling the party’s claims of political persecution. Far-right parties have been gaining ground across Europe and the AfD attracts international attention, including support from Musk, who is a close ally of US President Donald Trump.
In his post on Friday, Rubio called on Germany to undo the classification.
“Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy — it’s tyranny in disguise,” he wrote. “What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD — which took second in the recent election — but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes. Germany should reverse course.”
The foreign ministry wrote: “This is democracy,” in a post that replied directly to Rubio.
“This decision is the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law,” the foreign office wrote late on Friday. “It is independent courts that will have the final say. We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped.”
Meanwhile, Vance referenced the Cold War in his post on X.
“The AfD is the most popular party in Germany, and by far the most representative of East Germany. Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it,” Vance wrote. “The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt — not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment.”
Musk, who owns X, reposted Vance’s comments and added: “Fate loves irony.”
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
PHILIPPINE COMMITTEE: The head of the committee that made the decision said: ‘If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct’ A Philippine congressional committee on Wednesday ruled that there was “probable cause” to impeach Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte after hearing allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and threats to have the president assassinated. The unanimous decision of the 53-member committee in the Philippine House of Representatives sends the two impeachment complaints to deliberations and voting by the entire lower chamber, which has more than 300 lawmakers. The complaints centered on Duterte’s alleged illegal use and mishandling of intelligence funds from the vice president’s office, and from her time as education secretary under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Duterte and the
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
RSS