A resurgent Merkel may tip the balance

At a moment when faith in politics, especially international politics, to champion liberal, uplifting, human-rights values is at a low ebb, it is reassuring that Angela Merkel seems close to securing a fourth term as Germany’s chancellor.

It is all too obvious that the European and world stages need a figure of her substance, experience, and moral confidence to defend the values that have enriched and sustained the West over the last number of decades.

Our world is so fraught that Merkel’s weaknesses — and there are some, especially on climate change — seem almost secondary.