A fourth term for Angela Merkel: The alternatives are frightening

At a moment of unnerving American nativism, Russia’s international subversion of democracy, Chinese expansionism, and European uncertainty driven by a divided Britain’s unhappiness, anything that represents a continuum of live-and-let-live liberal democracy is to be welcomed.

On a weekend when Italy goes to the polls with the very real prospect that the reptilian Silvio Berlusconi, aged 81 and carrying the scars of one court case after another, may again be kingmaker, the deal allowing Angela Merkel secure a fourth term as Germany’s chancellor seems to offer some reassurance.