The following video discusses a revelation about a member of the Bundestag for the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland, Alternative for Germany). He is alleged to be a (presumably paid) asset for Russia.

This is actually a more substantive hoax than the Russian collusion narrative that has been the major American political obsession for more than two years. The Steele Dossier was a confection of pure gossamer, but the AfD case actually includes a digital smoking gun of sorts.

I’ll have more to say about that, but let’s watch the video first. Many thanks to MissPiggy for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

This affair exudes the stench of dezinformatsiya.

First of all, the Russians already possess a gaggle of compliant servants in the Bundestag. They’re called the Christian Democratic Union, Chancellor Merkel’s party. The German government has been so cooperative with Russia for the last fifteen years that the Russians built a natural special pipeline through the Baltic to serve their needs, bypassing the more rebellious countries of Central Europe.

I assume the SPD, Mrs. Merkel’s coalition partners, are just as friendly towards the Kremlin.

So why would Vladimir Putin need to cultivate an AfD spy in the Bundestag?

Here’s my admittedly uninformed take on the controversy: Chancellor Merkel needed a favor from the Russians, and asked them for help fabricating a damaging story to use against the AfD just before the European Parliamentary elections. It must have been easy enough to do: just have the guy send the email, leak it to someone, and then instruct the sender confirm it. Mission accomplished.

That’s what I think happened. But some of the Russia experts among our readers may want to explain to me how wrong I am…

Video transcript: