In the overwhelming immediacy of modern society, weekends provide us with the opportunity to slow down, take a deep breath, disconnect. Especially a sunny, early spring weekend. For some, this means catching up on reading or seeing old friends. For others (like yours truly), this past weekend was a chance for an intense session of gardening. And if you're Donald Trump and you've just had the "worst week" of your nine-week-old presidency, there was time to finally enjoy some quality time on the golf course. For the 13th time since taking office nine weeks ago.
Angela Merkel, for her part, had to wait until Sunday evening to relax, after a rather tense couple of days, following what must have been a truly unpleasant meeting with Trump last week in Washington. Political observers in Germany and beyond had their eyes focused this weekend on the elections in the southwestern state of Saarland, looking for indications on the German Chancellor's chances to win a fourth term in September. Opinion polls ahead of the vote had suggested that her CDU party might lose its leadership in the one-million strong state. The results, however, wound up handing Merkel a clear victory to the local CDU leader and oft-dubbed "Mini-Merkel", Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, over a coalition of left parties.
The Kremlin was quick to respond. Sound familiar?
Further to the east, in the corridors of power in Moscow, one eye is being kept on the fortunes of both Trump and Merkel. But this weekend featured some notable unrest at home. Thousands of people demonstrated yesterday in the Russian capital and in major cities across the vast country in an opposition-led show of force against corruption. The protests, described as the largest since 2012, led to the arrest of hundreds of demonstrators, among them opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who hopes to take on Vladimir Putin in next year's presidential election.
Appearing in court this morning for organizing an unauthorized rally, a defiant Navalny pointed out the large numbers of people — in big and small cities alike — who took to the streets. The Kremlin was quick to respond with an allegation that some young people had been paid to take part in the protest. Sound familiar? Sounds like the White House. Yes, the weekend is over and the news is back to its breathless pace, as one far-flung blip after another brings us ever closer together. For better or worse.
