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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Jonathan Freedland

Coup attempts in Germany and the US confirm it: the key terror threat is the far right

Heinrich XIII, Prince of Reuß arrested after a raid on a far-right plot in Frankfurt, Germany, 7 December 2022.
‘The far right is much looser and entirely leaderless, radicalising its followers chiefly by means of memes and online content.’ Heinrich XIII, Prince of Reuß arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, 7 December 2022. Photograph: Boris Roessler/AP

Perhaps it was the tweed jacket and cravat. Or maybe the medieval title: Heinrich XIII, Prince of Reuß. Either way, the man at the head of a suspected plot to overthrow the German government, exposed in a series of raids on Wednesday, was easy to dismiss as a joke. The country’s late night TV talkshows went right ahead, mocking the 71-year-old aristocrat and his deluded dreams, along with his wardrobe.

A week earlier, the sartorial derision was aimed at Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, his face entirely obscured by a ski mask, praising Hitler and the Nazis on the set of Infowars as a guest of the bankrupted conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

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