Why Germany’s far-right coup was doomed from the start

Twenty-five people have been arrested by German authorities on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.

A failed coup attempt – and a series of raids involving 3,000 officers – seems like the sort of story that might happen in a far-flung part of the world, not the largest economy in Europe. But early reporting indicates there was something fairly typical about this coup attempt: it involved a group of delusional far-rightists and ex-military officers. The false idea that if these men simply waltzed into parliament and placed politicians under arrest, the state would fold and they would get to run the place, seems to have been a factor in their attempt. A similar attitude was held by those who plotted to stage a coup in Portugal in 1975, and Spain in 1981. As with this latest plot in Germany, both attempts to seize power failed miserably.

But there’s an interesting complication to what has happened overnight in Germany.