“It is better not to rule than to rule falsely. Goodbye!” Those were the words of Christian Lindner, leader of the Free Democrats (FDP) party in Germany as he walked out of talks with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). This was effectively the last shot that Merkel had at forming a ruling coalition with a safe majority in the Bundestag. This leaves Merkel in perilous territory and no one is certain what happens next. But one thing seems certain, and that’s the new reality of a Germany which is no longer in the untouchable grasp of Merkel’s former CDU...