Germany ought to have a law about shaking down its head of state, in this case Angela Merkel.
The shakedown comes in the form of Merkel's "go ahead" on the possible prosecution of a German comic who made fun of Turkey's thuggish prime minister, Recep Erdogan.
Erdogan demanded that Merkel take action. Of course, in Turkey, this guy would have been thrown in a dungeon for the rest of his days. That said, Germany needs Erdogan to hold back the migrant swarm and so Angela is willing to get down on both knees.
Merkel said her government had ...decided that Germany's law criminalizing insults of a foreign head of state is "dispensable in the future" and intends to repeal it, effective in 2018.
Merkel also expressed "great concern" about the state of media freedom and the fate of individual journalists in Turkey, as well as restrictions on the right to demonstrate, as she made her announcement in Berlin.
I'm not entirely sure ol' Recep knew that this move could backfire. There are already several new Erdogan parodies on YouTube and, doubtless, a tsunami to follow.
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