Nativist politics forces Mesut Ozil out of the German football team

Dhruv Munjal on why Germany - and the world - are poorer for it

It is terribly unfortunate — and equally ironic — that the aftermath of a magnificent World Cup, whose final was illuminated by two sumptuous takes in front of goal by two young Frenchmen of African parentage, is being sullied by a row around multiculturalism. All allegedly provoked by a somewhat ill-judged photograph.

It is almost comical that when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan posed with the UK’s Queen and her prime minister, Theresa May, in London in May, no feathers were ruffled. Yet, when Mesut Özil, a man unabashedly proud of his Turkish roots, decided to stand alongside the country’s