Austrian chaos Part 1
So Heinz-Christian Strache, neo-Nazi, Austrians First (no immigrants) fan, friend of Orban, Salvini and Putin, bites the dust after a secretly filmed video.
The far right FPÖ, always campaigning against the corruption of the “old parties”, the Socialist SPÖ and the Conservative ÖVP (with whom they form a coalition govt), has now shown itself to be the most corrupt of all. Like the Trump campaign, trying to get Russian help in the election. In the video taped secretly, they tell the “Oligarch’s niece” how to make payments to bypass Austrian campaign laws, naming 4 rich people and 1 company who have done that for them. All those 5 immediately issued denials, but who knows? They will certainly be investigated, and more criminal activity could come to light.
Orban’s silence is deafening. He met Strache 12 days ago. They praised each other to the skies (or scratched each other’s backs, to put it more crudely). 2 crooks. Now Individual-2 wants to have nothing to do with Individual-1.
Salvini, another Strache friend, is also suddenly silent.
Trump, who would be a Strache admirer, is probably still trying to figure out if there are kangaroos in Austria.
And Putin, who’s minions very likely helped the FPÖ financially, washes his hands off the whole affair. No meddling, no cooperation, total exoneration, as Dotard would say.
Whether the FPÖ loses much support as a result of this remains to be seen. Politics everywhere is polarized and hardened today. As Trump said, he could shoot somebody in the middle of 5th avenue and not lose many supporters (Maybe even gain the 3 or 4 NRA guys who didn’t vote for him). But luckily, we will know the answer in a week, with EU elections next Sunday (though many people, like me, may have already voted).
Another amusing facet in the video is Strache’s support of the Russian niece buying 50% of the Kronen Zeitung and then getting it to support the FPÖ. The Kronen Zeitung has long been the world’s most successful newspaper, reaching more than 30% of its target audience, something most papers can only dream of. Of 8 million Austrians, 2.5 million read it every day. Though it has 48 to 60 pages each day, you and I could read everything worth reading in it in about 3 minutes. It was Fox News before Fox News was even thought of. But unlike Fox, it has switched its allegiance over the decades, always supporting the party supported by”the masses”. It is in many ways a kingmaker.
While it hasn’t been particularly unfriendly to the FPÖ, it hasn’t been a FOX/GOP love affair either. Strache mentions that he would like a situation like Orban has in Hungary, where there is no independent media anymore. He also mentions the Orban friend who has bought up a chunk of the Hungarian media, saying he could do the same in Austria. So the FPÖ’s democratic credentials are now in the sink.
Their other neo-Nazi Kickl (#KicklHimOut) has been Interior Minister, with Police and Intelligence Services reporting to him. German Intelligence had already conveyed that they could not cooperate with Austria in that situation (there are rumours that they may have been behind the secret tapes).
The (Nazi) Identitarian leader Martin Sellner, who had received a donation from the NZ mosque killer, had his home raided some time after the NZ tragedy. But it was clear he had been tipped off beforehand, certainly by one of Kickl’s people. The FPÖ was turning Austria into a far right banana republic.
Poor Mama’s boy Kurz. He has long been criticized for making the FPÖ “salon-fähig” (respectable), despite numerous scandals involving bigotry. Other far right parties would love to get the 24% that the FPÔ got in the last election.
For 1 1/2 years, Kurz has swallowed all the atrocities from the FPÖ, willing like the GOP to overlook criminal behavior in pursuit of power. But this was just too much for him. Still, he was apparently considering carrying on the coalition if the FPÖ removed its obvious neo-Nazis like Kickl. He will certainly be hit with that over the next weeks. After several hours of hesitation, and with the huge crowd outside his office calling for his resignation, he finally called a new election.
So 24 hours have turned Austria on its head. How big the change will be will depend on the results of the next election.
The far right FPÖ, always campaigning against the corruption of the “old parties”, the Socialist SPÖ and the Conservative ÖVP (with whom they form a coalition govt), has now shown itself to be the most corrupt of all. Like the Trump campaign, trying to get Russian help in the election. In the video taped secretly, they tell the “Oligarch’s niece” how to make payments to bypass Austrian campaign laws, naming 4 rich people and 1 company who have done that for them. All those 5 immediately issued denials, but who knows? They will certainly be investigated, and more criminal activity could come to light.
Orban’s silence is deafening. He met Strache 12 days ago. They praised each other to the skies (or scratched each other’s backs, to put it more crudely). 2 crooks. Now Individual-2 wants to have nothing to do with Individual-1.
Salvini, another Strache friend, is also suddenly silent.
Trump, who would be a Strache admirer, is probably still trying to figure out if there are kangaroos in Austria.
And Putin, who’s minions very likely helped the FPÖ financially, washes his hands off the whole affair. No meddling, no cooperation, total exoneration, as Dotard would say.
Whether the FPÖ loses much support as a result of this remains to be seen. Politics everywhere is polarized and hardened today. As Trump said, he could shoot somebody in the middle of 5th avenue and not lose many supporters (Maybe even gain the 3 or 4 NRA guys who didn’t vote for him). But luckily, we will know the answer in a week, with EU elections next Sunday (though many people, like me, may have already voted).
Another amusing facet in the video is Strache’s support of the Russian niece buying 50% of the Kronen Zeitung and then getting it to support the FPÖ. The Kronen Zeitung has long been the world’s most successful newspaper, reaching more than 30% of its target audience, something most papers can only dream of. Of 8 million Austrians, 2.5 million read it every day. Though it has 48 to 60 pages each day, you and I could read everything worth reading in it in about 3 minutes. It was Fox News before Fox News was even thought of. But unlike Fox, it has switched its allegiance over the decades, always supporting the party supported by”the masses”. It is in many ways a kingmaker.
While it hasn’t been particularly unfriendly to the FPÖ, it hasn’t been a FOX/GOP love affair either. Strache mentions that he would like a situation like Orban has in Hungary, where there is no independent media anymore. He also mentions the Orban friend who has bought up a chunk of the Hungarian media, saying he could do the same in Austria. So the FPÖ’s democratic credentials are now in the sink.
Their other neo-Nazi Kickl (#KicklHimOut) has been Interior Minister, with Police and Intelligence Services reporting to him. German Intelligence had already conveyed that they could not cooperate with Austria in that situation (there are rumours that they may have been behind the secret tapes).
The (Nazi) Identitarian leader Martin Sellner, who had received a donation from the NZ mosque killer, had his home raided some time after the NZ tragedy. But it was clear he had been tipped off beforehand, certainly by one of Kickl’s people. The FPÖ was turning Austria into a far right banana republic.
Poor Mama’s boy Kurz. He has long been criticized for making the FPÖ “salon-fähig” (respectable), despite numerous scandals involving bigotry. Other far right parties would love to get the 24% that the FPÔ got in the last election.
For 1 1/2 years, Kurz has swallowed all the atrocities from the FPÖ, willing like the GOP to overlook criminal behavior in pursuit of power. But this was just too much for him. Still, he was apparently considering carrying on the coalition if the FPÖ removed its obvious neo-Nazis like Kickl. He will certainly be hit with that over the next weeks. After several hours of hesitation, and with the huge crowd outside his office calling for his resignation, he finally called a new election.
So 24 hours have turned Austria on its head. How big the change will be will depend on the results of the next election.
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