That’s what reader Mark H says about Beethoven’s Symphony Number 3:
In the finale of Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony, there’s a glorious, triumphal gallop which Leonard Bernstein said had “the swagger of a Hungarian cavalryman”. I find myself thinking of it.
Indeed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here’s a breakdown of the graphic notation from the YouTube page:
Q: What do the shapes indicate?
A: The shapes are assigned according to an instrumental group:
rectangle: brass (also timpani)
octagon: clarinet
ellipse: flute
inverted ellipse: oboe and bassoon
rhombus: strings
Q: What do the colors indicate?
A: The colors are assigned to pitch…
Monday was the 61st anniversary of the popular uprising against Communist rule in Hungary. The speech below was delivered for the occasion by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the square next to the Museum of Terror in Budapest.
In his speech Mr. Orbán mentions the thirty-foot bronze statue of Stalin that was demolished during the Revolution of 1956. The dictator’s boots were all that remained, and the citizens of Budapest scaled the plinth beneath the truncated statue to place Hungarian flags in them. The photo at the top of this post shows the moment just before those flags were raised.
The Hungarian Revolution was an inspiration to the Free World in 1956, and it remains an inspiration today. For ten days the Hungarian nation regained its independence as a sovereign state. There was no hope of success in the long term against the Soviet behemoth, but for that proud moment Hungarians knew that they, as a people, had not surrendered their identity nor abandoned their dignity.
Then the Soviet tanks arrived in Budapest. Block by block, house by house, the Revolution was crushed. A compliant puppet government was once again installed, and Hungary regained its status as a Soviet vassal, which it kept for thirty-three more years.
Two years after the Revolution, Imre Nagy, the leader of the failed rebellion, was executed. His body was buried face down, with hands and feet bound by barbed wire, in the public cemetery of Budapest.
I recommend the Wikipedia entry on the Revolution of 1956, which provides a fairly detailed account of events. An excerpt:
At about the same time, a large crowd gathered at the Radio Budapest building, which was heavily guarded by the ÁVH [state security police]. The flash point was reached as a delegation attempting to broadcast their demands was detained and the crowd grew increasingly unruly as rumours spread that the protesters had been shot. Tear gas was thrown from the upper windows and the ÁVH opened fire on the crowd, killing many. The ÁVH tried to re-supply itself by hiding arms inside an ambulance, but the crowd detected the ruse and intercepted it. Hungarian soldiers sent to relieve the ÁVH hesitated and then, tearing the red stars from their caps, sided with the crowd. Provoked by the ÁVH attack, protesters reacted violently. Police cars were set ablaze, guns were seized from military depots and distributed to the masses and symbols of the Communist regime were vandalised.
On the European political stage, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a giant among pygmies. Sixty-one years after the uprising, he connects the events of those days with Hungary’s long historical experience, with its subjugation under Communism, and with the current attempts to subjugate it under globalist rule from Brussels.
The sign in front of the prime minister’s microphone reads: “The Day of Freedom”
Many thanks to CrossWare for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Video transcript (no times):
With respect… I would like to welcome — with respect — the Hungarian heroes of the 1956 revolution and fight for independence.
I welcome you all, from all around the world: from Toronto via Paris to Dunaszerdahely [Dunajská Streda — Slovakia] and from Munkacs [Mukachevo — Ukraine] via Szabadka [Subotica — Serbia] to Szeklerland. I welcome those who celebrate in the capital of the nation, and those, too, who are in front of their [TV] screens. They are home with us.
I would like to welcome those who experience that we Hungarians, the Folk of Freedom, are a special nation of freedom. There might be rain. There might be a shrill wind, or there might be teargas and mounted police attacks. We come together, because no matter where we live in the world, we want to remember today. Worthy and just!…We want to remember that wonderful October day When a nation said: “Enough”, and shook the supporting columns of the Communist system. We want to remember the moment that will live forever in the memory of the free nations of the world.
Respected ladies and gentlemen, respected celebrants: The homeland is a natural and mental reality. But Soviet rule tossed us into a space without history. It wanted to destroy our past, and our culture, too. Against the recurrence of physical and mental terror, the strongest weapon is national historical memory. That is why we came to precisely this place. The building next to us was the headquarters of the Arrow Cross Party [fascist party in WW2], then it was the center of terror for the Communist single-party state. First the national, then the international socialists nestled themselves in there. Here they kept in captivity and tortured those they were most afraid of, and those whom they most hated. In 2002 with a blade-wall we excised it from space and time, raised it up to be a memorial and placed a museum here, in the heart of Budapest, Hungary, and Europe. It should remind the world that the Hungarians’ thirst for freedom cannot be strangled. That’s why we placed it here, to warn ourselves that if freedom is lost, if national independence is lost, then we will be lost, too. It cautions us that freedom never comes free for us. We always fight for it.
There shall come the Labanc [Austrian imperial soldier], Muszka [Muscovite], the German or the Soviet wearing uniforms with the arrow-cross or Communist outfits, for our own freedom we always have to defend ourselves. Others never will. We are accustomed to the fact that in our part of the world, liberation is just the beginning of a new occupation. It’s fortunate that the nation — in the necessary moment, the fateful hours of history — has daughters and sons who are ready to defend their homeland. Because in this corner of Europe those times frequently come when it is not enough to talk nicely about one’s love for his homeland, but when one must actually have to defend his country.
Today we remember those who one day woke up to realize they had everything taken from them not just worth dying for, but worth living for, too. They didn’t take from them only what was, but what might have been, too. The fear hit them in their hearts that if things continue this way, they could lose Hungary forever. And then, on the edge of the cliff, the thousand-year-old homeland, on the doorstep of the crumbling of the Hungarian world, they rebelled. In 1956 such a wonderful country emerged from the twilight of suppression, one that we always wished for. It flashed up in front of us that it is possible, that such a Hungary could exist, where our better selves provide the girders.
The revolution was a national one. From the workers in the factories we learned that they were no “international proletariat”, but Hungarian workers, and that moment we will always remember, for as long as a single Hungarian remains alive in the world…
Let’s take a detour! …Let’s take a detour, and let’s admit that we not only remember, but do not forget, either. We have not forgotten those who stood against us. It is customary to accuse us of being unable to forgive. But in reality they are the ones who are incapable of forgiving us for almost half a century, what they committed against us.
Respected commemorators! Westerners, even though they admired the Hungarian revolution, did not understand it. They did not understand the force that worked in us. They did not understand why we were fighting against such numerical superiority, which by any human calculation could not be defeated. They did not understand that we were fighting because we hold on to our culture till the end, to our way of life, and we do not want to be dissolved in anybody’s melting pot. We want them to respect who and what we are. For a thousand years we protected the borders of Europe and fought for our national independence. We are a brave and warrior nation, one that knows it is not respected, but despised. That’s why they do not understand us in Brussels, because they did not understand us, even then.
…Respected celebrating crowd! Respected celebrating crowd! We are not only standing beside the House of Terror museum, but on one of the world’s most beautiful boulevards. Here towering ahead of us in sheer reality, that beauty and greatness of which our nation is capable. Here are lined up the palaces of Andrássy street; that way the Heroes’ Square; the other way the Opera House and the Chain Bridge. A heritage, an enthralling heritage, to which all of us are obliged. Our old squares are not theatrical scenery, for us to wonder at with amazement. These are gauges and measuring devices. Signals and warnings. A nation that reached such peaks as we have — not just once — can’t be content with less. We can’t be content with less today, either!…There were periods when we were in control of an empire. There were occasions — more than once — when, after the destruction by our enemies, we had to rebuild and reorganize our devastated homeland. We never hid from the responsibility, nor from work or from the good Lord’s will. We undertook what needed to be done, There were those who stood in the battlefields, and those who, with their intellectual power, assured our place in the rank of nations.
Today we celebrate that day when many millions of Hungarians again realized: although we live different lives, we all belong to the same nation. Today we remember that moment, when the cardinal and the turner, the philosophers and the brats of Pest, when the Archduke and the Interior Minister — who was a Soviet partisan — wanted the very same thing. Today we remember that touch which plowed through the walls separating the torn-apart fragments of the country and permeated the student assemblies in Erdely [Transylvania] or the prison cells of Szamosujvar. Peter Mansfeld, Maria Wittner, Laszlo Dozsa, Janos Szabo, Gergely Pongratz, Imre Nagy, Jozsef Mindszenty We look at them, but we see a nation.
Eric Zemmour is a popular French commentator who appears often on radio and television. In the following clip Mr. Zemmour discusses the recent “turn to the right” in Central Europe, which has seen electoral success for EU-skeptic anti-immigration parties in Hungary, Poland, Austria, and now Czechia.
His analysis of the reasons for the rightward swing are spot on, although he elides some of the historical complexities of the region. Not all the states he mentions were part of the Habsburg Empire — from the early 18th century until the early 20th, Poland was divided among the Great Powers, mostly between Prussia and Russia.
The separate provinces or vassal states that eventually became Romania were at different times ruled by the Ottomans, the Austrians, the Hungarians, and the Russians, but mostly by the Ottomans, with varying degrees of autonomy.
Parts of Hungary were occupied for centuries by the Ottomans, while the rest recognized a Habsburg king. When Hungarian territory was wrested from the Ottomans after the Siege of Vienna in the late 17th century, Hungary became part of the Austrian Empire. After the Revolutions of 1848, it became (at least theoretically) an equal partner in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the Great War it became an independent state whose borders were greatly reduced.
Czechia (Bohemia and Moravia) and Slovakia were historically kingdoms or principalities that were more often vassal states than sovereign ones. They formed part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until its dissolution in 1918.
Complicated, isn’t it? And this is the simplified version.
By and large, however, Eric Zemmour is exactly right about what is happening in Central Europe. Many thanks to Ava Lon for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a World War One memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland violates the Constitution and must be taken down. The monument is in the shape of the cross, and the court stated that cross shape unconstitutionally entangles the state with a specific religion.
In other news, according to a recent report, more than 20% of German residents are now foreign-born.
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Thanks to cxt, JD, JP1683, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Alessandro Meluzzi is an Italian psychiatrist, writer, politician, and academic. In the following video recorded last year, Dr. Meluzzi confronts a young Muslim named Saif Eddine Abouabid on a TV panel show.
The translator includes this note:
Instead of a professional credential, the title under the Moslem’s name reads “Young Muslim”. When I googled him I looked at his twitter, it doesn’t appear that he has any official group. I’m guessing he’s just an activist.
Many thanks to Elle Bowlly for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Long-time readers will recall the scandal surrounding Ayman Elkasrawy that erupted last February. Mr. Elkasrawy was the imam at Masjid Toronto, and was caught on video intoning a prayer in which he implored Allah to “purify Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews”:
O Allah! Destroy anyone who displaced the sons of the Muslims. O Allah! Count their number; slay them one by one and spare not one of them. O Allah! Purify Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews!
Even though reciting that prayer was business as usual at the mosque — it is recited frequently in mosques all over the world — news of the video gained traction and caused an uproar in Ontario. Mr. Elkasrawy was removed from his position at the mosque (he has since been reinstated), and forced to resign from his position as a teaching assistant at Ryerson University.
That was last winter. In the intervening months, Ayman Elkasrawy has been working hard to rehabilitate his reputation. The culmination of his efforts was a long puff-piece published on Sunday by The Toronto Star. It turns out that the imam didn’t really say it, and besides, it was a bad translation. He was misunderstood. Or something like that.
An imam in Toronto, Ayman Elkasrawy, prayed that Allah would kill all the Jews. In a sane society, newspapers would be investigating the prevalence of Islamic antisemitism in the area mosques, and among Muslims in general. But this isn’t a sane society, this is Trudeau’s Canada. So instead of focusing on Islamic antisemitism, the Toronto Star has published this exhaustingly lengthy piece portraying Elkasrawy as the real victim, a shy, inarticulate lug who wouldn’t hurt a fly, especially a Jewish one, and whose words were mistranslated and misrepresented by racist, bigoted right-wing “Islamophobes.” He didn’t mean it, the Star tells us. In fact, says the Star’s Arabic experts, he didn’t even say it. If it weren’t for those wicked right-wingers, Ayman Elkasrawy and Jewish leaders in Toronto would be doing a happy multicultural dance together, but instead, the reputation of this good, gentle man has been unjustly sullied. But now here comes the Toronto Star to justify the ways of Elkasrawy to man, and reassure everyone about the glories of diversity.
This defense of the Elkasrawy Affair, like so many attempts to whitewash Islam, relies on the general perception that Arabic is mystical, intricate language of such subtlety and nuance that only a native speaker and a scholar can provide an accurate, meaningful translation. And, coincidentally, all such reliable translators just happen to be pious Muslims! Funny about that.
However, even The Star acknowledges that 80% of the world’s Muslims don’t understand Arabic. And some of those Muslims are devoutly observant. So how do they gain their understanding of what the scriptures and prayers mean? Surprise! They read versions in their own languages, translated by pious scholars who are fluent in Arabic.
The language most frequently used in Islamic instruction materials is actually English. That means that there must be numerous sources out there — provided by Muslims and intended for a Muslim audience — that could confirm or refute the “erroneous” translation used in the subtitles of the Masjid Toronto video.
But I’m getting ahead of myself — Robert Spencer will have plenty to say on this aspect of the Elkasrawy Affair. First let’s revisit the original video from Masjid Toronto:
Vlad Tepes interviewed Robert Spencer yesterday about this new phase of the Elkasrawy Affair:
Now let’s look at the article in The Toronto Star. Mr. Spencer covers it in great detail, but there are a few paragraphs I want to take note of:
But there is also enormous diversity within both groups [Muslims and Jews], which are sometimes the source of one another’s pain. There is mounting concern over anti-Semitism in certain corners of the Muslim world; meanwhile, Jewish people on the far right are among the loudest voices in the anti-Muslim movement. Israeli-Palestinian debates also have a tendency to slide into accusations of anti-Semitism or Islamophobia.
Notice the way Muslims and Jews are yoked together as victims. There’s anti-Semitism, and there’s Islamophobia. Both bad! We Muslims and Jews need to stick together!
And who were the “loudest voices”?
After the story broke, Masjid Toronto took all its videos offline but it was too late; a new, edited clip was posted on YouTube, crediting Halevi with its translation and referencing an extreme anti-Muslim ideology known as “counter-jihad.” The account hosting the clip also mentions “Vlad Tepes Blog” in its video description.
The “counter-jihad” is described by researchers as a loose network of people and groups united by the belief that Muslims are plotting to take over the West. A recent National Post investigation described Rebel News as a “global platform” for the counter-jihad, and linked Vlad Tepes Blog — regarded as a key website in the movement — to a frequent Rebel News contributor.
That’s my favorite part of the article. The Star told its readers exactly where to find the most reliable information on Islamization — at the “key website” Vlad Tepes. They didn’t leave a link, but, hey, Google is your best friend.
Concerning the misunderstood or mistranslated prayer:
“It changed their meaning in such a way as to promote the dangerous myths that violent extremism and hate are inherent to Islam,” [University of Toronto associate professor Atiqa] Hachimi said.
Elkasrawy also was not referring to Jewish people when he said “slay them one by one,” a line from the Hadith that is often invoked as a cry for divine justice. This line was misunderstood as being part of his prayer about Al-Aqsa mosque; in fact, it was the closing line in a previous supplication that he made on behalf of suffering Muslims around the world, Hachimi said.
As for “Purify the Al-Aqsa mosque from the filth of the Jews,” a more accurate translation is “Cleanse Al-Aqsa mosque from the Jews’ desecration of it,” according to Nazir Harb Michel, an Arabic sociolinguist and Islamophobia researcher at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
[…]
He said “Jews” is widely used in the Arabic-speaking world to mean “Israeli forces” or “Israeli occupiers,” not as a sweeping reference to all ethnic and religious Jews…
OK. So it isn’t the Jews that need to be slain one by one, it’s those nasty Zionists. Thank you for explaining that, Dr. Michel.
But what did that prayer mean when the verses were first written back in the 7th century? Al-Aqsa was Muslim property then, and there were no Zionists. So who were those “occupiers” that needed to be “cleansed”?
Representatives of the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland, Alternative for Germany) have taken their seats in the Bundestag for the first time. Opinion writers expressed their alarm over the seating of Nazi-sympathizers in the legislature, while “anti-fascists” demonstrated in front of the building.
In other news, the frenzy surrounding the Harvey Weinstein scandal has spread to the EU, with a number of women coming forward to accuse senior apparatchiks of sexual misconduct.
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Thanks to Charles Low, Dean, JD, Reader from Chicago, Red Mike, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Massimo Giannini is the presenter of the weekly politics and current affairs TV talk show Ballarò on RAI 3 in Italy. Alessandro Meluzzi is an Italian psychiatrist, writer, politician, and academic.
In the following clip, Dr. Meluzzi discusses the coming Islamic colonization of Italy and the rest of the West. The program aired in May 2017, just after the terrorist bombing in Manchester.
Many thanks to Elle Bowlly for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Eight people in France have been charged with terrorism offenses for their alleged plans for right-wing violence, including attacks on mosques. Three of those charged are minors, and seven are currently in custody.
In other news, the World Health Organization has revoked the appointment of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as its good-will ambassador.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, Charles Low, Dean, Dora, Fjordman, JD, Reader from Chicago, Upananda Brahmachari, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Alessandro Meluzzi is an Italian psychiatrist, writer, politician, and academic. In the following video from a TV panel, Dr. Meluzzi locks horns with the presenter and one of the panelists about the consequences of mass immigration into Italy.
A note concerning the Budrio case, which is mentioned in this clip: After serving a sentence for theft, a Serb immigrant was released from Italian prison in 2015. Later, in the town of Budrio in Bologna province, he killed a barman and injured another person with a gun he stole from a security guard. He escaped, and days later killed an Italian guard and injured a policeman.
Many thanks to Elle Bowlly for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Giorgia Meloni is the leader of the anti-immigration party Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) and a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. In the following speech she talks about the giving away of citizenship according to the principle of ius soli, which awards citizenship to anyone born in the country.
Many thanks to Elle Bowlly for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
The Spanish government has used a clause in the national constitution to revoke Catalonia’s regional autonomy in the wake of the latter’s independence referendum, which Spain says is illegal. As part of the process, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy may remove the Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont from office.
In other news, President Donald Trump has ordered that all remaining classified government files on the assassination of President Kennedy be made available to the public.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Charles Low, Dean, JD, LP, Reader from Chicago, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
The other day Dymphna posted about the intersection of California’s new law declaring itself a “sanctuary state” and the recent catastrophic wildfires that have devastated areas in the northern part of the state. Earlier today a commenter named NMObserver left the following remarks on that post:
A question that I don’t see being asked is how much money Gov. Brown has accepted from Mexican drug cartels. What other reason could there be for this man to sell out his own country and his fellow citizens? His actions simply further the Mexican colonization of California. The same question needs to be asked about other California officials like Xavier Becerra and Fabian Nunez and Eric Garcetti. And then there are all the California assemblymen that have no trouble voting to turn CA into a sanctuary state. Probably many of them have also been bought with drug money.
The commenter had touched upon one of my pet topics. This was my response:
Yet somehow Governor Moonbeam actually obtained the votes necessary to get elected. The Aztecs and MS-13 members aren’t enough to account for that. Millions upon millions of white, native English speakers voted to have this man as their governor.
Scale it up, and a similar process elected Hussein as president. Twice.
The core problem is not the invaders and the violent Third World masses. The core problem is not even the white traitors who deliberately, proactively import them.
The core problem is the fact that a large proportion of the productive white native English-speaking population assents via the ballot box to what is happening, over and over again. Willingly, even eagerly. With pride in their own virtue for putting these corrupt criminal traitors in charge.
THAT is the core problem. Until it is addressed and dealt with, nothing will change significantly. The bus will continue its trajectory over the cliff.
The same may be said of Western Europe. A different cast of characters — Africans and Muslims instead of Aztecs, and far more socialism than even California has — but the same process is underway.
As satisfying as it is to blame political leaders for our current dire situation, even in the most thoroughly propagandized and socially controlled Western countries (think: Sweden) it is possible to unseat elected leaders via the ballot box. When enough rascals are thrown out, major policy changes will be implemented, and a different political game will begin.
Yes, election fraud can give a particular candidate victory over an opponent, but only at the margin. When dissatisfaction is widespread enough, fraud is not enough. The election of Donald Trump is proof, because his opponent tried every dirty trick in the book (and made up some new ones) in an effort to keep him out of power.
But Trump’s victory is a rarity. It does not change the fact that the electorate is deeply polarized, and came within a hair’s breadth of electing a third term of Obama by putting a pants-suited white termagant in the White House.
How is it that voters throughout the West keep voting for the destruction of their own nations and cultures?
How is it that people keep re-electing the same politicians who ignore their wishes, over and over again?
The following analysis by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff of the Austrian general election was published last Tuesday by JournalistenWatch. Many thanks to JLH for the translation:
Is Austria Moving (Briefly)[1] to the Right?
Analysis by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff. October 17, 2017
Sebastian Kurz, chief of the New (old) Folk Party (ÖVP), achieved a notable victory on Sunday, ahead of the Socialists Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the invigorated Freedom Party (FPÖ). After a weak campaign, internal discussions and a fatal split (resulting in the Pilz List), the Greens exited the National Assembly. The NEOS managed to stay. All other parties were too small to jump the 4% barrier.
The ÖVP waged a nearly flawless — albeit rather bland and insubstantial — campaign. What is remembered is just Kurz hammering on having personally closed the West Balkan route and his promise of a new style in a new government. Criticism of Kurz’s shared responsibility in the chaos proceeding from a unanimity of opinion in the cabinet — especially in the matters of the immigration and asylum crisis, and expanded national debt — bounced off him. Unfortunately, the FPÖ failed to reproach him with the collapse of the Islam Law and the associated, continuing Islamization of Austria. Taking effect in 2015,the Austrian Islam Law became a disaster, as confirmed by Chancellor Kern and Minister of Justice Brandstätter. Kurz, as well as Kern and Brandstätter had been informed of the law’s defects before it went into effect.
The SPÖ campaign was shaped by proverbial busts, bad luck and bloopers. The SPÖ’s good result in Vienna can be traced to Mayor Michael Häupl’s propagation of the blue-black bogeyman image, to the great number of immigrants naturalized in recent years, and to the Greens’ inability to recognize the signs of the times. The Vienna result saved the SPÖ from an even greater debacle.
The FPÖ conducted what was a comparatively calm campaign for it, tailored entirely to the personality of H.C. Strache, who was markedly laid-back and statesmanlike. This suited him well, since formation of a government without the FPÖ, i.e., Strache, will not be possible. The FPÖ’s social media campaign with humorous videos can be designated especially successful. Even though Kurz and his ÖVP appropriated many of the FPÖ’s topics, most of the voters were apparently able to distinguish the two parties.
Something to think about is that Austria has probably moved right — much to the displeasure of Juncker and friends — but not nearly as far to the right as believed. In the past two decades, the ÖVP has moved massively to the left; the SPÖ — pressured by the immigration crisis has moved to the right; and now there is a relatively clear majority to the right of center. So this categorization, according to the experts, no longer applies.
So what will happen now in Austria? Will Sebastian Kurz “shortly”[1] become the new head of government — the youngest in the world? It looks like that, but the SPÖ under outgoing Chancellor Kern — focused on preserving its power — could upset those calculations by offering the FPÖ all of the ministries now headed by the ÖVP. Strache will (have to) carefully consider this offer. Tactically, the ÖVP is holding much worse cards. A renewed coalition with the SPÖ seems impossible in light of Kurz’s declaration of a new style in the government. You don’t get together with the party you have accused of a bad style, without expecting an immediate loss of credibility and a 15% fall in the polls. And Strache will not make choosing him as junior partner cheap for the ÖVP.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a World War One memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland violates the Constitution and must be taken down. The monument is in the shape of the cross, and the court stated that cross shape unconstitutionally entangles the state with a specific religion.
