Mit Liebe

Sam K.

Thanks for this article. Makes me want to head up north and visit Berlin.

what the hell are the Austrians up to?

Austria’s national day is October 26.

South Korea’s national is today as well, which causes a diplomatic scheduling conflict here in Europe–whose party does one attend? Sure, one feels obligated to attend the German one as this is its stomping ground, but the Koreans have better food. (Actually, the Koreans solve it by moving the celebration a week before or after so that the elite can have their cake and eat it too.)

Heinz-Christian Strache is a piece of work, isn’t he?

HC foams at the mouth more than his colleagues to the left, but both the social and christian democrats have attempted the occasional end run around the right these past years. During this last campaign the left stemmed their losses to the right by playing up populism, including a letter to the publisher of an influential yellow journal stating that the SPÖ would hold a referendum on any changes to the EU treaties. Although Austria’s government has already ratified the Treaty of Lisbon, HC has long railed against this violation of the people’s will and never tires of extolling the virtues of direct democracy. Too bad the only reason he has a voice is due to the vagaries of proportional representation. We shall see what happens now that he has support from the left on this and several other issues and the middle-right ÖVP wants to go into opposition, effectively ruling out “the smallest grand coalition (of losers) ever.”