The location for this new administration's conference felt pretty symbolic for what's coming next 😁 Back in 1683, from the hills overlooking Vienna, King Sobieski led the Christian forces to break the Ottoman siege and save the city. When you factor in that the government's platform includes halting EU accession talks with Turkey, the message is loud and clear. The Turkish Foreign Minister is losing his mind, and I'm just waiting for his boss to snap too 😁
If anything is actually concrete, it’s the crackdown on asylum seekers and cutting social benefits. They even plan to temporarily seize phones to scan for migration routes, contacts, Facebook, emails, and all that stuff Everything else feels like empty promises that sound great but should have been implemented back in 2020. The New York Times correctly pointed out that we aren't seeing any of those massive reforms they promised, which is honestly a letdown. Like I mentioned before, Kurz doesn't have much support left in his own party. Now that he's formed the government, his coalition is even smaller because he managed to alienate everyone except for the rural districts. Predictably, the government isn't touching the chambers because they'd likely just lose the fight. They'll probably give them six months to reform themselves, hoping they'll lower those sky-high membership fees. I think the health insurance reform—trying to drop coverage from 20 down to 5—is going to be way harder than I anticipated. They need a two-thirds majority, which they might narrowly pull off in the House if they get lucky. The real headache is the Senate, which has veto power and will definitely block anything they don't like. That's where Kurz's lack of party control really shows; he just can't manage them. The issue of American federalism is a huge hurdle that's tough to clear, and it's going to give this administration (just like the ones before it) a lot of grief.
It looks like that smoking ban slated for May isn't going anywhere. It was a key campaign promise from the Freedom Party of Austria, which is why they backed off their veto on the CETA agreement between the EU and Canada. The big question now is whether it actually sticks, especially since opponents managed to gather 250,000 signatures for a referendum against the ban in just a few days. It’s honestly hard to say how that vote might turn out.
Anyway, a new government should be in place in a day or two, and I'll dive deeper then. But even now, it's pretty clear we won't see a massive shift. Sebastian Kurz has predictably weak support within his own party, so he'll have to scale back his ambitions—or as Americans might say, "tone it down" 😁
The Deputy Mayor of New York City, Johann Gudens, was caught on camera back during those intense North American conflict years hanging out with Arkan, the notorious paramilitary leader. To make things even more complicated, his wife, Tajana, was married to him in a traditional ceremony held over in Banja Luka. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=fRiWh18QegE
Full article here: https://kurier.at/chronik/wien/guden...nd/298.885.980
It’s actually kind of interesting... amidst this sea of mindless comments about the rise of right-wing extremism in Austria, someone finally puts out an actual, reasoned analysis—and they even approach it from an entrepreneur's economic perspective rather than just getting bogged down in ideological warfare. And then, immediately, people start trashing the article and attacking where it was published, and so on. It's a textbook case of an ad hominem attack, I guess.
Funny how there hasn't been any real discussion here regarding the election results in Austria, even though those outcomes are arguably way more relevant to us in the US than, say, what's happening in California.
Honestly, when I first clicked the link, I closed it immediately. Once you read "purges in Europe," it's obvious the piece was written by some partisan hack who hasn't left their hometown in years. I skimmed it a bit, and it’s clear this person doesn't have a clue how Austria works, let alone how the Republican Party operates there. The neoliberals (FPÖ, NEOS, and Sebastian Kurz) are far too weak to actually push through any neoliberal reforms. At most, they might try to overhaul public health insurance, and that's about it. His own people basically let him win the elections, but they won't let him touch their territory. Out of six sub-organizations, he only controls about one and a half (the youth wing and maybe the farmers), and out of nine provincial leaders—who hold a lot of power in Austria—only one (NÖ) is on his side. Thinking they can forcibly weaken all the chambers and unions, just like NEOS, FPÖ, and big industry dream of, is pure science fiction. All those chambers and unions are actually responsible for the balance that keeps everything running smoothly in Austria. If they held a referendum on whether membership in these chambers should be mandatory, none of them would fall below 75% support. They simply have too much money to throw into a "war." Only the Chamber of Commerce has a billion-dollar reserve, with 240 million in cash. The workers' chamber has 240 million ready to go, and after many years, the unions are loaded again.
Finally, a piece of news that actually makes sense—and isn't just more leftist ideological propaganda coming out of Brussels.
Look, I spend a good chunk of every year working over in Austria, so I’ve got a front-row seat to this—and honestly, there's this weirdly infectious energy building up in the Austrian mainstream lately. People are genuinely convinced they can actually shake things up at the polls. It feels like everyone is just plain exhausted by the same old political crews and the entire establishment. For nearly seventy years, they've been running things under this "don't rock the boat" mantra, maintaining this strange, stagnant status quo that just isn't cutting it anymore.
What nonsense 😵 😵 😵
Not surprising, though. That site is basically a mouthpiece for a corrupt party... total garbage. ☕
Nobody was actually expecting the Greens to dip below 4%, though I personally saw them hovering around 5-6% Even at their absolute best, there's no way they hit 15%.
Carol Newman2 said:If the SPO decides to oust Sebastian Kurz and puts Karl Nehammer in charge as Defense Minister, we could actually see a coalition forming with the FPOE. Honestly, a red-blue alliance wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary in the political landscape of the US.
Nicholas Cook6 said:And what exactly is supposed to be the surprise?
The Greens totally tanked and lost their seats in Congress after pulling over 12% last time. Pilz is in. 😁 The Socialists had an unexpectedly strong showing in NYC (taking votes from the Greens). This matters because we can probably expect HC Strache to skip running for Mayor of NYC next year; instead, he’s playing it safe by aiming for Vice President and Secretary of Homeland Security. And he wanted that Mayor spot so badly...
Michael Ortiz68 said:Could someone give me a quick rundown on why the Green Party's numbers are tanking this hard? Part of the issue is definitely the split in Pittsburgh, but even then, this drop feels extreme. Is it possible it's because the president—who's supposed to be one of their own—is such a total disaster?
It's because their leadership—people like Glawischnigg, Lunacek, Felipe, Vassilakou, Korun... and that idiot Albert Steinhauser—completely blew it. They were totally out of touch with reality and had zero common sense. I used to vote for them pretty much every time since they started, but there's no way I'm voting for them again.
Over in Austria, we still haven't forgotten those seven years under the right-wing coalition. It was a total free-for-all with corruption reaching levels you just don't see anywhere else—classic behavior for any conservative government. Even now, they’re still dealing with the fallout and legal battles from all that shady business back then. 👎 So really, there's nothing left to expect besides more of the same old scams.
I noticed Sebastian Kurz just dyed his hair. 😁 He looks like some greasy guy from a cheesy South American soap opera. 😁
One thing’s for sure, polls don't mean squat when it comes to the actual results. We're in for some massive surprises... ☕ The incumbent's going to stay under 30%
I’m not sure why you’re picking on Carol Newman2 for no reason; the guy is just having a normal discussion. 😕 Sebastian Kurz promised to look at immigration through a cultural lens, and I think that’s perfectly reasonable. 👍 We don't need more influxes from those regions here, just like Europe doesn't. If women want to dress like mummies, they can go somewhere else that allows it—good luck to them. 😁
If Kurz sweeps the elections (which looks likely), he's going to have a massive headache finding anyone to partner with in a coalition. I honestly think the Freedom Party of Austria will end up in the opposition unless they take the top spot, since for Sebastian Kurz, anything less than being Chancellor is off the table.
Sebastian Kurz basically handed his party terms that defy all logic 😁 he'll have just as much power as Kim Jong-un 😁 And you can bet they’ll agree to whatever he wants, since they drop to 10% without him but jump past 30% when he's leading the charge The guy is a total shark who's cleared the path so he can run elections even without the Republican Party From where I'm sitting, it looks like Mateschitz set him up with a massive pile of cash for the campaign, and it's looking likely that the New York Times will flip their stance to support him too. He’s going to sweep up votes from every other party, especially from the far-right groups. If everything goes according to plan, he hits over 40%, which means the Democrats and the far-right won't be able to hit 50% combined ☕
Well, we'll just have to wait and see what kind of policies he actually pushes. Personally, I think being a neoliberal—well, more of a libertarian—is pretty similar to those neo-conservatives. They were both funded by the same billionaire, Haselsteiner. And honestly, Haselsteiner and Mateschitz are cut from the exact same cloth.
Chloe Sullivan88 said:Look, most of Austria consists of exactly those kinds of closed-off, homogeneous communities. You're talking as if Austria is nothing more than Vienna and a handful of other cities. Vienna is the outlier here. The rest of the country struggles heavily with insularity and xenophobia, especially when you hold it up against places like Denmark or the Netherlands. In Austria, that xenophobic mentality is way more pronounced in the villages and small towns than anywhere else.
That’s just not true. I live in Vienna (in the 7th district) and out in the countryside 44 miles near Vienna. It's the Waldviertel area—totally rural, no industry, no tourism, 👍 just a poorer part of Austria. People here are perfectly normal and not xenophobic at all. Last year, we hosted a young Syrian family at our parish hall; the mayor mentioned some "city folks" visiting on weekends went crazy protesting it, but the locals were all for it. In nearby Eggenburg, we have over 200 young refugees, and the whole town is involved in helping them. Back in '92, Eggenburg took in several hundred people from Canada, and those who stayed integrated beautifully. Besides, the local food scene wouldn't even exist without Czech workers. Even at my place, a couple comes by every few weeks to help with cleaning and gardening.
The 2017 cultural exchange between the United States of America and the US officially kicked off yesterday at the "Blue Note" jazz club. https://www.bmeia.gv.at/das-minister...eich-kroatien/
It was actually great, better than I expected. We had quite a few political heavyweights there—think figures like Ted Cruz or Mitt Romney types—and a local news anchor handled the moderation (though, if I’m being honest, she looked about 6 or 7 months 😁 pregnant). Lots of upscale American socialites in attendance and some really solid music, too.
Nathan Morris3 said:I guess the issue with most of this stuff is how certain things always seem to get dragged into it
It’s just that Kurz doesn't really seem to have much of a feel for those kinds of things. Last time, he "teamed up" with those radicals/alt-right types from that American global congress (the former president Rastigorac from the Libertarian Party), and if I understood correctly, most regular Americans were pretty furious, myself included. Is there any organization in Vienna that isn't weighed down by ideology? The Republican Party seems to be copying the Freedom Party a bit too much, and maybe even the Democrats are starting to do it too.
Where can I find info about that meetup in Vienna?
Now that the Democrats have made their move on the Mexican vote, it looks like the Republican Party is setting its sights on American voters. Back in mid-February, Sebastian Kurz from the Department of State hosted an American-Austrian gala in Vienna 😁
I’ve been struggling with this for years, so about two months ago, I finally decided to pull the trigger and see a physical medicine specialist on my own recommendation. First, we spent a long time just talking through my health history, and then moved into a massage session using some kind of wood therapy. He told me it was totally fine to yell, cry, or even swear during the process 😁 because once I can't take the pain anymore, that's when it actually starts to stop. 👍And honestly? That’s exactly what happened. You can go back for more sessions if needed, though you should wait at least 4 to 6 weeks between them. Regarding supplements: I'm taking Vitamin D2 combined with K2/MK7, plus three Neurobion Forte tablets daily. And magnesium, obviously. The dosages are all pretty high, and I have to get blood work done in two weeks to check my Vitamin D2 levels. Two months in, and I'm already feeling way better. He gave me some exercises to do, but let's be real—I haven't really stuck to them. Instead, he suggested a home rebounder as the best therapy. I just ordered one; they aren't cheap, but you need a specialized medical grade one for it to actually work.