Tag: Foreigners

Germany Comes to Austria, Again

Elections, Foreign Affairs

…just not at the head of a column of Panzers, this time:

As with Germany and France, losers big and small immediately decided they wouldn’t play with the party that had pulled nearly 30% of the votes cast or let the FPO ‘win’ at all. They moved to form a coalition to ice the Freedom Party out of government.

Like the National Rally in France (and the AfD in Germany — K.), all other ruling parties are uniting to keep the FPÖ out of government.

Hasn’t worked in Austria, either:

The announcement came more than three months after the legislative election on September 29. In that, the FPÖ, led by Herbert Kickl, emerged as the most popular party with 28.8 per cent of the vote.

The FPÖ had been unable to form a government due to a political cordon sanitaire imposed by other parties, labelling it as “far-right”. The ÖVP finished second with 26.3 per cent, followed by the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) with 21.1 per cent. The FPÖ has however taken part in previous government coalitions, the last time being 2019 (with ÖVP).

Austria’s President, Alexander Van der Bellen, a member of the Green Party and a vocal critic of Kickl, announced on January 5 that he would meet with the FPÖ leader on January 6.

In a brief televised address, Van der Bellen acknowledged that opposition within the ÖVP on collaboration with Kickl had softened after Nehammer’s resignation. “I have used the last few hours to speak to numerous political decision-makers. During these discussions, the picture emerged that the voices within the People’s Party that rule out cooperation with an FPÖ under Herbert Kickl have become significantly quieter,” he said.

In an emergency meeting following Nehammer’s decision, the ÖVP leadership appointed Christian Stocker, the party’s general secretary, as interim president. The ÖVP also expressed its willingness to negotiate with the FPÖ to form a coalition.

So off they go, kicking and screaming, into a political future that puts Austrian citizens first, and immigrants second.

Like the Germans, like the French, and for a bonus, like the Canuckis as well.

Of our own MAGA revolution we will not speak.

Hubba hubba.

Expansionism

Foreign Affairs

Robert Spencer gives one of his normal cogent opinions on God-Emperor Trump’s musings about annexing Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal.

There’s the bottom line: if the United States doesn’t control the Panama Canal and Greenland, China or Russia likely will, and the consequences could be severe both for the American economy and for national security.

Yeah, forget about Canuckistan;  we absolutely do not need a colder and more Commie-fied version of California in our republic, and 51 is an unwieldy non-round number.  (I think Trump was just trolling the soon-to-be ex-prime minister anyway.)

As for Greenland and the Canal:  why not annex them both and make them U.S. protectorates like Guam and the USVI?  I find Spencer’s arguments quite compelling in both cases.

Quote Of The Day

QOTD

Talking here about Canada’s assisted suicide program (okay, it’s not strictly suicide per se, but it’s certainly a helping hand thereto), in the Comments came an absolute gem:

“This is what happens when you bring in nationalized healthcare and the government realizes they can’t pay for it.”

On a related topic, Canuckistan’s death by assisted-suicide rate is higher than death by gunfire.  Knowing them, they’re going to say next that this is proof that gun control works.

Man-Crush

Anti-Gun Nannies, The Gun Thing

Could I love ArgyPres Milei any more already?  After setting about his benighted country’s entrenched bureaucracy with a chainsaw and getting their sclerotic economy to move in the upwards direction, we now have this:

The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, signed a decree this week lowering the minimum age required to purchase a firearm from 21 to 18 years old.  The decree asserts that the minimum age required for the acquisition and possession of firearms should coincide with the age of majority established by Argentine law of 18 years old.
…
“For years, no one was encouraged to make this decision. We did not hesitate. While we disarm narco-terrorist gangs and organized crime, we celebrate that good citizens can have access to weapons being Legitimate Users,” she continued. “Empty speeches are a thing of the past. In this Government, we are making the right of Argentines to protect themselves and live in freedom a reality.”

Of course, the Argies have a long way to go before they enjoy anything like our Second Amendment freedoms (see the article for details) but all journeys begin with a single step, or something.

Dumping The Heritage

Diplomacy, Internationalism, Politics

Here’s a rather bad-tempered article (kinda like the ones I sometimes write) about letting go of the past:

Events over the past months have exposed a very stark divide between the globalist, collectivist, “woke” authorities of Europe and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) patriot movement here in the United States. To be frank, it is almost as if the snide, effete elitists who control the nations of the European continent want to rub our noses in their horror show.

Let’s be frank. Europe would be a total basket case without American taxpayers, American troops, and American subservience to their ever more bizarre “culture.” Since Woodrow Wilson first fell for the globalist-line that somehow “the better people” could build a world government free of popular input, the citizens of the United States have been played as fools. Churchill’s constant pushing and cajoling led to the so-called “special relationship” that has come to mean Uncle Sucker picks up the tab, does the dirty work and then allows others to make decisions.
…
All of this was made clear when a recent article by Giovanna De Maio and Célia Belin in the publication, Foreign Affairs, appeared entitled Europe’s America Problem. To set the record straight, the magazine is owned and operated by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). CFR has been the leading voice for globalist ambitions since its founding in 1921. It is the voice of the very people the MAGA movement has identified as those working to destroy American sovereignty and submerge us into a swamp.

Europe as advanced by the globalists at CRF, NATO, the Atlantic Council and the European Union (EU) is unalterably opposed to the core principles of the United States.  Even a cursory review shows them to outright enemies of liberty.

And then Wilson catalogues the list of atrocities:  (non-)freedom of speech;  extra-national prosecution of those daring to exercise such;  preventing the U.S. from supporting its own economic interests, yea even though that might affect those of other nations (gasp!);   preventing the U.S. from ignoring the utter fraud of “climate change” and its baleful bastard child Net Zero, and so on.  (Of their position on right of citizens to keep and bear arms, of course, we will not speak.)

Wilson asks the question, quite reasonably, that if the Euros are doing all this despite being essentially a welfare state propped up by U.S. taxpayers’ dollars, why should the U.S. play ball?

I think the answer is going to manifest itself, certainly over the next few years and maybe even longer as the next U.S. Administration and Congress take a long hard look at a cost : benefit analysis of our relationship with the Mother Country, so to speak.  And I don’t think the Euros are going to like the results of that analysis, and the actions that follow.

There was a time when the U.S. might have been prepared to bail the Euros out of the crap they got themselves in — two world wars and a cold one being good examples thereof — but that doesn’t mean the commitment is eternal:  not much is, in the realm of global politics.

And if the Euros seem intent as they are to drag us down with them, it would be foolish to go along with them because of such anachronisms like a “Special Relationship” or even historical ties.  I think that by now we have amply paid back our debt to France for the 1776 business, for one thing, and we sure as shit owe nothing to the Germans and other assorted malcontents.

I do expect, however, that we might well continue to do good business with countries such as Poland and Hungary, because they seem to be as skeptical as we are about the intentions of the EU.  Others might follow suit, of course, but not as long as they subscribe to the internationalist bullshit coming out of the WCC, UN, EU and similar institutions.

Yes, our fabled patience, forbearance and tolerance is wearing thin right now, and the Euros would do well not to make things worse with empty threats.