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Last Friday, a scandal rocked Austria. Two liberal German newspapers published a video in which the Austrian Vice-Chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the Freedom Party, did exactly what the comedian warned: under the influence of drinks, he negotiated with the “niece” of a Russian oligarch about the possibility that the wealthy woman would take under control of the largest Austrian newspaper, “Kronen”, to further advance the far-right agenda. In return, it would win good contracts from the Austrian Government.
The meeting took place before the 2017 parliamentary elections, but the video has now been released. Although the German media – which published the video – say that it has nothing to do with the expected European elections, it seems that the goal was exactly that: to hit the extreme right at the right moment. It was not for nothing that the video came to light when far-right politicians were about to launch their project for an axis of populists, with the Italian Salvini, the French Le Pen and the Austrian Strache. The blow that was given to the vice chancellor – already removed from the government and practically from Austrian politics – was quite significant.
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It still remains a mystery who “made” the video that would shock Austrian politics and the extreme right in Europe. So far everything seems very well orchestrated by a left hand, which was intended to show the true face of the populist right. An organization of German artists is said to have a hand in this story. Others go further when they say that the German secret service is involved. But conspiracy theories run rampant when they see the hand of Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz behind this story. The latter decided to govern with the Freedom Party – a neo-Nazi movement with deep roots in Austrian politics – promising Europeans that the best way to keep the far-right “beast” under control is to govern with him. Kurz promised to tame the “beast”, but she just acted as she always knows how to do until we got to the point where the 32-year-old Kurz reacted angrily to them: “Enough is enough”, he said at a press conference. For many analysts, Kurz bears his share of the blame for this situation. The German magazine “Der Spiegel” says that Austria already looks like a banana republic. Others, like Bild newspaper, see an opportunity for Kurz to return as chancellor, now without the burden of neo-Nazis on his back, as his rising star will not stop.
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Affected by the labels “banana republic”, the Austrians hastened to publish a comparison saying that in Albania, a video scandal published a few years ago, not only did not interrupt the career of a politician like Ilir Meta, but he managed to become president.
“Here we are, we have become like Albania”, comments someone in the article posted by “Die Presse”.
“This is no longer a banana republic, this is no longer Albania. We have become a republic of shame”, writes the publisher of the “Austria” portal, Wolfgang Fellner.
But, as Albania continues to remain the “benchmark” of evil in Europe, many Albanians on social networks are disgusted by the comparisons and want to see the Austrian scandal as an example that should be taken by senior Albanian politicians – when it comes to reacting to videotaps.
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It is not known what scenarios will follow in Austrian politics, but the fact is that Albanians can learn some lessons from this situation. First, to be careful when choosing allies to discuss some theses that are sensitive for Albanians. It really seems excessive to speculate that Austria, which was among the few countries that aligned itself with the pro-idea of the division of Kosovo, does not like Albanians. But the fact is that the Austrian political environment had recently become so acidic that the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, would have disgusted him not only as a politician, but also as an artist. The traces of the latest scandal show how strong the connections of the Russians are when it comes to political extremes. Strache was relaxed in front of the “niece” of the Russian oligarch, as he knew that the billionaire in question is a close friend of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Not only that, but the biggest problem with the Freedom Party was their Home Secretary, Herbert Kickl. Several European countries cut off cooperation with intelligence services in Austria, fearing that Kickli’s ties to Russia are deep.
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Second, the case in question showed that populism has a “skin” as thin as ideology itself. In essence, populism, which we are also seeing in Albanian politics, since the moment when Prime Minister Edi Rama does not assume any responsibility, seeing evil only in others, is a simple ideology: we are the good people, all others are bad. But the case in question and many others show that populists are not only not different from others, but are corrupt and dangerous “swamp creatures”, as Bloomberg labels them.
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Thirdly, the scandal in question helps us expand the panorama more when it comes to the situation in Europe, which is presented to us by the Albanian government as the main reason why Albania’s integration has stalled. The history of the Freedom Party and its scandals dates back to the 60s of the last century. Europe has repeatedly known such situations, and what we are experiencing now is neither the first nor the worst, as the governments are telling us. A decade ago, while writing in the “Bild” newspaper in a historical open letter, the former German chancellor Helmut Kohl emphasized that the path of united Europe has always been very difficult. Especially in 2008, the Union experienced moments of crisis that come once in a century, perhaps. Can you imagine for a moment if Edi Rama was prime minister during this time, what he could have invented?
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Lastly and perhaps most importantly, Albanians must learn that when it comes to evaluating a government, scandals are at the top of the judgment hierarchy. One scandal is enough to topple a government. Starting from this angle, this government would have been overthrown many times. The point is, if the Minister of the Interior of a foreign government was accused of such ties to organized crime (Saimir Tahiri himself says that he has the same charges as Aldo Bares), that government and that prime minister would have disappeared into history. . If there had been interceptions like these of files 339 or 184, that prime minister would have been forgotten by now.
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And there is a strong reason why when scandals break out, governments fall. This is not only because they have come out unwashed. But because trying to protect a scandal, you have to distort the whole democracy, putting the system under control. First you have to get the media under control to show that the scandal is not what it seems. Then you have to put justice under control to show that no crime has been committed. Then you have to seize Parliament to prevent the legislature from performing its functions of check and balance on the executive. Then you have to slaughter the opposition so that it is no longer the only voice that defends democracy. Then you have to castrate the intellectuals and the elite so they don’t see either the tracks or the wolf. Then you have to line up all the people in the party to prevent counter-spips. And, in the end, after you have done all this, a crisis like the current one breaks out, where all the deformations of democracy only come and multiply. This is the reason why scandals are at the top of the assessment for a government: To stop the domino effect of distorting democracy that brings us to the point where we are now. Evil must be beheaded from the beginning. Now it’s just too, too late. /map/
Source link : https://telegrafi.com/en/Albania-has-become-the-standard-of-evil-in-Europe/
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Publish date : 2024-10-20 23:48:00
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