Austrian government collapses as far right leader caught in video sting

[Gerald]

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria raced on Saturday toward a snap election as Chancellor Sebastian Kurz pulled the plug on his coalition with the far right after its leader was caught on video offering to fix state contracts with a woman posing as a Russian oligarch’s niece.

The far-right Freedom Party’s Heinz-Christian Strache resigned as vice chancellor and party leader after the video was released by two German news organizations. He acknowledged that the video was “catastrophic” but denied breaking the law.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-politics-freedom-party/austrian-government-collapses-as-far-right-leader-caught-in-video-sting-idUSKCN1SN2RA

[Nordmann]

Well, they've been looking for an excuse to get him out since the election, and I guess they finally engineered their smoking gun.

I suppose that'll be a far left government taking over in the near future?

[Catfish]

Mr Strache has sold (or tried to sell) Austria to the Russians.
Which is why he and his right wing "Freedom party" is under attack.

"For weeks, opposition parties had called on Mr. Kurz to end his controversial coalition with the Freedom Party, with its well-documented links to far-right extremists and to Russia, which have increasingly worried allies at home and abroad."

"Many of Europe’s populists share the intentions of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to widen political divisions and weaken Western institutions. Those tactics have involved interfering in democratic campaigns including the United States 2016 elections [and brexit one might add]. And a Russian woman, Maria Butina, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in April after admitting that she had been part of that effort."

Kurz > New elections.
I do not suppose the new government will be "left".
But it is not about "left" or "right" – Why draw any conclusions from what is happening openly since 2016? People are dumb :nope:

[skidman]

Well, they've been looking for an excuse to get him out since the election, and I guess they finally engineered their smoking gun.

I suppose that'll be a far left government taking over in the near future?

Rubbish. There is no left conspiracy. Strache dug his own grave and he made it twice as deep as it needed to be. Watch the video, it is mind-boggling.

There won't be a left government in Austria anytime soon. To speculate about a far left government shows that you have absolutely no clue what's going on there.

[Skybird]

Well, they've been looking for an excuse to get him out since the election, and I guess they finally engineered their smoking gun.

I suppose that'll be a far left government taking over in the near future?
Strache obviously is a scumbag who is as corrupt as he is dumb. He demonstrated his willingness to sell Austrian policy-making to a Russian investor and to dispose leading perople at the Krone Zeitung standing int he way of a what encouraged to be a Russian takeover. And its not the first time that his party killed a colation govenrment it was in - by corruption of its lead personnel.

Kurz will try to be seen as acting smart and detmerined, But with his interior minister also being of Stracher oarty and also under suspicion, neitehr transparency not investigation can be expected as long as he doe snot fire the man as well. The coaliaiton may have already been declared over, but Kurz said he wanted ti contiunue govenrment calmly until elections in early Septembre. He will find that difficutl, I think.

The situation of course and obviously was a trap set up to catch him on video. And he stepped in. So no need to cry for him or call fould play against him. His guilt and his treacherous nature is beyond doubt. Its crystal-clear by the the video. Thats why he did not even try to weasel out. His party and the interior minister however try to weasel and protect him, and thats why Kurz finally lost patience and declared it all over.

Could be that the right in Autria will call it foul play against their man nevertehless and in an act of defiance will vote right even more than before
. But also possible that many of Strache'S fans are disappointed and will flee to Kurz. Kurz plays a gamble currently - and if he wins it, he will be stronger than before. The question is if he will need a coalition prtbner again, whcih woudkl be a problem since he has ruled out a coalition with the socialoists, and the FPÖ obviously is discreditted. I do not know the ciurrent numbers on the poltlicla mood in Austria, but if he sees a reasoinable chance, Kurz might be well-advised indeed to go for it all, to avoid the hassle of another coalition-building.

Interestingly, just days ago the president of the German secret service BND indicated unusually frankly und undiplomatically that the Austrians currently are not seen as a trustworthy ally in intel business relations and are being seen as a security risk.

Immer g'schmeidig bleiben.

[ikalugin]

A good western intel op. Even if he did make those deals as the Germans (for example) say the timing selected by 3rd parties was perfect to affect the elections in Austria.

[Skybird]

Claim is made that Tal Silberstein, a known negative-campaign-expert who already was involved in smear-campaigns in the past, may be behind it - working on order by the SPÖ, the Austrian socialist party. Kurz briefly hinted at his name, too.



https://translate.google.de/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fpolitik%2Fausland %2Fstrache-video-wer-ist-der-spindoktor-tal-silberstein-a-1268182.html



And what does Tal Siberstein say about that? Nothing at all. He was arrested in August 2017 for various allegations of corruption in Israel (https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&rurl=translate.google.de&sl=auto&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/oesterreich-kanzler-christian-kern-wegen-berater-unter-druck-a-1163058.html&xid=17259,15700021,15700186,15700190,15700256,1570 0259&usg=ALkJrhj4bDbpCY9eGRb8BXh3L5_ib2AYxQ) . Meanwhile, he is free again. He and some business partners - including Beny Steinmetz, one of Israel's richest men - are being investigated for money laundering, corruption and obstruction of the judiciary.
A rat. An expert rat, a mercenary rat, but still a rat. However, Austrians should thank him this time.