Free Republic

Austria’s Social Democratic Chancellor stood down in a shock announcement this morning amid collapsing support for traditional parties in the country, in a move which has been called “a beautiful day for Austria” by his insurgent nationalist opponents. Socialist-left Chancellor Werner Faymann’s Social Democratic Party of Austria failed to even make it to the second round of voting in last month’s presidential elections, as citizens voted overwhelmingly for candidates from alternative political movements. Just one in ten Austrians voted for the party in government. After the count, only Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party of Austria and Alexander Van der...

Austria could elect the European Union's first far-right head of state on Sunday, with support for Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer buoyed by a migration crisis that has heightened fears about employment and security. Opinion polls suggest the presidential run-off between Hofer and former Greens leader Alexander van der Bellen will be close. A far-right victory would resonate across the 28-member EU, where migration driven by conflict and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere has become a major political issue. Support for groups like the eurosceptic, anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO) has been rising in various countries, whether they have...

Austrians have headed to the polle to elect a new president in run-of elections. Early results by one polling institute gave far-right candidate Norbert Hofer a marginal lead at almost 51 percent. Norbert Hofer was projected to become Austria's first far-right president with 50.9 per cent of the votes, according to pollsters of the ARGE Wahlen group say. His lead over Green Party rival Alexander van der Bellen remains too narrow to call a definite winner. Former Green party chief van der Bellen was projected to gain 49.1 per cent of the ballots. ARGE said they were fairly certain that...

According to the interior ministry's final count of votes cast at polling-stations (in German), Mr Hofer took 51.9% to 48.1% for Mr Van der Bellen. But ORF public TV's projection (in German), which is usually considered reliable, has both men on 50%.

One month ago, pro-European voices in Austria, and all of Europe, were suddenly muted when in the first round of the Austrian presidential election, Norbert Hofer head of Austria Freedom Party (FPO), described as a "Euroskeptic, right-wing, anti-immigrant party" crushed his opposition buoyed by a migration crisis that has heightened fears about employment and security across the continent, and gathered a whopping 35% of the vote leaving the other five legacy candidates far behind.

Germany’s investigative police agency reported that the number of dangerous Islamists in Germany has sharply risen over the past year. In a report published in the Sunday edition of the German daily newspaper “Die Welt”, the German Criminal Police Office (BKA) said it had tracked 497 instances of “threats” or individuals with extremist views who could be suspected of carrying out terrorist attacks. The agency added that an additional 339 Islamists were also being tracked as “relevant persons,“ or individuals who may assist and sympathize with terrorist causes. […] Austria’s domestic intelligence agency also reported several days earlier that the...

Berlin (dpa) - Germany plans to invest tens of millions of euros in new tanks and an air defence system after an increase in the defence budget was announced for 2017, sources told dpa on Saturday. The country will spend an eight-figure sum of euros on modernizing the Leopard 2 combat tank, the sources at the Defence Ministry said. A low nine-figure sum would be spent on a new tactical air defence system (TLVS), they added. Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen placed emphasis on the increased spending and stricter quality guidelines in equipment projects in comments reported Saturday. "We...

But to try to screen Muslim employees, which is well-nigh impossible anyway, or to stop hiring Muslims -- that would be "Islamophobic." "Islamist extremists 'recruiting staff at airports in France,'" by Nicholas Cecil and Peter Allen, Evening Standard, May 20, 2016: Islamist extremists are attempting to recruit staff at French airports, it was claimed today. Workers at Charles de Gaulle airport were checked out in a security review following last November's Paris terror attack. Eric Moucay, a lawyer who represented some of the staff, made the claim today as he discussed how around 70 employees reportedly had their security passes...

A respected violence researcher has declared that the Cologne sex attacks show German men have forgotten how to fight, and it’s a good thing.However, immediately following the remark Baberowski, who is a historian at the Humboldt University in Berlin, said “thank god” that German men no longer know how to stand up for themselves or face violent conflict. He claimed that is was good that German men relied solely on the state to take care of them and protect them. He claimed that the New Years’ attacks were a failure of the state to protect its citizens and that if...

David Cameron has made Britain a “semi-pacifist” nation more interested in protecting “welfare and benefits” than adequate defenses, one of the country’s most senior retired generals has warned. General Sir Richard Shirreff, former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, said the UK had “shrunk in to itself” and carries an “increasingly impotent stick”. He said the country now risked losing its post-Falklands global reputation for military might. …

A century ago, the two greatest fleets of the industrial age fought an inconclusive battle in the North Sea. The British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet fielded a total of fifty-eight dreadnought battleships and battle cruisers, ships over the twice the size of most modern surface combatants. Including smaller ships, the battle included 250 vessels in total.

A new study shows that potentially thousands of Christians have been attacked and harassed in German migrant homes by Muslim guards and fellow migrants. Multiple human rights organizations are warning the German government of the conditions that Christians in asylum homes are being subjected to. One organization in particular has chronicled 231 specific cases of the harassment of Christians by Muslim migrants and Muslim security guards in asylum homes. Open Doors is a humanitarian relief organization that specializes in helping Christians who are persecuted worldwide. Markus Rode, a member of the group, said that the study is only “the tip...

A Fake Museum for a Fake Palestine The Palestinian Museum is as empty as its soul. May 20, 2016 Daniel Greenfield    Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. 150 years ago, Mark Twain visited Muslim-occupied Israel and wrote of “unpeopled deserts” and “mounds of barrenness,” of “forlorn” and “untenanted” cities. Palestine is “desolate,” he concluded. “One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings.” The same is true of the Palestinian Museum which opened with much fanfare and one slight problem. While admission is free,...

An interfaith group is laying the groundwork for what will likely be the world’s first ever joint house of prayer. The center of worship, which will be called the "House of One," will combine simultaneous Jewish, Muslim, and Christian prayer services. The House of One is planned to be built on the site of Berlin’s first church, the Petrikirche. One of the organizers of the interfaith group behind the planned church/mosque/synagogue, Rabbi Tovia Ben Chorin, said that the House of One is a reminder that despite the dark history of Berlin in the 20th century it is now a center...

German police reveal shocking information on 'serial killer' Police say that Manfred S., who died in 2014, could be responsible for the gruesome deaths of at least six people over several decades. The victims' bodies were found disfigured below the suspect's garage. Manfred S. was a "very normal family man" who did not arouse any suspicion until he died in August 2014, Detective Frank Herrmann, of the state criminal investigation office (LKA), told journalists in Wiesbaden, the state capital of Hesse in western Germany, on Thursday. The suspect worked as a gardener and handyman, played the saxophone and was known...

Poland is right to push to leave the EU and in doing so, to scrap all of the garbage that it accepted from the Euro system The whole “hate crime” idea, so popular in the West, is one of the biggest legal scams in our history. Think about it- who commits an actual crime because they like somebody or something? Hate is a precondition of criminality. Nobody rapes, murders, or beats somebody into a bloody because they love that person. The only reason that “hate crimes” exist is to create social sigma so that one group in society might subjugate...

The European Union expressed concern Wednesday about the rule of law in Poland and warned that it will take action by next week unless Warsaw makes progress on fixing the problem. The EU's executive Commission has been holding informal talks with Warsaw since November amid concerns about the conservative government's respect for Poland's Constitutional Court and the way judges are appointed. The Commission said if the tribunal "is prevented from fully ensuring an effective constitutional review, there can be no effective scrutiny of compliance with fundamental rights of legislative acts." Warsaw has until Monday to respond.

Top European leaders have blasted Bill and Hillary Clinton following a war of words about the commitment to democracy of both the Polish and Hungarian governments. One leading figure insisted Mr. Clinton “needs a medical test” following his remarks.

Truncated title. Full title:Europe’s Leaders Blast Bill Over Democracy Jibe: ‘The Mouth Belongs To Clinton, The Voice Belongs To Soros' Top European leaders have blasted Bill and Hillary Clinton following a war of words about the commitment to democracy of both the Polish and Hungarian governments. One leading figure insisted Mr. Clinton “needs a medical test” following his remarks. Bill Clinton upset NATO allies in a broadly unreported gaffe accusing Poland and Hungary of thinking “democracy is too much trouble” and wanting to have an “authoritarian dictatorship.” This is despite the fact that Poland recently held elections turfing out the...

Hundreds of thousands of people whose personal fates could hinge on whether Britain leaves the European Union won't even have a vote in next month's referendum: Polish migrants. Among other EU citizens, up to a million Poles live and work in Britain. They're allowed to do so, because of free movement of workers in the EU. At a typical construction site in a leafy suburb of London, a brick row house is under renovation. There's a radio on for the builders, and it's all in Polish — Polish Radio London, a digital radio station that launched in 2006, two years...