From News.com.au, March 08, 2010, by AFP correspondents in Vienna:
A FAR-RIGHT candidate for Austria's presidential election has brought the country's dark past to the surface once more, after denouncing a law banning Nazi groups and Holocaust denial.
Barbara Rosenkranz, 51, a regional party leader for the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) who was nominated last week, looks to be the sole candidate to run against incumbent President Heinz Fischer, a Social Democrat, on April 25.
But her comments supporting the scrapping of Austria's tough prohibition law have renewed the debate about a Nazi heritage the small alpine country has never fully come to terms with.
Austrian leaders and the press already fear for the country's image abroad. [Why is it always the "image" that's the issue? Don't just patch up the face, fix the whole rotten body... - SL]
Under the 1947 Verbotsgesetz law, anyone who seeks to set up a Nazi organisation, propagates Nazi ideology or denies Nazi crimes can be jailed for up to 20 years.
But Ms Rosenkranz, a mother of ten and the wife of an outspoken figure in Austria's far-right scene, insists the law constitutes "an unnecessary restriction" and that, on the contrary, people should be allowed freedom of opinion.
In 2003, the European Court of Human Rights already allowed a journalist's description of her as a "closet-Nazi", noting that her attitude towards Nazism was ambiguous.
Such comments from a woman running for the country's highest office prompted scorching criticism from politicians of all colours, civil groups and the Catholic Church.
Ms Rosenkranz's own supporters also did what they could to limit the damage.
"Somebody like this is not eligible for election," said Vienna's Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, while the Jewish community described her as "an embarrassment for Austria."
"Rosenkranz challenges the Republic's anti-fascist foundation, that is unacceptable," Social Democrat Defence Minister Norbert Darabos said.
Meanwhile, Hans Dichand, publisher of the influential tabloid Kronen Zeitung, reversed his earlier position and urged Ms Rosenkranz to "distance herself from all national-socialist ideas", just days after he had called on voters to support her.
...[Ms Rosenkranz's] local priest revealed she had left the Church years ago and that none of her ten children - who carry old German names like Mechthild, Hildrun, Arne or Sonnhild - had been baptised.
She has also come under fire over her husband's connections with top figures in the Austrian and German far-right scene.
Horst Jakob Rosenkranz, who was once a member of the now banned neo-Nazi NPD party, still publishes a far-right newspaper called Fakten (Facts).
Ms Rosenkranz has never distanced herself from his activities, but in an interview with the daily Die Presse published overnight, she said: "I have never shown I was close to Nazism...."
...Commentators already fear the "horror scenario" of a far-right presidential win - especially if turnout remains low as expected - while anti-Semitic comments have already appeared in her support in online forums...
Also see the following postings Austria:
Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Austria. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Sunday, November 23, 2008
There are people of goodwill everywhere
I'd like to draw your attention to a comment just added to a JIW posting entitled AUSTRIA: Land of Dungeons and Suppressed Memories, which I originally posted 3 May, and updated 6 May 2008.
The new coment is by "Anonymous", who actually introduces himself as Christoph Tremetzberger, is a 27-year-old Austrian, born in St Georgen an der Gusen, the epi-centre of the Nazi concentration-camp complex of northern Austria.
Despite the conspiracy of secrecy and suppression of the facts of Austrian Nazi collaboration, Christoph belongs to "a group of young people which wants to bring the truth in the heads of the people..."
Follow the link to read the original article and Christoph's comments in full.
It is a heartenening and encouraging sign that such young people are emerging in Austria to reconcile themselve with the history of their own region. I had the honour to meet several such honest people of goodwill in Austria, including the schoolteacher Martha Gammer, who Christoph mentions in his comment.
Those of us who are dedicsated to tikkun olam (repairing the world) salute Christoph and his friends...we are proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them in their endeavours to help the world learn from history ....
The new coment is by "Anonymous", who actually introduces himself as Christoph Tremetzberger, is a 27-year-old Austrian, born in St Georgen an der Gusen, the epi-centre of the Nazi concentration-camp complex of northern Austria.
Despite the conspiracy of secrecy and suppression of the facts of Austrian Nazi collaboration, Christoph belongs to "a group of young people which wants to bring the truth in the heads of the people..."
Follow the link to read the original article and Christoph's comments in full.
It is a heartenening and encouraging sign that such young people are emerging in Austria to reconcile themselve with the history of their own region. I had the honour to meet several such honest people of goodwill in Austria, including the schoolteacher Martha Gammer, who Christoph mentions in his comment.
Those of us who are dedicsated to tikkun olam (repairing the world) salute Christoph and his friends...we are proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them in their endeavours to help the world learn from history ....
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Saturday, May 03, 2008
AUSTRIA: Land of Dungeons and Suppressed Memories
By Steve Lieblich, originally posted 3 May, updated 6 May 2008:
Austria has had some bad press in the past. In 1986 President Kurt Waldheim’s Nazi past was revealed, in the late 1990s a number of prominent museums refused to return paintings to the Jewish families who had originally owned them, in 2000 the extreme-right Freedom Party was admitted into the coalition government.
Now Austria has once again achieved international notoriety. This time for secretly imprisoning young girls as sex slaves in soundproof, subterranean apartments.
Cartoon by Edel Rodriguez
A year ago Natascha Kampusch emerged from eight years’ in a basement cell in the Viennese suburb of Strasshof, Lower Austria.
And now Josef Fritzl is accused of imprisoning his daughter Elisabeth in a basement dungeon for 24 years and fathering seven children by incestuous rapes of her in the Lower Austrian town of Amstetten.
Many people are now asking why these two such similar crimes occurred in the same area. One of the victims, Natascha Kampusch told the BBC's Newsnight program that Austria's Nazi past might have played some role. "I think (abuse) exists worldwide, but I think it's also a ramification of the Second World War and its connection to education and so on," she said.
When I heard about these crimes, I was, of course horrified, but from what I know of Austria, I was not surprised. When I checked the map for the locations of these crimes, my feelings were vindicated.
Only 20km from the town where Josef Fritzl allegedly locked his daughter in a basement dungeon for the last 24 years, is the site where my father, Yisrael (‘Srulec’) Ben Zvy Lieblich (z”l) together with tens of thousands of other Nazi prisoners were interred 65 years ago in a massive 50.000 m2 dungeon code-named Bergkristall, a top secret Nazi underground Messerschmitt (aircraft) factory. Constructed by prisoners of the KL Gusen II concentration camp within the Mauthausen-Gusen complex, it became one of the most horrific concentration camp sites in European history due to its high mortality (up to 98% - average survival period 4 months). 20,000 prisoners died in that dungeon.
The secrecy surrounding that massive dungeon was hermetic. Even the test pilots didn't know where the planes had been constructed. But all the residents of the pretty alpine villages of Langenstein and St. Georgen an der Gusen certainly knew...
Nearby, a smaller (12.000 m2) underground installation code-named Kellerbau was another dungeon factory for the production of machine guns for Steyr-Daimler-Puch. A few km south, at Ebensee, at the southern tip of Lake Traun, was another dungeon factory for the Nazi "secret weapon", the V2 rocket, where another 20,000 prisoners were worked to death.
Austria was not "Hitler's first victim" as many Austrians still ridiculously claim. It was his birthplace, his home and his refuge. It was to the Austrian Alps that he retired with his closest, most trusted henchmen to enjoy the "good life". The Mauthausen Camp was first established to quarry the granite with which Hitler planned to build his grand palaces - the "Eagles Nest" from where he would rule the world.
When the war turned against him, and the Allies closed in from the West while the Communists closed in from the East, it was in Austria that Hitler built his Alpine fortress; his most strategic armaments factories; and barracks for his elite forces that would turn the tide against the enemies of the "thousand-year Reich".
All this was done with the active, even enthusiastic collaboration of the local populations of the picturesque hamlets and villages scattered throughout the Alps. It is my impression that the conspiracy of secrecy that Hitler established there has yet to be exorcised; that many, if not most Austrians prefer to hide their demons (and secretly nurture them) rather than bring them out into the light of day and dispatch them once and for all, as most Germans have done or are doing.
Liberation of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp May 1945.
Mural in a car park near the site of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, July 2007
Near Mauthausen, I saw children's playground equipment built with granite blocks identical to, and probably pilfered from the nearby infamous Mauthausen quarry with its stairway of death. Austrian children today play and frolic on stones quarried by slaves who had been tormented to death by their grandparents.
And yet Alfred Gusenbauer, the chancellor of Austria, has launched a public-relations effort to salvage Austria's reputation - an enterprise akin to putting make-up on a rotting corpse. Heinz Fischer, the Austrian president, has said, “There is definitely nothing fundamentally Austrian in this case.”
How pathetic.....
Austria has had some bad press in the past. In 1986 President Kurt Waldheim’s Nazi past was revealed, in the late 1990s a number of prominent museums refused to return paintings to the Jewish families who had originally owned them, in 2000 the extreme-right Freedom Party was admitted into the coalition government.
Now Austria has once again achieved international notoriety. This time for secretly imprisoning young girls as sex slaves in soundproof, subterranean apartments.
Cartoon by Edel Rodriguez
A year ago Natascha Kampusch emerged from eight years’ in a basement cell in the Viennese suburb of Strasshof, Lower Austria.
And now Josef Fritzl is accused of imprisoning his daughter Elisabeth in a basement dungeon for 24 years and fathering seven children by incestuous rapes of her in the Lower Austrian town of Amstetten.
Many people are now asking why these two such similar crimes occurred in the same area. One of the victims, Natascha Kampusch told the BBC's Newsnight program that Austria's Nazi past might have played some role. "I think (abuse) exists worldwide, but I think it's also a ramification of the Second World War and its connection to education and so on," she said.
When I heard about these crimes, I was, of course horrified, but from what I know of Austria, I was not surprised. When I checked the map for the locations of these crimes, my feelings were vindicated.
Only 20km from the town where Josef Fritzl allegedly locked his daughter in a basement dungeon for the last 24 years, is the site where my father, Yisrael (‘Srulec’) Ben Zvy Lieblich (z”l) together with tens of thousands of other Nazi prisoners were interred 65 years ago in a massive 50.000 m2 dungeon code-named Bergkristall, a top secret Nazi underground Messerschmitt (aircraft) factory. Constructed by prisoners of the KL Gusen II concentration camp within the Mauthausen-Gusen complex, it became one of the most horrific concentration camp sites in European history due to its high mortality (up to 98% - average survival period 4 months). 20,000 prisoners died in that dungeon.
The secrecy surrounding that massive dungeon was hermetic. Even the test pilots didn't know where the planes had been constructed. But all the residents of the pretty alpine villages of Langenstein and St. Georgen an der Gusen certainly knew...
Nearby, a smaller (12.000 m2) underground installation code-named Kellerbau was another dungeon factory for the production of machine guns for Steyr-Daimler-Puch. A few km south, at Ebensee, at the southern tip of Lake Traun, was another dungeon factory for the Nazi "secret weapon", the V2 rocket, where another 20,000 prisoners were worked to death.
Austria was not "Hitler's first victim" as many Austrians still ridiculously claim. It was his birthplace, his home and his refuge. It was to the Austrian Alps that he retired with his closest, most trusted henchmen to enjoy the "good life". The Mauthausen Camp was first established to quarry the granite with which Hitler planned to build his grand palaces - the "Eagles Nest" from where he would rule the world.
When the war turned against him, and the Allies closed in from the West while the Communists closed in from the East, it was in Austria that Hitler built his Alpine fortress; his most strategic armaments factories; and barracks for his elite forces that would turn the tide against the enemies of the "thousand-year Reich".
All this was done with the active, even enthusiastic collaboration of the local populations of the picturesque hamlets and villages scattered throughout the Alps. It is my impression that the conspiracy of secrecy that Hitler established there has yet to be exorcised; that many, if not most Austrians prefer to hide their demons (and secretly nurture them) rather than bring them out into the light of day and dispatch them once and for all, as most Germans have done or are doing.
Liberation of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp May 1945.
Mural in a car park near the site of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, July 2007
Today, the history of the Mauthausen Camp complex is still largely suppressed ("buried"). The Bergkristall tunnels are on private property and inaccessible to historians and families of former prisoners. The remnants of the Gusen 1 and Gusen 2 Camps are virtually obliterated. They look like normal alpine-village housing estates, with happy playgrounds.
Site of the camp Gusen I is today’s Gartenstrasse, in Langenstein.
(Photo © christoph mayer chm)
Site of the camp Gusen I is today’s Gartenstrasse, in Langenstein.
(Photo © christoph mayer chm)
In the midst of this housing stands a Museum, built on private land over the site of the Gusen 1 crematorium, and funded by survivors of the camp. Nearby a camp-prisoners' barracks still stands, now a multi-residential apartment block for people either oblivious or indifferent to the building's horrific past.
The Gusen 1 "Jourhaus" - the imposing granite gatehouse and office of the Gusen 1 camp also still stands, converted by a "creative" Austrian architect into a luxury villa that houses a family with children who play hop-scotch on the driveway. Surrounded by similar luxury houses, it would be impossible for a casual bystander to recognise this blood-drenched site for what it is.
Gusen 1 Concentration Camp “Jourhaus” (entrance gate and office) c1944
The same building, now a “family home” July 2007
The Gusen 1 "Jourhaus" - the imposing granite gatehouse and office of the Gusen 1 camp also still stands, converted by a "creative" Austrian architect into a luxury villa that houses a family with children who play hop-scotch on the driveway. Surrounded by similar luxury houses, it would be impossible for a casual bystander to recognise this blood-drenched site for what it is.
Gusen 1 Concentration Camp “Jourhaus” (entrance gate and office) c1944
The same building, now a “family home” July 2007
Near Mauthausen, I saw children's playground equipment built with granite blocks identical to, and probably pilfered from the nearby infamous Mauthausen quarry with its stairway of death. Austrian children today play and frolic on stones quarried by slaves who had been tormented to death by their grandparents.
And yet Alfred Gusenbauer, the chancellor of Austria, has launched a public-relations effort to salvage Austria's reputation - an enterprise akin to putting make-up on a rotting corpse. Heinz Fischer, the Austrian president, has said, “There is definitely nothing fundamentally Austrian in this case.”
How pathetic.....
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Remembering the Nazis
Europe 1939-45
Austria, July 2007 ( a carpark near Mauthausen - I photographed this myself)
Australia, February 2008 (if you'd like to "enquire" about these, see Lawsons Auctioneers (NSW), Auction No. 7571, and search for "WWII" or go to Lots 125 and 126)
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Austria: Iran's gateway to Europe
From THE JERUSALEM POST, Feb. 17, 2008, by SIMONE DINAH HARTMANN, spokesperson of 'STOP THE BOMB' (www.stopthebomb.net) [my own emphasis added - SL]:
When Hitler entered Austria in March 1938, he was welcomed by an extraordinarily large number of Austrians who advocated the "Anschluss" with Germany. A disproportionate number of Austrians served the Nazi death machinery to carry out the "Final Solution" to the "Jewish Question."
Despite these facts, for more than 50 years Austria portrayed itself as the first victim of national-socialism. It took a new generation of historians and politicians to acknowledge - 30 years after the Eichmann trial - that Austrians were actually involved in mass murder.
During the last decade Austria has worked to present itself as a country which has dealt with its past and drawn the appropriate historical lessons. But one has to ask: Which lessons have been learned? Certainly not the most crucial one: defending Israel's right to exist.
In April 2007 Austria's partially state-owned oil company, OMV, signed an agreement with Iran on a joint natural gas project. The total investment amounts to 22 billion euros over the next 25 years. Experts believe that these revenues will be used to finance the Iranian nuclear weapons program and undermine present international sanctions.
OMV is not just any company. It is the biggest oil corporation in central Europe. The state of Austria holds 31.5% of its shares. Wolfgang Ruttensdorfer, CEO of this company, served for several years in the Austrian government as a member of the Social Democratic party, which always had close ties with OMV.
THIS IS not the first time that OMV is breaking problematic ground. It was OMV that made the first Western gas deal with the Soviet Union in 1968. The first round of gas imports started just after the Prague Spring was crushed by Warsaw Pact tanks.
In the 1980s OMV signed a deal with Libya as part of an international consortium, and at the end of the 1990s, it signed one with civil-war-torn Sudan. The company's then press officer argued that despite the risk in Sudan, OMV had to go where finding oil was the cheapest, and where American competition need not be feared.
In 2003 OMV was left as the only international corporation in Sudan - other companies pulled out after the crisis culminated and tens of thousands were murdered by Arab militia sponsored by the Sudanese government in Darfur. Later that year, OMV sold its shares to Asian companies.
OMV's business with Iran is a logical continuation of this company's involvement with dictatorial regimes that suppress and murder their own people. However, Iran is different - the mullahs' repeated threats to annihilate Israel and the unique form of their regime elevates this deal to an existential question, not only for the Jewish people but for the whole world, which is threatened by the violent expansion of Islamic rule.
NEVERTHELESS, this deal is backed by all parties represented in the Austrian parliament. Social Democrats, Conservatives, Greens and the far right have closed ranks against demands to cancel the negotiations with Iran.
Ironically, Austrian Social Democratic Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer recently made it very clear that human rights have to be subordinated to business interests. His government has no intention of interfering despite the ongoing oppressions of the Iranian terror regime.
Recent criticism from German chancellor Angela Merkel, who said that Austria was setting a dangerous precedent in establishing such a deal, was countered by insistence on the private nature of OMV - even though the state is the company's largest shareholder.
On February 3 Albert Steinhauser, Green speaker for Justice, was the first member of parliament to sign our on-line petition against the OMV-Iran deal. There is hope that his courage might set an example that will be followed by more parliamentarians who finally understand that now is the time to act.
During the recent visit of a delegation of Iranian parliamentarians in December 2007, Helmut Kukacka, conservative MP and head of the Austrian-Iranian parliamentarian group, talked about the good bilateral relations that have continued after the Islamic revolution. "Austria is very keen on strengthening the friendship between the two countries," he said.
Another conservative, Michael Spindelegger, second president of the national council, commended the Iranian delegation for continuing an in-depth dialogue. The discussion was remarkable for what it lacked: Iranian's wish to eliminate Israel.
Their points shed light on the Austrian conscience, which has a history of forgetting and repressing - up to the point where Austria refuses to actually do something to prevent another killing of Jews.
AUSTRIA'S posture toward Iran has always been one of treating the mullahs' regime with kid-gloves. In 1989 the leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, Abdel Rahman Ghassemlou, was murdered in Vienna by the Iranian regime. No suspect, among them reportedly Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was ever held responsible by a court for this crime. Instead Iranian diplomats pressured Austrian government officials to close the case, focusing on the Iranian commando found at the murder site. As soon as the commando left Austria, warrants were issued for his arrest, but remain without consequence.
Austria has tried to improve ties in every sector of the Iranian economy. In the midst of the Iraq-Iran war, VOEST, a state-owned steel company, sent 200 cannons via Libya to Iran. In recent years the Austrian weapons company Steyr-Mannlicher sold high-powered rifles to Iran. According to the American Enterprise Institute, the military-industrial complex accounts for 11 percent of Austrian-Iranian trade. Some of these weapons were found in Iraq, where they were used by Iranian-supported insurgents to kill American soldiers.
SINCE 2002, Austrian exports to Iran have doubled, but are still in the millions, not billions. The planned OMV deal with Iran would change this, bringing Austria and Europe into a long-term strategic partnership with the Iranian regime. As Iranian Chamber of Commerce president Ali Naghi Khamoushi put it in November 2006, "Austria is the gate to the European Union for us."
In March 2008, Austria will officially mourn 70 years since the "Anschluss." Two months later Austria will join the celebrations of 60 years since the establishment of the State of Israel. These events should be considered opportunities for some moral soul-searching.
Austria must turn its moral rhetoric into tangible action if it wants to prove that it has learned its lessons. Stopping Iran from going nuclear by canceling the largest oil deal between a European company and the mullahs would set the tone and fill these words with content.
When Hitler entered Austria in March 1938, he was welcomed by an extraordinarily large number of Austrians who advocated the "Anschluss" with Germany. A disproportionate number of Austrians served the Nazi death machinery to carry out the "Final Solution" to the "Jewish Question."
Despite these facts, for more than 50 years Austria portrayed itself as the first victim of national-socialism. It took a new generation of historians and politicians to acknowledge - 30 years after the Eichmann trial - that Austrians were actually involved in mass murder.
During the last decade Austria has worked to present itself as a country which has dealt with its past and drawn the appropriate historical lessons. But one has to ask: Which lessons have been learned? Certainly not the most crucial one: defending Israel's right to exist.
In April 2007 Austria's partially state-owned oil company, OMV, signed an agreement with Iran on a joint natural gas project. The total investment amounts to 22 billion euros over the next 25 years. Experts believe that these revenues will be used to finance the Iranian nuclear weapons program and undermine present international sanctions.
OMV is not just any company. It is the biggest oil corporation in central Europe. The state of Austria holds 31.5% of its shares. Wolfgang Ruttensdorfer, CEO of this company, served for several years in the Austrian government as a member of the Social Democratic party, which always had close ties with OMV.
THIS IS not the first time that OMV is breaking problematic ground. It was OMV that made the first Western gas deal with the Soviet Union in 1968. The first round of gas imports started just after the Prague Spring was crushed by Warsaw Pact tanks.
In the 1980s OMV signed a deal with Libya as part of an international consortium, and at the end of the 1990s, it signed one with civil-war-torn Sudan. The company's then press officer argued that despite the risk in Sudan, OMV had to go where finding oil was the cheapest, and where American competition need not be feared.
In 2003 OMV was left as the only international corporation in Sudan - other companies pulled out after the crisis culminated and tens of thousands were murdered by Arab militia sponsored by the Sudanese government in Darfur. Later that year, OMV sold its shares to Asian companies.
OMV's business with Iran is a logical continuation of this company's involvement with dictatorial regimes that suppress and murder their own people. However, Iran is different - the mullahs' repeated threats to annihilate Israel and the unique form of their regime elevates this deal to an existential question, not only for the Jewish people but for the whole world, which is threatened by the violent expansion of Islamic rule.
NEVERTHELESS, this deal is backed by all parties represented in the Austrian parliament. Social Democrats, Conservatives, Greens and the far right have closed ranks against demands to cancel the negotiations with Iran.
Ironically, Austrian Social Democratic Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer recently made it very clear that human rights have to be subordinated to business interests. His government has no intention of interfering despite the ongoing oppressions of the Iranian terror regime.
Recent criticism from German chancellor Angela Merkel, who said that Austria was setting a dangerous precedent in establishing such a deal, was countered by insistence on the private nature of OMV - even though the state is the company's largest shareholder.
On February 3 Albert Steinhauser, Green speaker for Justice, was the first member of parliament to sign our on-line petition against the OMV-Iran deal. There is hope that his courage might set an example that will be followed by more parliamentarians who finally understand that now is the time to act.
During the recent visit of a delegation of Iranian parliamentarians in December 2007, Helmut Kukacka, conservative MP and head of the Austrian-Iranian parliamentarian group, talked about the good bilateral relations that have continued after the Islamic revolution. "Austria is very keen on strengthening the friendship between the two countries," he said.
Another conservative, Michael Spindelegger, second president of the national council, commended the Iranian delegation for continuing an in-depth dialogue. The discussion was remarkable for what it lacked: Iranian's wish to eliminate Israel.
Their points shed light on the Austrian conscience, which has a history of forgetting and repressing - up to the point where Austria refuses to actually do something to prevent another killing of Jews.
AUSTRIA'S posture toward Iran has always been one of treating the mullahs' regime with kid-gloves. In 1989 the leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, Abdel Rahman Ghassemlou, was murdered in Vienna by the Iranian regime. No suspect, among them reportedly Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was ever held responsible by a court for this crime. Instead Iranian diplomats pressured Austrian government officials to close the case, focusing on the Iranian commando found at the murder site. As soon as the commando left Austria, warrants were issued for his arrest, but remain without consequence.
Austria has tried to improve ties in every sector of the Iranian economy. In the midst of the Iraq-Iran war, VOEST, a state-owned steel company, sent 200 cannons via Libya to Iran. In recent years the Austrian weapons company Steyr-Mannlicher sold high-powered rifles to Iran. According to the American Enterprise Institute, the military-industrial complex accounts for 11 percent of Austrian-Iranian trade. Some of these weapons were found in Iraq, where they were used by Iranian-supported insurgents to kill American soldiers.
SINCE 2002, Austrian exports to Iran have doubled, but are still in the millions, not billions. The planned OMV deal with Iran would change this, bringing Austria and Europe into a long-term strategic partnership with the Iranian regime. As Iranian Chamber of Commerce president Ali Naghi Khamoushi put it in November 2006, "Austria is the gate to the European Union for us."
In March 2008, Austria will officially mourn 70 years since the "Anschluss." Two months later Austria will join the celebrations of 60 years since the establishment of the State of Israel. These events should be considered opportunities for some moral soul-searching.
Austria must turn its moral rhetoric into tangible action if it wants to prove that it has learned its lessons. Stopping Iran from going nuclear by canceling the largest oil deal between a European company and the mullahs would set the tone and fill these words with content.
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