Special Reports

Full employment, a solid social state, an influential foreign policy and a ‘Sun-King’ chancellor who appeared to be an unbeatable. These are the images which are called up when you speak to Austrians about the time when Bruno Kreisky was Chancellor of Austria (1970-1983).

Even the FPÖ, a party not well-known for their love of socialists, claimed once in a manifesto to want to continue Kreisky’s policy of full employment. Clearly, people from across the whole political spectrum look back on the Kreisky Era as a ‘golden age’.

This is an election year in Vienna, and for the first time in 70 years, it’s unclear if the centre left SPÖ will hold on to its majority. On one side of the race is the Vienna-born leader of the Freedom party, Heinz-Christian Strache, and in the other, the Social Democrat incumbent, Michael Häupl.

What happened on Apr. 10 was a shock, but what followed was just as much of a surprise. That morning, a Polish Tupolev Tu-154 military airplane carrying the heads of state crashed into a forest, just short of the Smolensk airport runway. Russia’s reaction to the incident could potentially help to heal an open wound; one that has haunted relations between the two nations for a very long time.

It was an ordinary Saturday morning; I woke up at around eight and made my way out of bed to make myself some breakfast. I turned the computer on to listen to some music as I prepared for my day. I had a football match in a few hours.

My phone rang with an SMS. It was from Ammar, a friend of mine from school, it read “the Polish President has died in a plane crash.”

The Africans were perched on the low brick walls of a bridge over the moat of Sforzesco Castle with dozens of bags laid out on rugs. They whispered to the tourists coming out over the drawbridge of the red fortress into the blinding brightness of Sempione Park.

One of the bag-sellers, who introduced himself as Ahmadou*, sidled up to me as I was taking a photo.

In an impassioned speech at Vienna’s Amerika Haus on Monday, Dr. Mohamed Rabie said: “The only remaining solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is the complete economic and political isolation of Israel from the international community.” A hushed silence seemed to follow these words, reverberating around the room. It wasn’t negative silence – the audience appeared amazed that someone would say such controversial things in a public forum. The magnitude of this stance has sweeping implications on not just Israel but on the international community as a whole. One always expects at least one Israel supporter to make an equally sweeping statement in reaction, accusing speakers like Rabie of presenting only one side of the coin. At this event, however, there was no backlash whatsoever.

Nearly 50,000 Greek workers huddled together on the streets of Athens, taking over the city on Feb. 24. During the 24-hour long strike thousands of anxious Greeks protested against the government’s strict measures which intend to increase taxes and cut the salaries in order to improve the country’s debt crisis. The protests developed into violence, with police firing tear gas and seriously hurting some demonstrators.

The most heralded U.S. leader in decades has completed his first year in office – and many have been put to the task of assessing his progress; indeed, to offer an appraisal of the “change” that has been delivered so far. U.S. Ambassador William Eacho did exactly that in a speech to students and faculty at Webster University Vienna given on Jan. 25. “The U.S. brand is back,” he asserted, referring to an apparent upsurge in American international appeal.

January 2010 not only brings with it a new decade, but also five new countries that will be part of the United Nations Security Council as non-permanent members. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria will start their two-year term as per the decision of the General Assembly on Oct. 15 at the New York headquarters. Until then, the current members of the Security Council (SC) rotate on a monthly basis to acquire its chairmanship. This November, Austria took the lead.