Opinions

Dear Readers, Happy New Year! Thank you so much for accompanying us and supporting us in the past! 2018 has come, 2017 has gone. Briefly reviewing the past year, we are sad to see that among political instabilities, financial scandals, regional turmoil, natural disasters, airline bankruptcy, road accidents, agony in the Middle East and death of great personalities, the most eye-catching and mind-boggling incidents have been terror attacks. Throughout the year 2017, terror attacks have taken place in different countries, on different continents. The year began with an attack on New Year’s Eve at the biggest nightclub in Istanbul. 39 people died…

Today, Monday December 18th, the far right-wing government is sworn in by the green president in Vienna. A thick political cloud begins to hang over the social atmosphere in Austria. Read the insightful view by the Harvard-graduate, biologist Franz BeerFarmer. During the first “real” world war, which heralded the demise of Europe as world colonial hegemon 100 years ago, the pacifist Austrian writer and journalist Karl Kraus wrote a theater play 10 full evenings long. The title of the play was “The last days of mankind”, the setting being Austria as micro-laboratory for the coming fundamental change and destruction of…

The history of the human rights is as old as mankind. At all times, human life and human dignity tend to be hurt and disdained. Power, ressources as well as the fight for superiority have been a prerequisite of force and violence, individually or collectively. Actually, civilisations and philosophical schools of thoughts on the principal of human equality existed in all cultures, serving also as benchmarks for political rights.  At the same time, descent, ethnic, religious and gender differences have been used to distinquish people and make a difference,  justifying slavery, racism and all kinds of discrimination on women and…

Recently, a hot topic is circulating the political and economical lobbies in the EU, that is the „Marshall Plan with Africa“. As is well-known, the Marshall Plan, officially the European Recovery Program, i.e. ERP, was originally initiated by the USA right after World War II in order to help Western Europe recover from the war devastation. Beginning in 1948, the plan offered over 13 billion US dollars to remove interstate trade barriers, modernize industry, promote labour union membership as well as to support democracy. In the 1970s, Bruno Kreisky, Willi Brand and Olaf Palme began to propose a Marshall Plan…

Mid-October, Austrian electios for the National Assembly  took place. Winner was the People’s Party (ÖVP) with the future chancellor Sebastian Kurz. The Social Democrats (SPÖ) with the present chancellor Christian Kern got second, tightly followed by the Freedom Party (FPÖ) with the chairman Christian Strache. The Green Party dropped out of the parliament, whereas their former member Peter Pilz, who quit his party, could reach eight mandates with his own list. Most possibly SPÖ will go into opposition – as the Social Democrats in Germany do, because there will be a coalition between ÖVP and FPÖ. Different from in 2000,…

On 17. of October, Roger Cohen wrote an article with the title of „Daydreaming in Germany“ for The New York Times, which immediately caught my attention.

How are you? is the most asked question not only in greetings, but also amongst friends. Not many know exactly what the purpose, intent or meaning of this very phrase is. Is the person asking really interested? Does the person really want to spend time talking about worries and problems? Or is it simply easier for the sake of both communicators involved to agree on both people’s well-being? Indeed, it is easier! No doubt about it. But a friendship is not built for passing on quickly. A true friendship takes its time to show engagement, to show concern and to suggest solutions for…