Günther Fehlinger
@GunterFehlinger · Europe
Günther Fehlinger is followed by The State of Israel for research and subject expertise coverage connected to Austria in the Europe chapter.
THAILAND: WHY ARE YOU STABBING YOUR FRIENDS IN THE BACK? 🇹🇭 Thailand has long benefited from friendship with the free world: trade, tourism, investment, technology, security cooperation and global openness. That is why I ask Bangkok so directly: why move toward BRICS and give political prestige to Putin’s Russia, Xi’s China and authoritarian bloc politics? Thailand does not need BRICS to trade with China, India or anyone else. Thailand can trade with the whole world without turning its strategic direction against its friends and partners in ASEAN, Europe, America, Japan and Korea. Your future lies in prosperity, sovereignty, innovation, jobs and a stronger international position built on openness and balance—not on helping Moscow pretend that Putin’s war and authoritarian geopolitics are normal. My message is clear: Break BRICS. Choose ASEAN. Choose prosperity. Choose the free world. Trade with everyone, but align with democracies. Build Thailand’s future with ASEAN, Europe, America, Japan and Korea. Friends choose freedom, not BRICS. 🇹🇭🤝🇪🇺🇺🇸🇯🇵🇰🇷 Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M #Thailand #BreakBRICS #BRICS #ASEAN #Europe #USA #Japan #Korea #FreeWorld #Putin #Russia #Trade #Tourism #Investment #Democracy #Prosperity #Bangkok #IndoPacific
My presidential pledge for Austria is clear: I will stand with Israel and work for Israel’s full integration into the Euro-Atlantic family. 🇦🇹🤝🇮🇱🇪🇺 I want a future with: Israel in NATO. Israel in the European Union. Israel in the Euro. Israel in Schengen. Why? Because Israel’s long-term security and prosperity should be anchored in the democratic West. NATO means security. EU membership means political and economic integration. The Euro means deeper economic ties. Schengen means mobility, exchange and a shared European space. As President of Austria, I would use Austria’s diplomatic voice to strengthen this partnership. I will defend Israel’s right to exist and live in security, fight antisemitism in Austria, protect Jewish life and Holocaust remembrance, deepen Austrian-Israeli relations, and support peace, dignity and coexistence while clearly rejecting terrorism. Austria cannot decide these memberships alone. But Austria can be an advocate, a bridge-builder and a reliable friend. My vision is simple: Israel belongs in the democratic Euro-Atlantic community. Security. Integration. Friendship. Peace. #Gunther2028 #Austria #Israel #NATO #EuropeanUnion #Euro #Schengen #StandWithIsrael #AustriaIsrael #Europe #Security #Peace #FeelTheFehlinger
NIXON MOMENT? — 1974 / MARCH 2027 Richard Nixon’s presidency did not end simply because his opponents wanted him gone. It ended when Watergate destroyed his political support and leading Republicans concluded that his position had become untenable. Nixon resigned on 9 August 1974 before an almost certain impeachment and possible removal. Could Donald Trump ever face a comparable moment in 2027? That would depend on events that have not happened yet: the outcome of the 2026 midterms, control of Congress, any investigations and—above all—whether substantial numbers of Republicans were prepared to break with their own president. That is what makes the Nixon comparison historically interesting. A House majority can impeach a president. Removal from office requires a two-thirds majority of senators present. Nixon’s decisive moment came when support inside his own party collapsed. 1974: Nixon and the helicopter. 2027: history remains unwritten. Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Economist • Podcaster • Author Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M #Nixon #Trump #USPolitics #Watergate #History #Congress #Impeachment #America #WashingtonDC #PoliticalHistory
Health policy is not a playground for conspiracy theories. America deserves a Health Secretary who follows evidence, protects public-health institutions and tells citizens the truth. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly promoted false or misleading claims about vaccines, autism, COVID and mRNA technology while using the power of HHS to reshape institutions built over decades. His record is not merely rhetoric. Around $500 million in mRNA research and preparedness was cut. Roughly 10,000 HHS job cuts were planned. Hundreds of CDC and NIH employees later had to be rehired because essential work could not be performed properly. Long-standing vaccine advisory structures were dismantled, childhood vaccination recommendations were weakened or challenged, and thousands of experienced FDA employees left amid the turmoil. At the same time, the United States is suffering its worst measles resurgence in more than three decades, with 3,134 confirmed cases reported by early September 2026. Kennedy did not personally cause every infection, but undermining public confidence in vaccination during such an outbreak is the opposite of responsible leadership. Science is not ideology. Vaccines are not a culture-war toy. Public-health agencies must not become laboratories for personal theories. When misinformation becomes government policy, ordinary people pay the price. I call for a return to evidence-based American health policy: restore scientific independence, rebuild CDC and FDA capacity, protect vaccine research, defend childhood immunisation and make facts—not ideology—the basis of public-health decisions. False claims. Weakened institutions. Preventable risk. Sources: Reuters, CDC. Günther Fehlinger-Jahn | Economist & Author | Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M #Kennedy #RFKJr #PublicHealth #Science #Vaccines #CDC #FDA #HHS #Measles #mRNA #FactsMatter #HealthPolicy #USA
OPERATION SOVIET LAZARUS — PUTIN’S REVENGE FOR 1991 🇷🇺⚠️🇺🇸 My thesis: Putin’s rise was not simply the story of one politician taking power. It was the resurrection of Russian imperial ambition after the collapse of the Soviet Union. 1996: Yeltsin survives. 1998: the ruble collapses. 1999: Kosovo humiliates Moscow, Chechnya militarises Russian politics, and Putin rises. 2000: the security state consolidates power. Then comes 9/11. I do NOT claim as established fact that Putin organised 9/11. There is no credible public evidence proving that. But I ask a serious question: what exactly did Russian intelligence know about al-Qaeda before 11 September 2001, and did Moscow tell Washington everything it knew? Ayman al-Zawahiri had previously spent months in Russian custody. Putin understood immediately that the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud on 9 September 2001 signalled something bigger. Two days later America was attacked. The question is therefore legitimate: DID THE KREMLIN KNOW MORE THAN IT TOLD AMERICA? What is beyond dispute is what followed. America turned toward Afghanistan. Then Iraq. Trillions were spent, military attention shifted, Western unity was damaged, and Washington became consumed by the War on Terror. Putin meanwhile rebuilt Russian state power, crushed political competition, strengthened the security apparatus, recovered military capacity and prepared Russia for renewed confrontation with the West. 2007 Munich. 2008 Georgia. 2014 Crimea and Donbas. 2022 the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This is what I call OPERATION SOVIET LAZARUS: not necessarily one secret master operation, but a long strategic resurrection — turning the humiliation of 1991 into revenge, Western distraction into Russian recovery, and recovered Russian power into imperial aggression. While America fought the War on Terror, Putin rebuilt Russian power. The historical investigation must continue: what did the Kremlin know, when did it know it, and what did it choose not to share? #OperationSovietLazarus #Putin #Russia #September11 #911 #AlQaeda #Afghanistan #Iraq #Ukraine #NATO #Geopolitics #Kremlin #ColdWar #SovietUnion #History #PaxEuropeana
AUSTRALIA IN THE EU. NEW ZEALAND IN THE EU. CANADA IN THE EU. UK BACK IN THE EU. 🇦🇺🇳🇿🇨🇦🇬🇧🇪🇺 This is of course a strategic provocation—but it makes a very serious point: Brexit has made Britain look ridiculous. When even Canada, Australia and New Zealand feel politically, economically and strategically closer to Europe than post-Brexit Britain, then something has gone very wrong in London. The joke writes itself: countries on the other side of the world are moving toward Europe, while Britain, sitting just across the Channel, still pretends leaving was a great success. My answer is EU50: a bigger, stronger, safer, more democratic Europe, uniting the free world’s most compatible democracies in one wider European project. If the Anglosphere wants Europe, then Britain should stop hesitating and come home first. Canada in. Australia in. New Zealand in. Britain back. Brexit out. Europe bigger. Europe stronger. Europe safer. That is the future. #EU50 #Brexit #RejoinEU #CanadaInEU #AustraliaInEU #NewZealandInEU #BritainBack #Europe #EuropeanUnion #Anglosphere #Transatlantic #NATO #StrongerTogether #FehlingerJahn #FeelTheFehlinger @GunterFehlinger https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M
I endorse Nikola Sandulović and the Republikanska Stranka because Serbia needs courage, truth, democracy and reconciliation—not another generation trapped by nationalism and permanent conflict. Prekaz must remind all of us what happens when hatred replaces politics and violence replaces dialogue. Kneeling before victims is not weakness. Recognising suffering is not betrayal. Reconciliation is the foundation of a stronger Serbia. I want a Serbia that is democratic, governed by the rule of law, free from corruption, at peace with Kosovo and all its neighbours, firmly anchored in Europe and moving towards the Euro-Atlantic community. Serbia’s future is not isolation between Moscow and Beijing. Serbia’s future is European: EU, NATO, prosperity, security and peace. Nikola Sandulović has shown that Serbian patriotism can mean reconciliation rather than revenge and European integration rather than permanent confrontation. That is why I stand with him and the Republican Party. Remember Prekaz. Choose peace. Choose Europe. Build a new Serbia. — Günther Fehlinger-Jahn, Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement | @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M #Serbia #NikolaSandulovic #RepublikanskaStranka #Kosovo #Prekaz #Reconciliation #Europe #EU #NATO #Democracy #RuleOfLaw #Peace #Balkans
Exactly. I would sharpen the Kazakhstan line this way: KAZAKHSTAN: BREAK BRICS. CHOOSE A EUROPEAN OPTION. 🇰🇿🇪🇺 President Tokayev, I am not promising Kazakhstan EU membership. But I want Kazakhstan to have a serious European perspective and a political relationship with Europe comparable to Türkiye’s status toward the EU: close economic integration, structured political dialogue, progressive alignment with European standards and the possibility of deeper integration if both sides want it. My proposal is: Leave the BRICS partnership. Build a CEFTA-style economic bridge. Seek a formal European candidate-style relationship. Deepen integration with the EU Single Market. Keep NATO membership as a sovereign future option. Kazakhstan should not have to choose permanent dependence on Moscow or Beijing. It should be able to trade east and west while anchoring its sovereignty in a wider European security and economic architecture. No automatic EU membership promise. No artificial deadlines. But Europe’s door should be open. And yes: NATO membership should remain an option for a democratic, sovereign Kazakhstan if Kazakhstan itself chooses that course and NATO allies agree. That is the model: Türkiye today — Kazakhstan tomorrow: European orientation without pretending accession is automatic. TOKAYEV: STAY OUT OF FULL BRICS MEMBERSHIP. CHOOSE SOVEREIGNTY. CHOOSE EUROPE. KEEP NATO OPEN. Günther Fehlinger-Jahn @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M
UZBEKISTAN: BREAK BRICS. CHOOSE REFORM. CHOOSE EUROPE. 🇺🇿🇪🇺 President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbekistan has spent years opening its economy, modernising the state and trying to attract investment, technology and international business. That is exactly why I ask: why move deeper into the BRICS orbit of Putin and Xi? Uzbekistan should trade with everyone—Russia, China, India, Europe, America and the whole world—but trade does not require geopolitical dependence. Uzbekistan needs sovereignty, diversified partnerships, functioning institutions, investment, education, connectivity and opportunities for its young generation. My proposal is a clear European option: stronger EU trade and investment, much deeper Trans-Caspian connectivity, integration into European supply chains and eventually a CEFTA-style economic bridge toward the European market. I am not promising automatic EU membership. I am arguing that Uzbekistan should have a serious European perspective if it chooses reform, rule of law and economic opening. And in the long term, security cooperation with the democratic world—including NATO partnership and potentially membership if Uzbekistan itself ever chooses that path and NATO allies agree—should remain an option rather than a taboo. Central Asia must not become the backyard of Moscow or Beijing. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan can become the anchors of a sovereign, prosperous and connected Central Asia linking Europe and Asia. Trade with everyone. Align with democracies. Stay out of the BRICS trap. Build Uzbekistan’s European future. From Tashkent to a stronger Europe–Central Asia partnership. 🇺🇿🤝🇪🇺 Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M #Uzbekistan #Mirziyoyev #BreakBRICS #BRICS #Europe #EuropeanUnion #CEFTA #CentralAsia #Tashkent #TransCaspian #MiddleCorridor #Investment #Trade #Reform #Sovereignty #Democracy #RuleOfLaw #NATO #FreeWorld
Germany finally needs a major tax reform: a 15% flat tax on income – simple, transparent, and performance-friendly. Germany’s problem is not that people work too little. The problem is that work, performance, entrepreneurship, and upward mobility are burdened far too heavily. Those who work more should have more – and not lose an ever larger share of their additional income to the state. Eastern Europe has shown for decades that simpler and lower tax systems can be an important building block for growth and investment. In 2004, Slovakia introduced a uniform 19% tax and at the time became a closely watched reform model for Central and Eastern Europe. Personal income tax was later made more progressive again – but the reform period showed how strongly a clear, investment-friendly tax system can position a country internationally. Bulgaria has levied a 10% income tax and a 10% corporate tax for years. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, income and corporate taxes are also around 10% in large parts of the country. There are further examples from Central and Eastern Europe that deliberately compete for investment, companies, and skilled workers with low corporate taxes and relatively simple systems. Of course, growth does not arise from a tax rate alone. You need the rule of law, infrastructure, good education, open markets, investment, and an effective administration. But taxes help determine where companies invest, where people work, and whether additional effort is worthwhile. Germany makes things far too complicated today: high levies, an opaque tax code, bureaucracy, and ever-new burdens. This frustrates employees, the self-employed, and entrepreneurs alike. When people feel that performance is no longer worthwhile while the state simultaneously fails to function adequately in infrastructure, rail, digitalization, and administration, political frustration grows. In the end, the political fringes benefit from this – including the AfD. That is why my demand to Friedrich Merz is: Make Germany the reform country of Europe again. 15% income tax. 15% corporate tax. Fewer exemptions. Less bureaucracy. A broader tax base. Reward performance. Enable investment. A flat tax does not mean “no welfare state”. A basic tax-free allowance can protect small incomes. After that, one clear rate applies: 15 percent. Everyone understands it. Everyone can do the math. Every additional euro earned through work pays off. Germany needs courage for growth again. No more new taxes. No more new rules. No more government. More take-home pay. More investment. More companies. More jobs. More growth. MERZ, MAKE GERMANY THE FLAT-TAX COUNTRY! 15% – simple. fair. modern. Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Economist · Author · Chairman of the Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement · @GunterFehlinger #FlatTax15 #Deutschland #Merz #Steuerreform #Wachstum #MehrNetto #Mittelstand #Investitionen #Wettbewerbsfähigkeit #SozialeMarktwirtschaft #Europa
Translated from GermanThe broken Deutsche Bahn has long been more than a transportation problem. It has become a daily symbol that Germany is falling short of its potential. Delays, cancellations, construction chaos, a lack of reliability, and ever-rising costs in the billions are destroying trust in the state and in political capacity to act. This very frustration ultimately helps the protest parties – and therefore the AfD as well. The railway is of course not the only cause of the AfD’s rise, but every day it provides new images of the feeling: "Germany no longer works." This must come to an end. I call on Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz: Take Deutsche Bahn 100% public on the stock exchange in 2027. No half-privatization. No permanent state stake. No more excuses. Deutsche Bahn should be put entirely, as it is, on the capital market. More private capital. More investment. More competition. Better service. Clear responsibility. And important revenue for the federal budget. Margaret Thatcher showed that political leadership means pushing through major and uncomfortable structural reforms as well. Germany needs this courage to reform again. A strong railway needs not more state, but better ownership structures, professional management, and real performance pressure. When the state fails, frustration grows. When infrastructure works, trust grows. Merz must show that Germany is capable of reform. The alternative must not be: a broken railway and a stronger AfD. The alternative must be: reform, investment, competition, and a Germany that is moving upward again. Deutsche Bahn 100% on the stock exchange in 2027. Privatize. Modernize. Invest. Günther Fehlinger-Jahn | @GunterFehlinger #DeutscheBahn #Merz #Privatisierung #Deutschland #Wettbewerb #Investitionen #Infrastruktur #Bahnreform #Marktwirtschaft #AfD #Thatcher #FehlingerJahn
Translated from GermanBOLIVIA: DON’T FOLLOW PUTIN INTO BRICS. 🇧🇴 Bolivia has enormous potential: lithium, energy, agriculture, young people, a strategic location in South America and the chance to become a major investment destination. That is why I ask: why tie Bolivia’s future to BRICS and to the geopolitical agenda of Putin’s Russia? Bolivia does not need BRICS to trade with China, India or Brazil. Trade with everyone — but choose democracy, investment, rule of law and a stronger partnership with Europe and the Americas. Bolivia needs jobs, infrastructure, technology, transparent institutions and serious investment in lithium and clean energy. It does not need more political dependency on authoritarian powers. Break BRICS. Build a prosperous Bolivia. Strengthen ties with Europe. Expand trade across the Americas. Attract investment. Create opportunities for young people. Protect democracy and the rule of law. Bolivia belongs to a brighter future — not to another geopolitical bloc built around Moscow and Beijing. La Paz should look to prosperity, not Putin. 🇧🇴🤝🇪🇺🌎 Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M #Bolivia #BreakBRICS #BRICS #Democracy #Lithium #Investment #Prosperity #Europe #Americas #FreeTrade #RuleOfLaw #LaPaz #SouthAmerica #Putin #Russia #China
Trump talks peace while Putin’s war brings Russian drones into Moldovan airspace and dangerously close to President Zelenskyy’s aircraft. That is the reality Europe and America must confront. While Washington speaks about a “deal,” Moscow continues attacking Ukraine, violating the airspace of its neighbors and creating lethal risks even for Ukraine’s president. Whether this particular drone was deliberately sent to assassinate Zelenskyy has not yet been publicly proven — but the security threat was real, Moldova closed its airspace, Zelenskyy’s flight was delayed, and Norway’s prime minister confirmed that his aircraft came dangerously close to a drone. Putin does not deserve another round of wishful thinking. Peace does not come from pretending the aggressor has suddenly become a peacemaker. Peace comes when aggression becomes too costly to continue. Arm Ukraine. Strengthen Moldova. Enforce sanctions. Protect European airspace. Bring Ukraine into NATO. Trump should judge Putin by what Russia DOES, not by what Putin says on the telephone. This is not the moment for appeasement. It is the moment for deterrence, strength and Ukrainian victory. 🇺🇦🇲🇩🇪🇺🇺🇸 #Ukraine #Zelenskyy #Moldova #Putin #Trump #NATO #StandWithUkraine #EuropeanSecurity #UkraineVictory #PeaceThroughStrength — Günther Fehlinger-Jahn | @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M
BREAK BRICS. BREAK CHINA — PEACEFULLY. 🇨🇳🌏 China is not simply one uniform nation. It is a vast state containing very different peoples, regions, languages, histories and political identities. My ExChina proposal is not a call for war. It is a call for self-determination, democratic choice and a peaceful post-imperial order in Asia. Tibetans, Uyghurs in East Turkistan, Mongols in Inner Mongolia, the people of Hong Kong, Taiwan and other regions should never be forced into one political future against their will. Their rights, languages, cultures and political choices must be protected. China’s future should not be decided forever by one centralized Communist Party system in Beijing. Break BRICS. Break imperial centralism. Build freedom. That means: Referendums, not repression. Human rights, not forced assimilation. Free trade, not geopolitical intimidation. Regional prosperity, not permanent centralized domination. A peaceful transformation would require negotiated borders, minority protection, debt and asset agreements, water and energy cooperation, open trade routes and strong international security guarantees. Taiwan must remain free. Hong Kong must regain genuine political freedom. Tibet and East Turkistan must have the right to determine their own future peacefully. A freer Asia would be a safer Asia. BREAK CHINA — NOT THROUGH WAR, BUT THROUGH DEMOCRATIC SELF-DETERMINATION. BREAK BRICS. BUILD FREE NATIONS. BUILD PEACE. Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M #BreakBRICS #ExChina #China #XiJinping #Taiwan #Tibet #EastTurkistan #HongKong #InnerMongolia #SelfDetermination #HumanRights #Democracy #FreeAsia #IndoPacific #Peace #BRICS #FreeWorld
Merkels appeasement led us into war and disaster She does not regret or repent
BREAK BRICS. BREAK RUSSIA — PEACEFULLY. 🇺🇦🇪🇺🌍 Russia must stop being an empire held together by force, fear and Moscow centralism. My ExRussia proposal is clear: let the peoples and regions of the Russian Federation choose their own future through democratic referendums, negotiated borders and peaceful constitutional change. Chechnya, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Sakha, Buryatia and other republics should have the right to decide whether they want real federal autonomy, confederation or independence. This is not a call for chaos. It is a call to end imperial politics before they produce another generation of war. Break the empire, not the people. Referendums, not rifles. Successor states, not civil war. Minority rights, property rights, trade routes, energy links and nuclear security must all be guaranteed by international agreements. Putin’s Russia uses BRICS to project the image that imperial aggression can be normalized. I reject that. Break BRICS. Break imperial Russia. Build free nations, peaceful borders and a safer Europe. No more forced federation. No more imperial wars. Let Russia’s nations choose their future. ExRussia means self-determination, democracy and peace. 🇪🇺🕊️ Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M #ExRussia #BreakBRICS #Russia #Putin #SelfDetermination #Chechnya #Tatarstan #Bashkortostan #Sakha #Buryatia #Ukraine #Europe #Democracy #Peace #Referendum #FreeNations #NATO #NATOEnlargement
INDONESIA: BREAK BRICS. JOIN THE OECD. 🇮🇩 Indonesia is too important, too democratic and too ambitious to become another prestige trophy for Putin’s BRICS. President Prabowo, Indonesia is already on the road toward OECD accession and deeper economic integration with Europe. That is the future: investment, technology, jobs, free trade, stronger institutions and a stronger ASEAN. So why tie Indonesia’s political image to BRICS alongside Russia and Iran? Indonesia can trade with China, India, Brazil and the entire Global South without giving geopolitical legitimacy to Putin. Trade globally—but choose your strategic direction. Indonesia should become the democratic economic superpower of Southeast Asia, the bridge between ASEAN, Europe, America, Japan and Korea, and a leader of an open Indo-Pacific. Break BRICS. Finish OECD accession. Deepen the EU–Indonesia free-trade partnership. Lead ASEAN. Choose Indonesia’s future. President Prabowo: BRICS is not Indonesia’s destiny. Prosperity, democracy and global leadership are. 🇮🇩🤝🇪🇺🇺🇸🇯🇵🇰🇷 Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M #Indonesia #Prabowo #BreakBRICS #BRICS #OECD #ASEAN #Europe #EU #FreeTrade #Investment #Democracy #Jakarta #IndoPacific #Ukraine #Putin #Russia #GlobalSouth #Prosperity
SOUTH AFRICA: RAMAPHOSA, WHAT WOULD MANDELA SAY? 🇿🇦 Nelson Mandela made South Africa a global symbol of freedom, dignity, reconciliation and democratic legitimacy. That is why I find today’s BRICS alignment so difficult to understand. South Africa is a serious country, a major free-trade partner, an investment destination and one of Europe’s most important partners in Africa. Europe invests billions. European companies create jobs. Western partners support development, health, trade, technology and infrastructure. And yet Pretoria stands politically in BRICS beside Vladimir Putin and gives Russia valuable international prestige while Russia continues its war against Ukraine. President Cyril Ramaphosa, my question is simple: why? South Africa can trade with China, India, Brazil and the entire Global South without allowing BRICS to become its geopolitical identity. Trade with everyone. Cooperate with everyone. But do not give political cover to Putin. I cannot know what Nelson Mandela would say today, but I believe every South African should ask whether Mandela’s legacy of freedom and human dignity is really served by standing beside an authoritarian Russia at BRICS summits. South Africa deserves a bigger role than being used as proof that Putin is not isolated. Break BRICS. Choose democracy. Choose free trade. Choose investment. Choose a stronger partnership with Europe and the democratic world. Mandela’s South Africa should be a bridge between Africa and the free world, not a diplomatic shield for Moscow. 🇿🇦🤝🇪🇺🇺🇸 President Ramaphosa: South Africa does not need Putin. The democratic world needs South Africa. Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M #SouthAfrica #Ramaphosa #Mandela #BreakBRICS #BRICS #Putin #Russia #Ukraine #Europe #EU #FreeTrade #Investment #Democracy #CapeTown #Johannesburg #Africa #FreeWorld #Geopolitics
🇽🇰🇧🇦 KOSOVO & BOSNIA — UNITED IN EUROPE Kosovo and Bosnia belong together in the European and transatlantic family. Both societies suffered terribly from the wars, ethnic cleansing and nationalist violence of the 1990s. Their future must not be determined forever by the political forces that still live from division, fear and obstruction. Bosnia should recognize Kosovo. And Europe should accelerate the full integration of both: 🇪🇺 EU 🛡️ NATO 💶 EURO 🛂 SCHENGEN 🌍 OECD 🕊️ OSCE This is the future I want to see: Bosnians and Kosovars standing together, trading together, travelling freely together, protected together and prospering together inside the institutions of democratic Europe. And Aleksandar Vučić? If Serbia chooses obstruction, nationalist nostalgia and permanent confrontation instead of reconciliation and European cooperation, then Serbia risks standing outside in the cold while its neighbours move forward. The door to Europe should remain open to Serbia — but the direction must be clear: Recognition. Reconciliation. Democracy. Europe. Europe must stand with people who want peace and freedom, not reward those who use vetoes, pressure and nationalist conflict to keep the Balkans trapped in the past. 🇽🇰🤝🇧🇦 Kosovo + Bosnia: one European future. EU. NATO. Euro. Schengen. OECD. OSCE. And fast. — Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M https://t.co/TTmBf6L9w7
🇧🇦💶 BOSNIA — ADOPT THE EURO IN 2027. Bosnia is European. Bosnia trades with Europe. Bosnians work, study, invest and travel across Europe. So why keep an unnecessary currency barrier? The convertible mark is already tied to the euro. Finish the job. Adopt the euro. 🇲🇪 Montenegro uses the euro. 🇽🇰 Kosovo uses the euro. 🇭🇷 Croatia uses the euro. 🇧🇦 Bosnia should be next. Imagine a Bosnia where families, tourists, companies and investors no longer need to think in KM and euro. No currency border with Croatia. No currency border with Montenegro. Less friction for trade. Less friction for tourism. More transparency. More European integration. And yes, let Bosnia place its own history on its future European currency. ALIJA IZETBEGOVIĆ ON THE BOSNIAN €2 COIN. A symbol of Bosnia’s struggle for statehood — now on the currency of Bosnia’s European future. 2027: EURO FOR BOSNIA. One currency. One continent. One market. Bosnia must stop thinking like a permanently transitional post-war state. Think like a future EU member. Think like a European economy. Think bigger. 🇧🇦🇪🇺 BOSNIA TO THE EURO. 🇧🇦🇪🇺 BOSNIA TO THE EU. 🇧🇦🛡️ BOSNIA TO NATO. 🌍 BOSNIA TO OECD. 🇪🇺 BOSNIA TO SCHENGEN. The future is not KM. The future is EUROPE. Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M https://t.co/TTmBf6L9w7
EX-DAYTON NOW. 🇧🇦🇪🇺 IT IS TIME FOR EU BOSNIA. Dayton ended the war. Europe must now build the peace. The Dayton system was designed to stop bloodshed in 1995—not to condemn generations of Bosnian citizens to permanent paralysis, ethnic vetoes, institutional blockage and political dependency. Bosnia and Herzegovina deserves a constitutional order built for the European Union: a functional democratic state, equal rights for every citizen, strong regional self-government, independent courts, economic competition and institutions capable of taking decisions. Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats and all other citizens must have their identity and rights protected—but no political elite should possess a permanent veto over the prosperity, security and European future of the whole country. Bosnia should move from post-war management to European democracy, from paralysis to responsibility, from division to cooperation, from Dayton Bosnia to EU Bosnia. I want a sovereign, federal, democratic Bosnia and Herzegovina whose regions compete for investment, infrastructure and jobs and cooperate directly with Brussels as European regions. The objective must be clear: ONE STATE. EQUAL RIGHTS. FUNCTIONAL INSTITUTIONS. ONE EUROPEAN FUTURE. Dayton achieved its historic purpose: it stopped the war. Now Bosnia needs the courage to complete the peace. A stronger Bosnia in a stronger Europe. EX-DAYTON NOW. EU BOSNIA NOW. 🇧🇦🇪🇺 — Günther Fehlinger-Jahn, Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement | @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwpaSk | https://t.co/TTmBf6LHlF #Bosnia #BiH #BosniaAndHerzegovina #EUBosnia #ExDayton #EuropeanUnion #EUEnlargement #Sarajevo #Mostar #BanjaLuka #Europe #WesternBalkans
MBS: BREAK BRICS. JOIN THE FREE WORLD. 🇸🇦🌍 Saudi Arabia has spent years presenting Vision 2030 as a project of modernization, diversification, investment, technology and reform. If that is really the direction, then Riyadh should stop drifting into a geopolitical bloc built around Russia, China and Iran and instead anchor itself much more clearly in the open, rules-based global economy. My message to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is simple: leave BRICS ambiguity behind and move toward OECD accession. Saudi Arabia does not need BRICS in order to trade with India, China, Brazil or anyone else. It can trade with the entire world while choosing stronger institutions, better governance standards, deeper investment integration and closer cooperation with the advanced market economies. If MBS wants to prove that Vision 2030 is more than branding, then choose the path of reform: stronger institutions, transparency, competition, investment, rule of law and long-term integration with Europe, America, Japan, Korea and other OECD economies. Break BRICS. Join the free world. Leave BRICS. Join OECD. Saudi Arabia should not become another geopolitical trophy for Putin. It should become one of the strongest reform economies of the 21st century. That would be the real Vision 2030. 🇸🇦🤝🇪🇺🇺🇸🇯🇵🇰🇷 Günther Fehlinger-Jahn Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwpaSk #SaudiArabia #MBS #Vision2030 #BRICS #BreakBRICS #OECD #Riyadh #Reform #FreeWorld #Investment #RuleOfLaw #Europe #USA #Japan #Korea #Putin #Russia #Iran #GlobalEconomy
PUTIN PAYS KIM IN HARD DOLLARS — FOR THE BLOOD OF NORTH KOREANS. This is the brutal business model behind the Putin–Kim alliance: Moscow gets soldiers for its war, Pyongyang gets hard currency, weapons, technology and political support. The dictatorship earns. The soldiers bleed. Kim takes the cash. North Koreans pay with their lives. Thousands of young men are sent far from home into a foreign war that has nothing to do with defending North Korea. They are expendable manpower for Putin’s imperial war against Ukraine. This is not friendship. This is not solidarity. It is a transaction between two dictatorships: money, weapons and regime survival on one side — human lives on the other. Putin needs manpower. Kim needs cash. And ordinary North Koreans carry the cost in blood. Europe must understand what this means: Russia is internationalising its war and buying military manpower from one of the most repressive regimes on Earth. Ukraine is not only defending itself against Russia. It is confronting an expanding authoritarian war coalition. Support Ukraine. Sanction the networks financing this war. Expose the Putin–Kim transaction. Stop treating dictatorships as normal partners while they trade human lives for cash. Kim takes the cash. North Koreans pay with blood. 🇺🇦🇪🇺 #Ukraine #NorthKorea #Russia #Putin #KimJongUn #StandWithUkraine #RussiaUkraineWar #NATO #Europe #Freedom #HumanRights #StopPutin #SupportUkraine #PaxEuropeana — Gunther Fehlinger-Jahn | Economist, Author & Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement | @GunterFehlinger | https://t.co/4HINhwoD2M
MY PROMISE AS FEDERAL PRESIDENT: A STRONG, COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT ATTORNEY GENERAL Austria needs a prosecution service that belongs politically to no one. Not the chancellor. Not the justice minister. Not a party. And not the federal president either. As federal president, I will work to ensure that the attorney general is appointed directly by the federal president – following a transparent selection process and solely on the basis of qualifications, experience and integrity. His independence begins with his appointment. The federal president appoints him. But no one gives him political instructions. The attorney general must be strong enough to have independent investigations conducted even against ministers, members of government, party officials and other powerful people, when the law and the evidence require it. independent prosecution service no ministerial instructions fixed term highest professional qualifications transparent parliamentary oversight equal justice for government, opposition and citizens His loyalty must belong exclusively to the constitution, the law and justice. A federal president must stand above day-to-day politics, protect the constitutional order and enable strong independent institutions. Precisely for that reason, the appointment of the attorney general belongs to the responsibility of the head of state – not to the party-political chain of command of a government. A strong president protects the constitution. An independent attorney general protects the rule of law. No one stands above the law. Günther Fehlinger-Jahn | Economist, Author | Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement @GunterFehlinger #Österreich #Bundespräsident #Generalstaatsanwalt #Justiz #Rechtsstaat #Gewaltenteilung #Demokratie #Verfassung #RuleOfLaw #Austria
Translated from GermanBeate Meinl-Reisinger disappoints me more and more. In 2026, Austria does not need a return to the old Kreisky school of foreign policy. Of course, a friendly Israeli government may and must also be criticized. But making Israel the convenient object of European symbolic politics is something else, while Hamas, Hezbollah, the Iranian regime and their supporters are our actual strategic opponents. This is exactly where I see a dangerous political shift in Meinl-Reisinger: more and more moral lecturing directed at Israel, more and more high-profile distancing — and less and less clarity about who defends democracy in this region and who exports terror, Islamism and war. That is why I ask myself: Meinl-Reisinger = Kreisky 2.0? Bruno Kreisky made Austria’s neutrality and a distinctive Middle East policy a trademark. That was his time. But today’s Austria belongs firmly to the West politically: European, transatlantic and in solidarity with democratic Israel. I do not want a renaissance of an Austrian foreign policy that seeks international significance by publicly lecturing Israel. Austria bears a special historical responsibility toward the Jewish people and the State of Israel. This responsibility does not mean approving every decision of an Israeli government. But it does mean not making Israel the scapegoat of European domestic politics. My line is clear: security for Israel. Freedom for the hostages. Disarming Hamas. Containing the Iranian regime. A strong transatlantic alliance. And an Austria that finally leaves its romantic attachment to neutrality behind. No Kreisky nostalgia. No anti-Israel polemics for cheap applause. A clear Western foreign policy for Austria. — Günther Fehlinger-Jahn | Economist & Author | Chairman, Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement | @GunterFehlinger #Austria #Israel #MeinlReisinger #Kreisky #ForeignPolicy #MiddleEast #Europe #NATO #Transatlantic #StandWithIsrael
Translated from German