Comments on: Austria’s Graf gets grief over “united Tyrol”

By: Peter H

Peter H — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:37:32 +0000

And as you do, you go back and check your facts! The current Prime Minister in Bulgaria is Boyko Metodiev Borisov, a former body guard for Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and in 2005 a candidate for the National Movement Simeon II party although his new party is called Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria. I’m sure it’s all kosher and doesn’t indicate the European Monarchs are trying to regain their former glory!

By: Peter H

Peter H — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:22:44 +0000

Thanks for the update De, I do try to keep up with current events but it’s not always possible. I stand corrected.

By: De

De — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:23:37 +0000

@ Peter H:”Already there is a descendant of the former King of Bulgaria back on his “throne” in the guise of “prime minister” “You should check your facts – the descendant of the former king of Bulgaria WAS prime minister, but not anymore. As a matter of fact his political party was’nt able to get 4% of the votes in the recent elections and is no more part of the bulgarian parlament.

By: JADR

JADR — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:37:29 +0000

Too bad. Austria started and lost the war and Italy benefitted. Should France also give back Stassbourg to the Germans – who also started and lost the war? If they don’t like living in Italy then they can freely move to Austria!

By: Iowalad

Iowalad — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:01:52 +0000

What is so “nationalistic” about folks with a common cultural heritage wanting to be together, but under moderate principles of democractic governance? Golly gee! Besides, the concept of the EU which we promoted in the 1950s is destroying the sense of traditional societal culture and heritage of any given people in Europe or elsewhere. Free trade, open borders and the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) worked quite well. Our own sense of traditional regional identity is ‘going down the drain’. One size does not fit all, except in the minds of elite leadership. Go figure.

By: Wildthing

Wildthing — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:56:56 +0000

Here we go again WWI all over again and I suppose WWII, Korea, and Vietnam won’t be far behind!!! Wars just set the stage for the next war and are a false profit and peace is like a rainbow!!!

By: Milano

Milano — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:33:33 +0000

I have a concern with those who support the re-drawing of borders along ethnic lines. While the concept has some naive logic to it it also leads one to conclude that to maintine such a border’s integrity it would then be necessary to keep the ethnic composition of the region “pure” or at least resist change in the peoples that populate the region. That would then suggest imposing rules governing racial and social interactions. It’s an ugly slope back to the mud pile that was once white South Africa amd more recently ex-Yugoslavia. It boggles my mind that in a time when freedom of movement of goods, services and people has been shown to produce wealth for the societies who subscribe that there are those, like Graf, who still resort to 1930′s style nationalism in the vain hope of resurrecting some fantasized historical era. Remember, Graf has never lived in a united Tyrol, as he would call it, so he can only dream that it is somehow better than what he has today. What he has today is of his own making unlike the South Tyrol which he finds so inviting.

By: Laz

Laz — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:46:13 +0000

While the deputy speaker of the Austrian parliament may be goofy, the idea isn’t. Not exactly.There is the German example, Hungarians narrowly rejected a similar proposal involving ethnic Hungarians anywhere, there are strong separatist movements in Europe aiming at redrawing national borders along ethnic, as opposed to historic or political lines, current political trends in Belgium point in the same direction.They all shake the foundations of established hierarchies, national sensitivities and econo-political realities, and at least in some cases they might, partly, draw from the desire to relive old imperial greatness. But to dismiss it as nuts or irrelevant?True, Europe’s borders are open so what does it matter? Strangely, I think it matters more BECAUSE of it. It is the degree of integration and co-operation in the EU that makes these ideas feasible in the first place. While 20 years ago they may have justifiably be labeled disruptive and unrealistic, that is no longer the case. I think we should expect more and more of it and Europeans, and eventually the world, will have to deal with it.I mean actually deal with it.

By: Peter H

Peter H — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:16:20 +0000

I’m not so sure the relatively recent Nazi experience in Austria has much to do with the Tyrol question. To me it’s more about a desire to recreate the Hadsburg Empire, following its WW1 defeat. Already there is a descendant of the former King of Bulgaria back on his “throne” in the guise of “prime minister” and other worrying signs that the European monarch is getting back on its feet having almost annihilated itself in WW1 (the last war of the monarchs in Europe) (at great expense to their “subjects”).To me monarchy has no place in a democratic society and I believe the far-right represent the monarchy and the rule of the few over the many, with the children of the few being the only people in line for future power. Sadly America might not be a true democracy anymore either.