Free Republic

When a new book came out, the great C. S. Lewis would first seek out an old one on the same subject. That’s good advice for embattled Americans. In fact, two old books address what is happening today with rare perception. Regent College Publishing has reissued The Green Stick and The Infernal Grove, the two volumes of Chronicles of Wasted Time by Malcolm Muggeridge. Paul Johnson called it one of the great autobiographies of our time, which might be an understatement. Wisdom and wit leap off the pages, and there’s even a news hook: Russia has invaded Ukraine and that...

After a surge in COVID cases caused by the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant, Austria is set to re-impose mask mandates that were dropped just two weeks ago. And there you were thinking the technocrats had finally let it go. Mask mandates in every area of the country apart from the capital Vienna were lifted as part of the general continent-wide trend of finally learning to “live with COVID.” That included ending the requirement for Austrians to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter most premises. However, despite the BA.2 variant proving even less dangerous than the original Omicron...

Yesterday, at a prerecorded meeting of Russia’s Security Council, President Vladimir Putin sat listless and slumped in his chair, far away from his gallery of boyars, pretending to weigh their counsel before launching a pre-scripted war against Ukraine. He was not impressed when Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, stammered and flubbed his lines, confusing the present and future tenses. “Speak clearly, Sergei!” Putin admonished him. Then Naryshkin got ahead of himself, and everyone else, by saying he supported incorporating the Russian-occupied territories of Donbas, east Ukraine, into the Russian Federation. “That’s not what we’re discussing!” Putin...

This week, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen imposed new Covid restrictions that require all adults in the country to be fully vaccinated and boosted or risk being fined. The new authoritarian law runs through January 31st, 2024, and will go into effect next month. Beginning on March 15th, law enforcement authorities will begin checking people’s vaccine status by conducting random traffic stops, and spot checks, in order to find dissenters. Anyone caught violating the mandate can be fined “up to four times a year,” with the penalty increasing with each violation. An individual’s first offense will result in a...

Austria’s vaccine mandate law will take effect on February 1, 2022. Despite the evidence that the “vaccine” does not protect people from Covid but increases the chances of infection from Omicron and hospitalization, last week, the Austrian Parliament approved mandating the experimental mRNA gene therapy injections. From mid-March, the law will see adults (residents aged 18 and older) who refuse the jabs subjected to steep fines and potential prison time. The vaccine order is expected to remain in force until January 2024, with the government investing €1.4bn in measures designed to target the unvaccinated and get them jabbed. A majority...

First came the lockdown for unvaccinated people in Austria, now two regions of the country have announced a general lockdown: Upper Austria and Salzburg. The new infections in the state keep reaching record levels. In Austria, new corona infections are increasing day by day. Today for the first time, over 15,000 new infections are reported-more than ever since the outbreak of the pandemic...

Austria is placing millions of people not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus in lockdown as of Monday to deal with a surge in infections to record levels, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Sunday. "The incidence within vaccinated people is declining, but it continues to rise exponentially for the people who are not vaccinated," Schallenberg told reporters. "Currently, the incidence for unvaccinated people in the 18-59 age group is over 1,700, so today we have decided that from tomorrow there will be a lockdown for the unvaccinated in Austria," he added. Europe has become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic again,...

Aunschluss is coming to a continent near you! The U.S. Joint Forces Command report on worldwide security threats issued a warning that Mexico could experience a sudden collapse. The report had this to say; “The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the...

The Austrian Situation (Lead Editorial) Adolf Hitler entered Austria yesterday and in a speech before a great throng at Linz proclaimed the unity of that country with Germany. He will enter Vienna in triumph today. He was preceded by large forces of troops, which occupied important cities, a detachment going to the capital and another to Brenner Pass on the Italian frontier. Many bombing planes also appeared at Vienna. Heinrich Himmler organized the police of that city and many arrests were made. Ex-Chancellor Schuschnigg was under guard. Anti-Nazi newspapers were suppressed. Exodus attempts were balked by closing of neighboring...

NAZIS SEIZE AUSTRIA AFTER HITLER ULTIMATUM; GERMAN TROOPS INVITED TO MAINTAIN ORDER; SEYSS-INQUART CHANGELLOR; POWERS PROTEST The Austrian Situation Following an ultimatum from Berlin, the Schuschnigg government in Austria retired yesterday evening and was succeeded by one headed by the Nazi leader, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, as Chancellor. He immediately asked Germany to send troops to help in preserving order. Some 50,000 highly armed and mechanized forces marched to the border. Both Munich and Vienna report some crossed into Austria. Berlin denies this. Nazi mobs took possession of Vienna and raided the Jewish quarter. The swastika was flown over public buildings,...

SCHUSCHNIGG’S PLEBISCITE The startling decision of the Austrian Chancellor to hold a plebiscite [authoritarian style] next Sunday is evidence of his determination that Austria shall not be swallowed up without a struggle. His appeal to the people on the formula, “A free and German, independent and social, Christian and united Austria,” is a heroic endeavor to establish to the world the desire of the majority of Austrians for the maintenance of political independence. Why has Schuschnigg, who for years has refused Nazi pressure to hold a plebiscite, chosen the present for this crucial test of public sentiment? It has been...

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin may be about to unveil a political bombshell: a full-scale union between Russia and its smaller Slavic neighbor Belarus. It's a plan that not only would expand Russia's territory and national prestige; it could also give Mr. Putin, required to step down when his second term ends in March, a new lease on power by producing a fresh Constitution.

TAIPEI - Proposed Chinese legislation that would give a mandate for the reunification of Taiwan with the mainland would provide a legal basis for an attack on the island, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has said. Mr Chen, speaking for the first time on the mainland's proposal to adopt a reunification law, said he was very concerned about it. 'China is undertaking a legal battle. If Taiwan does not follow, it will undertake a military battle,' he was quoted by the United Daily News as saying during a visit to the southern county of Tainan late on Thursday. 'The reunification law...