Austria's Freedom Party casually mentions it met with Trump's national security adviser

[brooklynite]

Source: The Week

On Monday, the leaders of Austria's far-right Freedom Party traveled to Moscow and signed a "working agreement" with Russia's ruling United Russia party. In announcing the pact, Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache mentioned that he also met with retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's designated national security adviser, in Trump Tower a few weeks ago. "Internationally, the Freedom Party continues to gain in influence," he wrote. Norbert Hofer, the Freedom Party candidate who recently lost his bid for Austria's presidency, traveled to Moscow with Strache.

The Freedom Party, founded by ex-Nazis in the 1950s, is one of several far-right, anti-immigrant parties gaining popularity throughout Europe. After signing the cooperative agreement, Strache offered to act as "a neutral and reliable intermediary and partner" between the incoming Trump administration and the Kremlin. Sergei Zheleznyak, the United Russia official who signed the pact for Moscow alongside Pyotr Tolstoy, the party's deputy chairman in the lower house of parliament, suggested Europe's "migration crisis" as a point of cooperation, while Strache said on Facebook that another goal would be "to get rid of the sanctions that damage the economy and are in the end useless."

Zheleznyak is barred from traveling to the U.S. under 2014 sanctions America and Europe levied against Russia for seizing Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. Trump is widely expected to drop the sanctions once he gets into office, and he and some key advisers and Cabinet picks have advocated closer ties to Moscow. Although Austria's Freedom Party is part of the trend of European anti-establishment parties making common cause with Moscow, it is also apparently drawing on a very Austrian form of wistfulness, The New York Times notes. "Austria jealously guards its neutrality, adopted after the allies withdrew from the country in 1955, and there is considerable nostalgia for the Cold War role played by Vienna as a venue for United States-Soviet summits." Peter Weber

Read more: http://theweek.com/speedreads/668380/austrias-freedom-party-casually-mentions-met-trumps-national-security-adviser-before-signing-pact-moscow

[Ilsa]

1. K&R. nt

[KewlKat]

2. no hearings....so how do we get flynn fired?

[JudyM]

3. Orangebush doesnt feel he has any restraints so who knows what type of agreements he's going to

sign on our behalf? Without normal security briefings or the intellect/insight to understand complexities/subtleties, he'll just want to feel like a big man, able to sign whatever with whoever leads him to believe "it'll be great."

[Sunlei]

4. In Moscow,signs a "working agreement" with Russia & then on to meet in USA with (R)Admin. Flynn.

Republicans don't seem concerned at all, for some reason? Why are Republicans backing a nazi group?


"On Monday, the leaders of Austria's far-right Freedom Party traveled to Moscow and signed a "working agreement" with Russia's ruling United Russia party. In announcing the pact, Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache mentioned that he also met with retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's designated national security adviser, in Trump Tower a few weeks ago. "Internationally, the Freedom Party continues to gain in influence," he wrote. Norbert Hofer, the Freedom Party candidate who recently lost his bid for Austria's presidency, traveled to Moscow with Strache."

[Fast Walker 52]

6. I don't get it, I still don't get anything about this election when it comes to shit like this

[Sunlei]

7. Not even election any more. The nazi group is 'close friends' with the new Republican Admin.

[Fast Walker 52]

9. yes, it's our new insane reality

[Sunlei]

10. I think this man was banned from several countries in Europe, recently? for nazi hate spreading.

We will have to see just how corrupt Republicans in our Senate are, if they allow a nazi, someone who is known to spread hate to pass security clearances and be part of Americas inner loop.

[Fast Walker 52]

5. HuffPo also has this

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-flynn-freedom-party-nazis_us_5859367ee4b08debb78af7c2

Truly heinous.

[Fast Walker 52]

8. was it just Flynn or was Trump there too?

I heard someone say Trump met with him too, and it was in Trump tower.