Where the differences lie by Jochen Ressel | with highly appreciated inputs from Melanie Sully, Wolfgang Geissler and Ian Murdoch Spring has finally arrived, the snow has disappeared, and the warm and sunny period has started, making many of us think about plans for the summer season. Reason enough for us to look ... Weiterlesen >

Ambassadorial Experiences | Part 7 It was a hot, sunny day on February 10,1990 when Nelson Mandela, after having spent 27 years in prison, was due to be finally released in Cape Town. High und unexpected drama accompanied his release. Exactly at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, the world waited for his appearance outside Cape Town. Many national and ... Weiterlesen >

by Jochen Ressel On March 18th, 2022, a special video message has been distributed through various communication channels, produced by the famous and worldwide known former Governor of California, former bodybuilding World Champion, and former actor, born in Austrian who made his career in the United States, Arnold Schwarzenegger – and it went ... Weiterlesen >

Where is the limit? by Jochen Ressel The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Beijing 2022, are history with a record of 109 events over 15 disciplines in seven areas of sports. For Austria, the Games turned out to be very successful, with 18 medals, 7 of them in ... Weiterlesen >

Ambassadorial Experiences | part 6 BY COLIN A. MUNRO East Germany In January 1990 on the occasion of the belated visit to East Germany by Douglas Hurd (DH), Ambassador Broomfield and I told him that the GDR was finished. He said he would tell Mrs Thatcher she would just have to get used ... Weiterlesen >

Ambassadorial Experiences | Part 5 BY ALEXANDER CHRISTIANI State visit of the President of Kenia, Arap Moi to Austria at the beginning of the nineties. His host was Kurt Waldheim, at that time Federal President of Austria. Official talks at the Bundeskanzleramt, Grosser Kongress Saal. I, as Director of the department for the Middle ... Weiterlesen >

BY MELANIE SULLY After reading the amusing contributions by Ambassador Christiani and Jochen Ressel on some awkward language situations I decided to relate my first encounter with Austria in 1970. Having decided Vienna, the city of music, would be the next place I should visit ‘abroad’ I bought a German phrase book. We ... Weiterlesen >

When a British tries to impress the Spaniards by Jochen Ressel Our Austro-British Society's Vice President Alexander Christiani provided an excellent blog article about his Ambassadorial language experiences in the Netherlands. When reading this, it reminded me of a quite lovely and humorous story that occurred during my time working for the London ... Weiterlesen >

Ambassadorial Experiences | Teil 4 BY ALEXANDER CHRISTIANI During my time of service in the Netherlands, I also witnessed the unspeakable "sanctions" against Austria – triggered in February 2000 by the decision of the then Chancellor Schüssel to form a coalition with the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), led by Jörg Haider. Between February ... Weiterlesen >

26 years after the Dayton Accords and UK’s role now BY COLIN MUNRO On the 20th anniversary of the General Framework Agreement for Peace (formal title of the Dayton accords signed in Paris on 14 December 1995), the Austrian Institute for International Affairs  organised a workshop on prospects for the Balkans on November ... Weiterlesen >