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- Editorial: no excuse for NOT talking about Churchill this month
- Presidential Message: Further initiatives to attract new members
- Remembering May
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- Vice President's Corner: Hormuz is a Warning for the Indo-Pacific
- The Last Page
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EDITORIAL
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Dear Members and Friends of the ABS,
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no excuse for NOT talking about Churchill this month - there are other famous Britons around.
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You might remember a certain Alan Turing who was in position four for famousness in a poll of the BBC. And this Alan Turing was born 114 year ago (23 June 1912) in London.
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Alan Turing is considered one of the most important mathematicians and theorists of early computer development and computer science, whose "Turing machine" is a model of a general-purpose computer.
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During the Second World War Alan Turing was an important person for the British war effort. He worked at Bletchley Park and was a leading scientist to crack the Enigma code.
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In 1946 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by King George VI for his wartime services. His work remained secret for many more years.
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But the great mathematician had an unhappy ending: in 1952, Turing was prosecuted for homosexual acts - still considered a crime - and accepted hormone treatment. He died of cyanide poisoning 7 June 1954 - suicide or accidental poisoning is uncertain.
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Only in 2013(!) Queen Elizabeth II granted a pardon, and since 23 June 2021 his portrait appears on the Bank of England £50 note.
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On a happier note: See you all at one or the other ABS "event"
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Wolfgang M. Buchta
ABS Secretary General
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PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE
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Further initiatives to attract new members are now getting under way:
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Initiative 5: The focus here is once again on attracting new Corporate Members. On the one hand, we are trying to contact subsidiaries of British companies in Austria which we have not yet approached. On the other hand, we are contacting former corporate members whom we have lost over the past few years. Companies often cancel their membership when there is a change of Managing Director or Chairman of the Board. We have already identified the relevant contact details and, over the coming weeks, will try to arrange meetings.
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Initiative 6: Students and younger target groups are also interesting and promising candidates. We have already had some success in individual cases, but we now intend to approach this in a more structured way. Possible formats could include quiz evenings, pub gatherings and competitions.
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I would like to warmly invite all members to support us in recruiting new members. After all, we have already gained our first new members through referrals by existing members, and the corresponding recruitment bonuses have been paid out.
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Let’s keep the momentum going!
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May 2026 brought us another three very different events:
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Event No. 1 : Zufall mit Ziel
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Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schreiner gave us an highly interesting talk on "Evolutionstheologie" - how to reconcile evolution and creation.
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Click here for the event report and photos
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Event No. 2: König Charles – kein Mann der 2. Reihe
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An evening with Lisbeth Bischoff at Amalthea Verlag and the presentation of her new book - on King Charles!
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Click here for the event report and photos:
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Event No. 3: British Car Excursion
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It's an ancient tradition: Once e year the brave ABS members leave Vienna - with British cars only! This year we have gone South...
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Click here for the event report and photos:
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June not only brings us Summer solstice but also three events
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"The Brexit Decade – A long hangover": Political scientist Prof. Dr. Melanie Sully will update us on the state of Britain after 10 years of Brexit
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Human Rights Space (vormals Musiksalon), Diplomatische Akademie
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Public Viewing Austria vs. Algeria
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Café Ministerium, Georg Coch-Platz 4
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Invitation and details to follow
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Our traditional carriage picnic in Ebreichsdorf,
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Schlosspark Ebreichsdorf.
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Invitation and details to follow
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VICE PRESIDENT'S CORNER
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Hormuz is a Warning for the Indo-Pacific
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What the current Hormuz crisis makes plain in that closing a strait has become easier and the consequences more far-reaching. Relatively inexpensive technologies - including costal surveillance systems, shore-based antiship missiles, drones, uncrewed surface vessels, and mines - now allow weaker states to disrupt at scale and impose costs on stronger adversaries. At the same time, the concentration of global trade and energy flows through a handful of narrow routes has magnified the impact of localized crises.
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For Asia, the stakes are higher still: whereas Hormuz is largely an energy chokepoint, Asia’s waterways sit astride global trade, energy, and semiconductor supply chains. By demonstrating both the feasibility - even for a weaker power - of weaponizing a chokepoint and the willingness of powerful states to impose and tolerate widespread costs, Hormuz could encourage similar tactics across the Indo-Pacific. This could take the form of U.S. restrictions of access through the Strait of Malacca, a Chinese blockade of the Taiwan Strait, or U.S.-Philippine denial of access through the Luzon Strait.
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Nowhere are the consequences of weaponizing straits likely to be greater than in Asia. The Strait of Malacca, a mere 1.5 nautical miles at its narrowest, carries up to 40 percent of global trade and 80 percent of China’s energy imports.
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The warning for Asia is real: absent a sustained defense of transit rights and the freedom of the seas - and robust pushback against those who undermine them - similar dynamics, could unfold across the Indo-Pacific. Given the sheer volume of global trade dependent on uninterrupted massage through regional chokepoints, the weaponizing of Asia’s waterways would trigger catastrophic consequences.
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by former Ambassador Alexander Christiani
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Account name: Österreichisch-Britische Gesellschaft | Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG | IBAN: AT422011184479592100 | BIC: GIBAATWWXXX
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Für den Inhalt verantwortlich: Wolfgang M. Buchta
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