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- Editorial: Happy New Year
- Presidential Message: Who Is Shaking the World?
- Remembering December 2025
- January Events
- Vice President's Corner: Europe’s Hamlet Moment: To be or not to be
- ABS Horoscope 2026 by Eva Vaskovich-Fidelsberger
- The Last Page
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EDITORIAL
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Dear Members and Friends of the ABS,
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First of all, “A Happy New Year!” to all our members and friends, and let’s make it a great year for the ABS again!
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With “only” 30 events, the year 2025 did not break records, but it was a very good year (at least from an ABS point of view). And I think 2026 will again be a good one, with two events in January — please see below for details. And that’s just the beginning of the beginning!
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A hundred years ago, on 24 January 1926, the first crossing — from South to North — of Africa by motorcar ended in Cairo. Chaplin and Stella Court Treatt had started with four other adventurers in two Crossley 25/30 cars from Cape Town, South Africa, on 13 September 1924 and arrived — after travelling for one year, four months and 11 days — in Cairo.
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And — to make the trip even more patriotic (and complicated) — they restricted their route to territories under British rule. Well done, Ladies and Gentlemen!
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So, a Happy New Year to all of you, and please do come to the ABS events to make 2026 great (again).
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Wolfgang M. Buchta,
ABS Secretary General
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PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE
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Who Is Shaking the World?
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The world is being governed by the “over-70s”. At the very least, this proves that life after 60 is far from over. That insight is nothing new to me — I even wrote a book about it (a few copies still available). Whether the politicians mentioned here truly qualify as great role models is another question altogether. Everyone is free to form their own view.
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From personal experience, however, I am convinced that many active men and women in their seventies and eighties remain extremely willing — and fully able — to perform. This applies equally to professional, private and voluntary activities, and I am fortunate enough to witness this reality on a daily basis, even within the ABS board.
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In that context, it seems entirely fitting that even the ABS President is already 71 years old. Whether all this is mere coincidence — who knows!?
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REMEMBERING DECEMBER 2025
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To make the Advent season even more stressful, the ABS invited you — the honourable members — to no less than four events in December:
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Event No. 1: Daniel Defoe: Ein wahrer Spion – und erster Spin-Doctor Großbritanniens
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The “secret life” of the author of Robinson Crusoe was the topic of Peter Bichler’s talk at the House of Scotland.
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Event No. 2: HILFSTÖNE 2025 – Benefiz-Weihnachtskonzert von KS Clemens Unterreiner in der Lutherischen Stadtkirche
Sorry, only for corporate members: As every year, a feast for the ears with Clemens Unterreiner and friends.
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Event No. 3: Lebensweisheiten mit Dr. Erika Freeman
Only 24 hours later, back at Café Ministerium, we were privileged to listen to the wisdom of Prof. Dr. Erika Freeman.
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Event No. 4: Romantisches Weihnachtsfest in der Sala Terrena im Ferdinandihof
To celebrate Christmas in style, the ABS assembled — for the third time — in the Sala Terrena of Ferdinandihof for food, drinks, music and, most of all, jolly good company.
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January gives us some time to recover from a busy end of the year — but nevertheless, there will be two ABS events worthwhile visiting!
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- Velina Tchakarova on “the European and Austrian security situation”
- Diplomatic Academy, Favoritenstraße 15A, 1040 Wien
- Invitation to follow
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- Elisabeth Gürtler on "Zukunftsorientiertes Reisen - der alpine Raum liegt im Trend!"
- Location and invitation to follow
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VICE PRESIDENT'S CORNER
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Europe’s Hamlet Moment: To be or not to be
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Europe, once a colonizer, now risks becoming a colonized continent itself. Without strategic autonomy in critical resources and technologies, those without a seat at the table end up on the menu.
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It’s an old Soviet joke: ”The future is certain; it’s the past that’s unpredictable”. But it’s not only the party faithful in the USSR who adhered to this belief. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it also held for Western proponents of the “end of history” thesis, with its eventual global utopia of free markets and liberal democracy.
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Since these giddy days, triumphalism has largely ebbed away. Individual European states as a whole, find themselves today at a historic crossroads as old models no longer work and new ones are not yet in place. Moreover: Europe’s past turned against the present, and the future has become a threat.
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At the very moment when historic collective efforts are needed to secure European future, decision makers appear to be locked in a Hamlet moment. Here they stand on the battlements of a bewildering and perilous new world asking themselves ”whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous future, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them”
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by former Ambassador Alexander Christiani
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ABS HOROSCOPE 2026
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The planets indicate tendencies
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and we decide how we deal with them and what we make of them.
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Strengthen positive constellations through conscious effort, make use of opportunities, and view challenging aspects as an invitation to rethink your life and put things in order.
Crises are also opportunities!
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"Happiness is the only thing that doubles when you share it." (Albert Schweitzer)
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I wish you health, contentment, success, and many wonderful hours with family and friends in 2026.
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Yours sincerely,
Eva Vaskovich-Fidelsberger
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Click here to download the ABS horoscope for 2026
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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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