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Europe
Right Wing Rapper poised to become next chancellor of Austria
2011-12-01
It will be interesting to see if he ends up like Vaclav Havel or like that wrestler Montana chose as governor...
Posted by:Anonymoose

#6  Or like a certain Austrian landscape painter, TW?


He became chancellor of Germany, g(r)omgoru, acquiring Austria by Anschluss. Even then Austria was so unimportant that there was no point in going for it directly.

You are quite right, Beavis, it was indeed Jesse (Ventura, yes?) I meant. Thank you.

Anonymoose, the Slovak politicians did not actually want the divorce, because rural Slovakia survived on funds transferred from the industrialized Czech province. They were shocked and appalled when Prime Minister Havel called their bluff and sent them on their way, instead of paying them more to remain in the union. Mr. Wife was working in the area at the time, and I also had a series of lovely, bright Czech au pairs, so I got all the news as it happened. Also, it wasn't just entertainment, but all sorts of business that PM Havel encouraged -- Mr. Wife's company was allowed to paint an advertisement on the side of his apartment building (he refused to move into the traditional executive's palace as a cost saving effort) as a reward for being one of the first Western companies to start up a factory and management office there. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2011-12-01 19:16  

#5  "Their magnificent forests were almost wiped out, their infrastructure collapsed and decayed, their people exhausted and sickly from the communist exploitation and pollution."

Standard leavings for Marxism/communism - but let's give 'em another chance!

/sarc
Posted by: Barbara   2011-12-01 15:12  

#4  Havel wasn't too bad. He did two things that meant a lot. The first was to not contest the divorce with Slovakia, which everyone wanted, yet were amazed happened without a fight.

The second was to realize how very raped and ruined Czechoslovakia had been left by the communists, and figured the only way they had to make money was through entertainment, so he made them a very going concern and business friendly.

It will still be 200 years before they have recovered. Their magnificent forests were almost wiped out, their infrastructure collapsed and decayed, their people exhausted and sickly from the communist exploitation and pollution.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-12-01 15:09  

#3  Maybe he's thinking of Jerry "Chiquito Banana(*)" Brown of California.

(*) He briefly dated Pat Benatar, who immediately left on discovering Brown's "diminutive stature", as it were.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-12-01 15:01  

#2  or like that wrestler Montana chose as governor...

Minnesota? Jesse 'the body'
Posted by: Beavis   2011-12-01 14:18  

#1  Or like a certain Austrian landscape painter, TW?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2011-12-01 14:06  

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