"The Situation Is Critical": Austria Conducts Border Defense Drills For Expected Wave Of 80,000 Migrants

Zero Hedge

Just a few weeks after the opening of a new "Balkan route" of travel through Albania, Montegegro, Bosnia and Croatia, Austrian forces will conduct border-security exercises on June 25 in the border town of Spielfeld in preparation for a wave of 80,000 migrants expected to travel through the route to Western and Central Europe, reports Kronen Zeitung, Austria's most widely-circulated newspaper.

Taking part in the exercise will be between 600 and 1,000 members of the riot police, "Puma" border squad and Federal Army will participate in the exercise.

 "The situation is critical," says General Fritz Lang, director of Austria's Federal Criminal Police Office, who says that 30 illegal border crossings are attempted every day.

According to Lang, the migrants are primarily young male loners, "many of whom are considered "terrorist fighters," which require strong border protection.

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Austria to shut down mosques, expel foreign-funded imams

Reuters

 

The coalition government, an alliance of conservatives and the far right, came to power soon after Europe’s migration crisis on promises to prevent another influx and restrict benefits for new immigrants and refugees.

The moves follow a “law on Islam”, passed in 2015, which banned foreign funding of religious groups and created a duty for Muslim organizations to have “a positive fundamental view towards (Austria’s) state and society”.

“Political Islam’s parallel societies and radicalizing tendencies have no place in our country,” said Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who, in a previous job as minister in charge of integration, steered the Islam bill into law.

Standing next to him and two other cabinet members on Friday, far-right Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache told a news conference: “This is just the beginning.”

Austria, a country of 8.8 million people, has roughly 600,000 Muslim inhabitants, most of whom are Turkish or have families of Turkish origin.

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Largest Austrian Bank Crashes After “Revealing” 40% Surge In Bad Debt Provisions, Record Loss

Zero Hedge

Austria’s largest bank by assets, and the third biggest bank in Eastern Europe after UniCredit and Raiffeisen, announced that, oops, its earlier forecast about the amount of bad loans on its books is wrong, and will have to rise by a massive 40%, leading to what will be a record $2.2 billion loss, and triggering writedowns.

Shareholders, not used to being told the truth and instead preferring sweet, little lies, promptly took the stock to the woodshed.

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