Earlier this month we posted about the entrapment of Heinz-Christian Strache. The incident occurred two years ago, when Mr. Strache was the leader of the FPÖ (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, Austrian Freedom Party), before he became vice-chancellor in the coalition government headed by Sebastian Kurz. Intelligence operatives rented a villa in the Spanish resort of Ibiza and lured Mr. Strache to a meeting with a phony Russian investor, with whom he was videotaped discussing corrupt business deals to be made after the elections.

Significantly, the tape was not revealed before the Austrian general election. Rather, it was held in escrow until the moment when it could be used to best effect, just before the European parliamentary elections. There was never a more obvious set-up than the little escapade in Ibiza.

The essay below, written by a member of the Bundestag for the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland, Alternative for Germany) discusses the wider ramifications of what happened to Mr. Strache. The translator includes this prefatory header:

Plus ça change, plus c’est la mème chose — An ominous European footnote to the attempted presidential coup in the US

Many thanks to JLH for translating this piece from Politically Incorrect:

The Conspiracy

by Martin Renner, Bundestag AfD

May 24, 2019

Since the video on the Ibiza conspiracy and the rupture of the Austrian governing coalition, no other subject has had such relevance.

An abyss has opened. And this abyss threatens to swallow more than we can imagine. This is not about a number of politicians — or should we say, political players — who evaluate themselves too highly, and perhaps do not have the required character. It is also not just about parties.

This is about states, their alliances and our democratic political system as a whole.

I have always refused to deal with “conspiracy theories.” However, it has dawned on me slowly that with the contemporary propagation of numerous conspiracy theories in our political reality, critical view of conspiracies has become obscured. You might even suspect that to be the intention.

“Abyssus abyssum invocat”

It is not merely the number of them that dismays, but far more so the consequences. An actual, confirmable conspiracy to expose a supposed conspiracy pushes a respectable European country into a crisis of state as well as a crisis of government.

“Abyssus abyssum invocat” — the abyss invokes the abyss. The actual and provable conspiracy is revealed as the singular basic problem which draws all other evil and destruction along behind it.

This conspiracy is obvious. One or more persons have carefully concocted and elaborately implemented it. The legend of a supposed Russian millionaire’s niece was constructed. Contact with the targets was established slowly and over time, at least one actress was engaged and trained, a villa rented and — in the best secret agent manner — bugged and prepared. All with the purpose of politically, morally and ethically discrediting an unpopular politician of not exactly sterling character from a likewise unpopular party which was otherwise stable in its position and attitude.

Crime against all European democracies

Even if those responsible for the idea, planning, organization, financing and implementation are not yet known, the political intent is clear. As is the reprehensible illegality of the entire action. And therewith the definition of a conspiracy is fulfilled: targeted, conspiratorial action by a small group of actors to accomplish an illegal and illegitimate goal. Conspiracies of this type — called “honey traps” — were created and used again and again by the Stasi and Soviet intelligence services. At that time, in illegitimate states and dictatorships. But in democracies? Hard to imagine.

The compromising material for this illicit assault on individuals and on the party in which they were functioning as part of a democratically legitimized government was placed as a political bomb just before the Europe elections. The effective area of this manipulative intervention is magnified many times because the intention is to influence the elections in nations across Europe.

There is a clear political objective. It does not make matters better that this compromising video was already available previously and known to third parties. It makes them worse. Everyone privy to the material is perforce an accessory in the conspiracy. And since political forces outside Austria are involved, the conspiracy becomes an international political scandal — no, that is too harmless a word. It was a crime against democracies all across Europe, intended to illicitly influence the votes of sovereign citizens. Or, in the case of Austria, to change its government into its polar opposite.

Potential for extortion and manipulation

Whoever possessed or knew of this video had the means to extort or manipulate, even if only for financial gain. He had it in his power to decide when a selected government would implode. That is an enormous and unexpected power that must never occur in a democracy.

The questions that arise from this will terrify any who are committed to the preservation of democracy. Who sought to manipulate the fate of a democratic republic?

It was never about Austria alone, but about all of Europe. Who wishes — and with what intention — to prevent citizens in various nations from voting in their own interests?

Who is making use of undeniable human weaknesses of the political representatives of the peoples of Europe to manipulate elections?