The world’s media are struggling to comprehend and explain the rise of a nationalist and populist candidate for chancellor in Austria, a country that formerly was a typical Western European liberal/progressive member of the EU.  With the unanticipated rise of Donald Trump as a nationalist/populist in the United States as well as nationalists in France, Germany, and Britain and elsewhere in Europe, Austria is something of a test case for them. All over Europe, the wave of Muslims demanding entry and imposing their way of life on their hosts has shaken the hold of the progressive left on national governments and raised the specter of a weakening or even collapsing EU.  Austria yesterday went to the polls to elect a new chancellor, and the results will be determined today by a count of mail ballots.  As in the United States, mailed in absentee ballots have sharply risen as a share of the total vote. The Associated Press reports: Direct votes Sunday gave...(Read Full Post)