Aha, here we have a probelm.... 'knowledge'.

1.) Well, for your information, Austria is not a member of NATO.

Aha, here we have a probelm.... 'knowledge'.

1.) Well, for your information, Austria is not a member of NATO.

(Austria is 'just' a member of the EU, which is a commercial-, not a military alliance.)

2.) Austrian oligarchy was the first to start buying Russian gas, already back in 1975-1976; It was the first to invite Putin to a visit in the West after his invasion of Crimea (here you have them making jokes with Putin, in January 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=kYo1GvFDEnY).

3.) Austrian OMV is the biggest investor in the Nord Stream 2, and such former Austrian chancellors like Guzenbauer (SPÖ), Schüssel (ÖVP), Kern (SPÖ), and presidents like Fischer (SPÖ) were not only lobbying for buying yet more of Putin's gas and oil, but did their best to make sure the country (plus Germany) is (are) completely dependent on Putin's gas until 2040.

4.) Austrian Far-Right political party FPÖ had a direct cooperation contract with Putin, too (for details, see: https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/02/27/with-friends-like-these-kremlin-s-far-right-and-populist-connections-in-italy-and-austria-pub-81100).

Now, no matter where, armed forces are always tasked with protecting higher national interests. In countries dominated by oligarchy - whether that's Austria, Russia, Germany, USA, Iran or Israel - higher national interests are interests of that oligarchy (for a nice summary of all the above-mentioned, see here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/05/austria-russia-infuence/).

Unsurprisingly, gentlemen of the Austrian Bundesheer - including those supposed to inform them, like the Heeresnachrichtenamt (HNA, Austrian military intelligence) - are all the time assessing Russians as 'military geniouses' and 'highly successful', and Ukraine as 'short of collapse'....

So, now tell me what shall I want to discuss with you, and why should I be interested in doing that - if you don't know such 'basics' about Austria and thus can't help me learn something new?