It looks as if China is gaining economic power and influence on politics in Hungary/Balkan, exactly as they have done…
Unity for Hungary Violates the Freedom of Press
Today at 17:00 Unity for Hungary will hold a demonstration in front of state TV building to violate the freedom of the press. Really? With the slogan “propaganda is a weapon of, lies kill” and “enough of lying” Unity for Hungary calls everybody to demonstrate against the Hungarian and Russian propaganda:
Big issues are the state TV broadcasting Russian propaganda about Putin’s war, where an UFO expert and a former communist agent are explaining the world in favour of Putin. But also the strict state party reporting against the democratic parties. We might remember that the state “news” channel did broadcast life Orbán’s campaign speech on February 12th and pictured his speech very positively in the news, but without mentioning in detail the passage Orbán threatened to leave EU if the conditions he imposes are not met. His challenger’s campaign opening was not even worth a short note. Instead they constructed a story of women hating Péter Márki-Zay, proving this by a statement he did about Klára Dobrev having in a special context an advantage by being a woman and a passage where he pointed to a mistake a woman made. The fact that he mostly tells men being wrong, most prominently Viktor Orbán (a man, as far as I know,) doesn’t make him hating men? And we all noticed that after Putin begun his war Márki-Zay’s statements made before that he would align with NATO in all decisions was changed by the regime media to a call for sending Hungarian soldiers to fight against Russia. Many politicians have called state TV to stop this ugly propaganda, Péter Ungár (LMP) went the juridical way and put this question before the media council.
The state media organisation is a bit complicated. The branches are Magyar Rádió, Magyar Televizió, Duna Televizió, and Magyar Távirati Iroda, the news agency MTI. Orbán merged them 2011 to MTVA to make public media “more efficient.” Efficiency measured in more positive news about him after already in 2010 he has removed all critical and all thinking journalists. In 2015 the 4 branches were put into a non-profit organisation called Duna Media, while MTVA remained responsible for funding and now for keeping Duna Media operational. So formally the state media are independent, but fully controlled by the state company through finances.
In fact the independence of the state media is not existing. Last week Direkt36 has published documents how much the PM’s office dictates news spread by MTI ►HU, from the exact wording of pandering statements in favour or Orbán to the presentation of messages the ministries are invoking to the news agency, even the way how a company of Lőrinc Mészáros has to be spelled: IN CAPITAL LETTERS! Messages of Unity for Hungary are refused to be published on regular basis, although legally every press release has to be published by MTI with very narrow exceptions. The news issued from the state news organisation are completely directed by Orbán.
The head of MTVA Dániel Papp is a news falsifier, this title has been confirmed by Hungarian judges. And exactly this news falsifier has together with Menyhért Dobos, CEO of Duna Media have qualified the call of stopping propaganda as unconstitutional attack on both press freedom and freedom of expression! An official news falsifier responsible for funding state news and the man who allows the regime limiting news articles in the company he manages to those pleasing a single man are defending their regime propaganda with the freedom of press ►HU! The propaganda media heads called the media council and the electoral office to investigate the opposition for their call of stopping propaganda. Perhaps they will call next for copying another Russian law, to send everybody for 15 years into working camps who doesn’t agree with Orbán for limiting Orbán’s freedom of expression…?
About the politicians calling for serious journalism the responsible figures for state media propaganda say: “To top all of it, they are trying to tune millions of Hungarian citizens against the channels they are watching and listening to by spreading untrue statements …. the public media, as before, will continue to reject slander and any attempt of political influence.” They reminded that they refused the independent MPs Szél and Hadházy to exercise their right of access to the TV building, just that the regime media bosses described the right of access as violence, not that the MPs were set out of the building by physical violence. “They threatened all those who, out of commitment to professionalism, patriotism, and service, do their work 24 hours every day from here and beyond the borders, all over the world. Helping millions find out everything about developments, border guarding, floods, pandemics, war, or what political parties have to say, “ they continued. “We do not want to return to an era in which the means of prohibition, silence, intimidation, or impossibility were used.” No, they don’t want to return, in fact they even can’t return. They already did so!
The Great Wall Motors will build a car factory near Pécs on a 6 km^2 territory. https://www.szabadeuropa.hu/a/orban-es-hszi-csin-ping-egyutt-jelenthetik-be-hogy-a-great-wall-motors-epit-autogyarat-pecs-mellett/32922206.html
From July 1, Hungarian (i.e. European) green cards are again for sale for a 250,000 euro loan to the Hungarian…
Chinese president Xi will visit Orbanistan on May 8. https://www.szabadeuropa.hu/a/gulyas-gergely-a-kinai-elnok-ketnapos-latogatasra-erkezik-magyarorszagra/32920314.html
Orban's son-in-law has secretly obtained another piece of public land, a former children's hospital and its large garden in the…
Thanks for mentioning the protest, I hope many people will come.
The Serbian airways still have flights to Russia. In this way they will never enter the EU as the Viktor is calling for. The position of the Hungarian commissionaire responsible for the expansion of the EU has to face a real 180° turn: Ukraine in, not so for Serbia (: Good that the EU parked Hungary on this hopeless post.
https://www.szabadeuropa.hu/a/a-szerbek-segitenek-kijatszani-az-oroszoknak-a-repulesi-szankciokat/31737611.html
I read somewhere there were pro-Russia (Putin) demonstrations in Serbia yesterday
True, also mentioned in the link.
The unity of the EU is already threatened by the Viktor with panic scenarios described by the frequent flyer.
https://www.atv.hu/belfold/20220306/szijjarto-bejelentese-az-orosz-gazszallitas-eu-s-szankciojat-nem-fogja-tudni-tamogatni-a-kormany
Oh yes, FIDESZ loves the press freedom. Their freedom to tell the most ugly things in their press. Zsolt Bayer, the always extremely polite master of fine words and co-founder of the state party, has uttered that the ambassador of Ukraine should be expelled from Hungary. As I reported yesterday Ms Nepop has asked, whether cheap gas or the life of children would be more important. Free speech is not allowed according to Bayer. He told us that caring for children would interfere with the internal affair of Orbán’s cheap gas business.
https://444.hu/2022/03/05/bayer-zsolt-48-oran-belul-kitiltana-az-ukran-nagykovetet-magyarorszagrol
Since today’s post focuses on the Hungarian media as a tool of the Orban Mafia State, it seems highly relevant to look at an article by Tamás Fricz in Magyar Nemzet titled in translation “Global censorship in the West.” (https://magyarnemzet.hu/velemeny/2022/03/globalis-a-cenzura-nyugaton) Eva in her posts of Hungarian Spectrum once called Fricz “one of the most faithful Fidesz political scientists.” I would argue Fricz sees the Hungarian Mafia State created by Fidesz as an actual achievement.
His essay argues states his central thesis as follows: “ I myself believe that it is even more accurate to call the balliberal media the ideological, intellectual organization of the global elite, the mainstream international circles. The liberal media has become a political executive that carries out the intentions of the global mainstream and ruthlessly makes it impossible for individuals, politicians, governments, NGOs and countries that are unwilling to stand in line. As a kind of ideological, cultural, worldview police force, it oppresses them in a spiritual sense, arrests in an abstract sense those who do not act according to the will of the mainstream political.”
Now as a politically conservative US citizen and retired US Army officer I see absolutely nothing like this at all. There is totally no political executive committee of the global elite. Western billionaires through corporations who have bought up much of the for profit media internationally are far from ideologically coherent. Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp is ideologically completely different than Jeff Bezos the owner of Amazon who purchased of The Washington Post for $250 million in cash and put the Post in a limited liability company Nash Holdings to serve as a holding company through which he would own the newspaper. Fox news which is owned by Murdoch has been let us say highly supportive of the Orban government. The New York Times company since 1967, has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYT. Of the two categories of stock, Class A and Class B, the former is publicly traded and the latter is held privately—largely (over 90% through The 1997 Trust) by the descendants of Adolph Ochs, who purchased The New York Times newspaper in 1896. Today one of the largest controllers of NYT stock is Carlos Slim, a Mexican billionaire.
Slim might be the richest man in the world. His wealth is equal to 7 percent of Mexico’s entire economy and his ideological framework is Catholic within the broad sense of the word, he is formally a Maronite Catholic. He has been a large supporter of the conservative Catholic organization called the Legion of Christ. Yet in a back handed way did support Obama, but is a critic of social welfare states in the West. He thinks poverty (which is around 50 percent in his home country of Mexico ) can only be solved by society-wide prosperity, not handouts writing: “Government resources are not enough to solve social or economic problems. We have to create wealth and employment… The only way you finish with poverty is with jobs. To have better jobs you have to have better education.” For Slim that education would be a conservative Catholic education to be honest. The truth is I personally share some Catholic values with Slim.
Not unlike Fidesz Slim has some distain for Western European democracies, but his main objective in life outside of religion is to make money.
CNN who’s logo which Magyar Nemzet uses as a graphic for the Tamás Fricz article is today owned by WarnerMedia LLC that is in turn owned by AT&T Inc. AT&T was the fourteenth-largest donor to United States federal political campaigns and committees from 1989 to 2019 having contributed more than US $84.1 million, 58% of which went to Republicans and 42% of which went to Democrats. AT&T played a key role in creating, funding and sustaining One America News Network (OAN), a far-right TV network known for its promotion of far-right conspiracy theories and falsehoods. According to 2020 sworn testimony by an OAN accountant, 90% of OAN revenue came from AT&T. HirTv and Magyar Nemzet often use stories from OAN.
AT&T’s chief executive officer John J. Stephens who had been with the company since 1982 up to 2021 and still ranks as its largest individual shareholder. He really is not that political. Most of AT&T stock is owned by investment firms, through one of those firms I personally have retirement funds. I somehow doubt I am part of the global elite.
Reading the Tamás Fricz article one realizes it is not actually the ownership of these massive media companies (including European ones Bertelsmann or Axel Springer and Ringier) that drives them to liberalism and hostility to Orban, its the Soros network lurking in the background. It is a form of ideological insanity on the part of Tamás Fricz who has the unenviable job of attempting to create a coherent ideology based on the various quips issued by his leader Orban.
From the view of FIDESZ ideology Murdoch and Bezos are still too similar. FIDESZ tends more to Murdoch of course, but in some main points his outlets are way too liberal! Sounds scaring and it is of course. Here in Hungary such a constructions as privately owned media is regarded as possible danger, at least since G-Day. Everything not directly controlled by the almighty leader could fail. And I am not overdoing, while the independent media had in the early morning hours of February 24th Putin’s war as central topic the regime media still were in peace, obviously they needed briefing before. Some started with the short video of Szijjártó without mentioning Putin or Russia. Such a level of state control is of course unthinkable in a federal state, which is according to the ideologists of FIDESZ a construction fault as well.
Turning conspiracy theories into public political statements, is an art form the Hungarian media have perfected through generations.
Putin may have outdone some of his more incredible lies based on a read out of a phone discussion he had with Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday published by the official Russian media outlets. Here it is based on the Russian translation: the “…special operation will come to a halt only if Kiev stops its military action and fulfills the demands of Russia, which are well known…The Russian military does everything possible to protect the lives of civilians, only carrying out surgical strikes on Ukrainian military facilities…In this context, the actions of the nationalists – the neo-Nazi units – look particularly cruel and cynical as they continue intensive shelling of Donbass and use civilians, including foreigners, who are basically taken hostage, as a human shield in Ukrainian cities and towns.”
There are indeed situations in the history of warfare where civilians have been used human shields. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer has issued many statements about protecting the civilians in Ukraine during this war and he never has once indicated they were being used anywhere in the Ukraine as human shields. The ICRC has been asking both the Russians and Ukrainians to provide access to the ICRC to war prisoners being held by both sides in order for the Geneva convention to be followed. The ICRC is scrupulous in its neutrality about these issues. For myself I find Putin’s statement sickening, because during the US invasion of Panama in 1989 this issue came up too and there was some use of hostages by Panamanian forces. One CBS news executive, John Meyersohn, and an employee of the GTE Corporation, Douglas Miller, were abducted from the Mariott Hotel in Panama City and taken to a Panamanian site at Rio Abajo and eleven US Smithsonian Institute employees doing research in Panama were abducted but abandoned later.
But there were some claims made by the US command that the Panamanian command center was purposely placed in a residential area to create civilian shields. I personally was involved in taking that center and actually saw no attempt by the Panamanian military to keep civilians from fleeing that area of Panama City, but I did see evidence that that the Panamanian paramilitary doing this. I and some other Army officers based on that recommended we hold back on a full scale assault on the bunker, our recommendations were rejected by higher command driven by time schedules and indeed some Panamanian civilians were killed and needlessly so I still believe. My objections were noted and they were seen not in a positive light by the US military to be honest.
I can’t believe there are not Russian officers and soldiers who have questioned the artillery, rocket, and mortar attacks on civilian areas of Ukrainian cities based on the laws of war, I also believe any such objections were overruled by their commanders apparently following the directives of Putin. In general such violations of the rules of war are only rarely ever enforced in this world.
A good summary of the demo.
https://telex.hu/valasztas-2022/2022/03/06/tuntetes-ellenzek-mtva-kunigunda-utca-szekhaza-prpgananda-es-putyin-ellenes
Good atmosphere, but cold.
Another point of view (:
https://magyarnemzet.hu/belfold/2022/03/marki-zay-peter-ismet-jezus-krisztus-szerepeben-tetszelgett
Kharki(o)v railroad station
A stunning photo, I have seen many in the last week.
I agree with Istvan (Chicago) Thanks for posting powerful photo.
This New York Times article “Arming Ukraine: 17,000 Anti-Tank Weapons in 6 Days and a Clandestine Cybercorps” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/06/us/politics/us-ukraine-weapons.html maybe provides more information than it should for security purposes. But many aspects of it will interest readers of this blog.
Given that the great Orban is in terror to send across the border even rifle ammunition the effort being made by the USA with the support of NATO and the EU brings shame on Orban and his crew cringing before the new Vald the Impaler.
OT – 399,029 forints and 124,122 rubles for one euro … Putin has united Europe except Orbán who can not be trusted. The counterpart in France Éric Zemmour has not received 10 million euro from Orbán but Le Pen, which has let print a multi-page campaign brochure from the money. She then destroyed it, allegedly because of a spelling mistake, but that could not be found, more likely a photo in it with Le Pen and Putin.