It doesn't seem hard to find a fitting label for the people you mention. How about "Western League For Demolition…
The 1 000 000 Dollar Question
Yesterday, Easter Sunday far away in the most christian Hungarian lands, I received 2 emails from “worldwide,” which is nothing else but a screen name for a gmail address unknown to me. No name of the sender, no signature, only a crude text and an attached, a letter in (for me well readable) English of a Hungarian lawyer, who is indeed correctly registered with the bar of lawyers in Veszprém county. The very 1st thing I did was checking what person is writing such a juridical nonsense. But indeed, this Hungarian lawyer wants to sue me and this website at a court in the USA (neither me nor this site has any connections to America, not even his client) if I don’t pay his client a compensation as little as 1 000 000 US Dollar. The 1st email in English was difficult to understand, it reads – exactly:
Dear István!
This letter was send directly to Éva Balogh .
Please reád it .
As you are continuing doing here work do remove the article and pay the amount ,or I will suit the site and you for deformation for causring false hatmfoul reputation .
Regards, [no signature follows, only an attachment]
The 2nd mail was in Hungarian, in even poorer language. Exactly this made me even more looking up, what kind of lawyer employs staff to send mails on Easter Sunday without being able to write understandable sentences in correct spelling of his mother tongue?
What happened? Éva wrote an article titled “András Dezső’s encounter with Natalie Contessa af Sandeberg” on September 8th, 2019 ►EN. Éva quoted the former index journalist’s articles (today he works for hvg,) which include what wonderful lady this seems to be with several criminal convictions, the strange origin of her noble title and Éva also wrote about the criminal proceeding against the journalist and the special legal pitfalls in Hungary. Time went by and from Éva’s comment “as far as district prosecutors are concerned, Dezső is guilty” resulted a conviction.
Obviously the main question was that he got the information an unjust way, through an open accessible internet database, while he had to ask the authorities directly according to the judges. It might be the obsession Hungarian officials have with stamped pieces of paper, but it might be a constructed reasoning as well. I searched the far right media and after this dirty work I did not even found any reason to assume that no crimes were committed. In the opposite they came up with details of what she did and how it could be defamation to call someone a stripper as the source linked by the lawyer in his email states. However, one crime could have been counted twice. Sorry, I gave up finding the correct number, whether 6 as the judges counted or 7 as Dezső did. Let’s employ an old Roman legal wisdom and tell in doubt 6 crimes committed by that wonderful lady. And we all know that who commits 6 crimes is a wonderful person, but who commits 7 crimes is a terrible one. And the judges thought that the convictions of the lady were exaggerated. So another main point was that she committed a crime as public officer according to Dezső, while she committed a crime by claiming being a public officer, what she never was, according to the far right press. Why falsely claiming being a public officer makes her a better person in the eyes of the judges I won’t discuss here, take it for granted by a final Hungarian judgement. If – and this I don’t know – if the Human Rights Court will not decide differently. In Dezső’s trial an earlier ruling of the European court was applied, so it might be relevant. The verdict was taken so recently that he has still the possibility to do so. These were the crimes committed by Dezső and all together was warned and fined to pay 500 000 Ft (not Dollar! In USD as today about 1 438 $ or 1 330 €) in costs. So far the research in the most disgusting part of our media, more even the far right media don’t claim in favour of the wonderful lady. The lawyer of course does so! Now quotes of her interview on M1 are already called slander. Remarkable is that the video with her interview linked in Éva’s article is deleted. Bad enough for her the internet doesn’t forget! The extremists were so happy with the statements of this wonderful lady made in public that they were copied everywhere.
The lady’s comments made on M1 and / or her uncovered life seem to be used in a book published by Princeton University under the title “Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century” as well. This book exists, was published very recently by Princeton University Press, but I did not purchase it – at least not yet, could be interesting.
Now the lawyer says I am the responsible. Why? The letter is addressed to Hungarian Spectrum and naming as editor Éva S. Balogh, while Princeton and not Éva should pay according to the letter, while it is not addressed to the university. Find the error! For the better understanding the legal reasoning: Éva quoted an article of index. And a book is said having used the information Éva quoted. Since obviously Princeton did not pay I may pay. Why? Because I started this blog after Éva passed away. Doesn’t care the Orbán regime any longer for the propaganda staff? Do they need to sue universities and if it doesn’t work out bloggers?
The lawyer shouldn’t send his letters on Easter Sunday, he should wait until Pentecost. There was something with holy spirit at the latter holiday, as far as I am informed. Perhaps with some benefit of the holy spirit he might understand that he made himself ridiculous. But I will ask him for permission to publish his emails and letter in full.
To say it clearly: I am not impressed. But this shows me again that I took the right decision to find a new home for my old days, far away from Hungary. Yesterday evening the hotel I stay right now had a special menu with wine tasting and despite of the mails of the lawyer about the wonderful lady I was able to enjoy every second. Neither the wonderful lady nor the wine caused a headache.
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1 million dollars for starting a blog to talk about Hungarian politics!!!
Have you moved away from Hungary? If so, hope you enjoy life in your new home and continue to discuss Hungarian affairs on here!
Somehow this is the way how extremists “think.” They surrendered their brains to an ideology determined by a single authority, in Hungary this authority is Orbán. Everything is concentrated on this great leader. Since their own little world has such a leader they don’t even understand that out of their bubble the real world is diverse and colourful. As propaganda tells there is only one Gyurcsány playing with puppets the world of free opinion must be lead by a single person as well. Obviously this was Éva and if she writes something Princeton must pay. And now I am responsible. The lawyer determined that I have the power over HS, so I am responsible. We all remember that Brenda informed us that Hungarian Spectrum would not be allowed to continue in another form. I never asked Brenda for permission, since I started something completely new, even under another name not to violate the existing rights. Only the spirit of freedom I share with Éva, but this is no legal measurable quality.
And yes, I am doing what I announced. Already during 2020 grew my conviction that Orbánistan is not the place for me to live in. Closed borders for nearly a year forced me to postpone. When the opposition unified and there was an arithmetic chance to throw the regime on the garbage heap of history, I gave Hungary a last chance. Now it is enough. I won’t live the rest of my days in a country where I hear hate when I switch on the radio, get emails from a dictator, just because I registered for vaccination, listen to my neighbours how bad their life is and how bad the government, but as so many they refused the hard work of making a couple of X. I know where to go to and I am right now busy in making this happen. As child I spent here 3 years, because my father got an employment in this country, and I already feel how the ability to speak the language returns. I am right now looking for the right spot. I am too old to compromise on things as health care nearby for example, the day will come that I will need it. An airport nearby to be able to see my son easily is another must have. And the usual thing, I want to be able to feel at home. A feeling Orbán completely destroyed in Hungary.
“Only the spirit of freedom I share with Éva, but this is no legal measurable quality.”
Exactly right, this blog is a completely new legal entity, with no legal connection to Eva’s site, but as you say some people (such as this “lawyer”) don’t let the facts get in the way of their own narrative!
Hope you are able to feel at home in your new country and also in Hungary again one day…
The one cent answer is … tätä Natalie Contessa is a convicted slanderer 😀 .
From 2018 „Self-convicted
Natalie Contessa af Sandeberg says she moved to Hungary in February and is studying there. She has previously been convicted of minor offences in Sweden, including slander.“
https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/l1lRmy/svenska-natalie-i-ungersk-tv-jag-har-flytt-hit-pa-grund-av-invandringen
“By requesting documents from Swedish authorities, András Dezső obtained information that Natalie Contessa af Sandeberg had been fined in Sweden for seven counts of defamation, libel and impersonation (impersonating another person). It also emerged that she had provided false information about her residence in Sweden and Hungary.” https://www.reportrarutangranser.se/brottsanklagelser-aterupptas-mot-ungersk-undersokande-reporter/
I think you can ignore this crude scam, Istvan.
I need to answer to such a thing, just because ignoring could make me responsible for costs. Sometimes we have some fine laws. But I consider taking legal actions myself, since the fabrication is so far searched that this case might be beyond the narrow border between exercise of rights and crime. The mistakes of the lawyer are not only found in poor language skills.
Istvan, I think you should see a decent lawyer. Normally a lawyer would, when writing a letter of claim identify himself with reference to contact details. You wrote you have no name or address. By responding you may write something that could become costly.
I think you should just ignore her and her lawyer. You should reply only to a court summons which is very unlikely to be issued (it is unlikely that she will start any legal procedure in the US, or indeed anywhere else other than in Hungary).
According to my husband, who is a master of law, this letter is such nonsense that you can just ignore it and don’t spend any of your valuable time on it.
I agree. There is nothing official about it. Ignore such rubbish.
Eva faced this nonsense also I am very sure. Since we are going back and looking at Eva’s work with Hungarian Spectrum in English here is an issue that reappears year after year.
For those interested in the early origins of those now living in the Carpathian Basin the Avars who established an an empire lasting over 200 years from around 567 BCE to 68 CE have been much discussed. This paper Gnecchi-Ruscone et al., Ancient genomes reveal origin and rapid trans-Eurasian migration of 7th century Avar elites, Cell (2022), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.03.007 makes a case for the emergence of a genetically heterogeneous local elite stratum under the rule of the immigrant Avar elite population. Daniel Bihari writing in 24.hu in this article https://24.hu/tudomany/2022/04/18/avarok-eredete-azsia-karpat-medence-kozepkor-tortenelem/ argues that this study solves a 1,500-year-old mystery of the Avars, I am not sure the actual study would fully agree with that conclusion if you read the study which I did today.
Daniel Bihari has also written several other popular articles on the issue of: Honnan jöttünk és kik vagyunk mi, akik magyaroknak mondjuk magunkat? (Where did we come from and who are we who call ourselves Hungarians?) Another article well worth reading is https://24.hu/tudomany/2022/03/06/magyar-ostortenet-honfoglalas-hun-hagyomany-kettos-honfoglalas/ that discusses House of Árpád and the very heated debates surrounding Hungarian prehistory. Eva our old host seemed to be deeply interested in these debates and posted on them several times. I am sure she would have discussed the articles in 24.hu to some degree if she was still alive. What is for sure Eva captured my interest and I do try to still follow this issue to the extent I can. Eva always argued there were no pure Magyars and that we are genetically heterogeneous going back into our pre-history, I think she is being proved correct by the most advanced research being done that is supported by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and many other entities.
Yet I could honestly see some adherents of the pure Magyar theory wanting to litigate against all of this research because it promotes the idea that there are are no pure Hungarians and never have been.
Please, please, please. This is all just nonsense. Our host should see a decent lawyer and we should leave well alone, What Eva wrote is neither here nor there for this blog.
If the case is ever actually filed in the USA it will be tossed out. There is no liability for Eva’s writings on the part of Istvan, Eva clearly told her executor via her Will apparently the blog was to be shut down. It ceased to exist as an entity at that point. It would be a pointless case under US law since I am pretty confident her estate has been settled by now.
This short summary of US law as it relates to internet blogs https://www.findlaw.com/injury/torts-and-personal-injuries/defamation-and-social-media–what-you-need-to-know. Correctly points out under US law Eva would be the only possible person who could be sued for anything she posted on her blog.
By the way in Eva’s original article that was in question and was linked by Istvan she correctly stated “The law on the media has been a thorny problem ever since the change of regime in 1989. Politicians, be they from the left or the right, are rarely fond of journalists, who have a habit of poking their noses into their affairs.” Eva of course was looking forward to a time when Orban was gone and the media laws could be fixed in Hungary, that unfortunately has not happened as yet.
It is obvious Eva very much liked the US system and the First Amendment which reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
A legal nightmare has led to a heart attack death.
https://hungarianfreepress.com/2021/04/18/why-is-the-hungarian-reformed-church-in-america-mum-about-the-death-of-pastor-debreczeni-in-phoenix-arizona/
It works both ways. Hungarian churchgoers are subjects to incredible amounts of extremist Bible Belt propaganda, which must be paid from somewhere..
Sorry.
This was a regime supported litigation to remove a brave opponent in USA.
Infamous words of a lawyer:
Dear István!
There is no point to discusse futher.
The case will send to the court .
Publish the letter well ask your lawyer first what consequences it will cause you .
There are evidence for false statements in the Article.
Hungarian spectrum has the responsibility ,the article are still online ,with false information about Natalie Contessa af Sandeberg .
She has never been convicted several of times in Sweden .
She never said muslim kills everything they see in their sight
Reád the letter again there are áll the facts what Éva Balogh wrote 2019
Dezso Andras Encounter with Natalie Contessa af Sandeberg .
We have áll the evidence from Hungarian Court from Authorities in Sweden and from the orginally interview M1 .
Therefore we need to take the legally steps.
The article cant bee on the site due to the false statemente therefore its a deformation civil case against
Hungarian Spectrum .org
Priencton University (, they are using the Article in their book )
If you are not responsible than you dont have to worrie .
Regards,
<istvan@hungarian.news> ezt írta (időpont: 2022. ápr. 18., Hét 17:27):
Dear Dr. XXXX,
I answer in English, since your Hungarian knowledge is even worse than
your already very poor English. Your translator for the attached letter
did a good job, so you might ask him if you don’t understand my words.
I want to inform you that the only legal connection between the late
Professor Éva S. Balogh and me was that I accepted her terms and
conditions applicable to me as her reader of Hungarian Spectrum. If you
want to sue everybody who writes on a political blog, just because he
read once an article of Professor Balogh I wish you good luck, the
intelligent part of humans interested in Hungary did so. The executor of
Professor Balogh’s last will declared in public that Hungarian Spectrum
must be frozen and will definitely not be continued. Your claim that I
am responsible for the late professor or her blog is a provably false
fabrication. BTW: With Princeton University I have not even such a
superficial legal connection as with the late Professor Balogh. Since I
may assume you have knowledge in law trough your studies you should be
able to understand that I will not pay a single cent and that I am
unable to influence the publications of 3rd parties, even if I wanted.
If you wish to correct Hungarian Spectrum concerning the number of
convictions of your client from 7 to 6 as described in the newspaper you
linked I suggest asking the heirs of Professor Balogh.
Apropos publication: Do you allow me publishing your letter on my blog?
I am sure my readers would be very amused.
Of course I am wondering whether your act could be considered a crime,
if someone wants an amount of money from a person who obviously hasn’t
anything to do with the case, threatening this person with a trial and
fabricating connections…. Is that legal? Well, I will ask a lawyer.
Kind regards
2022-04-17 11:45 időpontban worldwide ezt írta:
> Dear István!
>
> This letter was send directly to Éva Balogh .
> Please reád it .
>
> As you are continuing doing here work do remove the article and pay
> the amount ,or I will suit the site and you for deformation for
> causring false hatmfoul reputation .
>
> Regards,
>
> Please see this article
> Dezso andras was convicted Last year .
>
> https://allinfo.space/2022/01/19/hungarian-left-wing-journalist-convicted-of-hanging-swedish-immigration-critics/
I am not a lawyer but this sounds like extortion and could also be considered an attempt to defraud.
Since supposedly if there is going to actually be a legal complaint the issue of extortion would have to be decided under US law since the supposedly the case would be filed in the USA. It is very common here to receive what is called a “demand letter” prior to litigation. A pre-litigation demand letter is an informal letter drafted from an attorney and sent to the person you are having a dispute with or their lawyer. This letter details the position you are taking in the dispute and often ends with a proposed method of resolution, e.g., monetary payment or the stopping of a certain action by your adversary. A demand letter sent without legal reason could constitute an extortion under US law, but that would have to be determined by a court based on a lawsuit making that claim. But the problem with that really is determining the damages a court might award you if you filed an extortion claim, it is completely possible even if you won you actual litigation costs would exceed the damages you might be awarded.
In this case the letter to Istvan appears not to have been drafted by a member of the US bar, in particular because it was not linked to an identified lawyer. It also does not establish what is called the “standing’ of the plaintiff for legal action. Standing is a legal term which determines whether the party bringing the lawsuit has the right to do so. Standing is not about the issues, it’s about who is bringing the lawsuit and whether they a legal right to sue in US courts.
Because I am a rental property owner and operate an LLC here in the USA, I have faced litigation in the past. I have a law firm on retainer, which to be honest is very politically connected and recognized in Chicago and the State of Illinois. I think they intimidate many potential plaintiffs against my LLC just by their response to a demand letter. As is the case with Hungary we are a very litigious society. I would also add that the law firm I use would not hesitate to recommend making a settlement offer if they believed their was a reasonable chance my LLC would lose the case or the costs of litigation would outweigh the costs of a settlement offer. That is the art of lawyering I guess.
I have been looking for what is required to file a lawsuit against our host in the USA, I have not found anything specific except a small reference quote:
In “New York.
If an American defendant considers a lawsuit inadmissible, for example because the court seized has no jurisdiction or because he was not properly served with the lawsuit, he will apply to the court to immediately discontinue the proceedings or to dismiss the lawsuit on these formal grounds alone (Motion to Dismiss).”
Can a Swedish or Hungarian woman/man sue another Hungarian in the U.S.?
I did not publish any content of the letter the lawyer sent – at least yet. The content concerning the wonderful lady is heavy, at least in the lawyer’s claims. Although I blacked out his name above I know all his professional data. According to his letter he is registered in Veszprém, which allows him to represent clients from everywhere in the world at every court in Hungary. According to the bar association he is specialised in criminal defence, but not attached to the company registration service network. More information you can’t expect from the registration data. A registration in the USA is not claimed at all. Who could imagine a lawyer being licensed in the USA who communicates in English as in the mails I copied above? And are the registrations over there not limited to single states? Princeton is in New Jersey, while Éva lived in Connecticut. I definitely have no general place of jurisdiction within the USA. Fun fact: The authorisation I got is valid for the case against Princeton University, Princeton Press, and the 2 authors of the book mentioned. Neither Éva nor me are mentioned. Of course a new authorisation can be written easily, but as today there is no authorisation handed over, except the mentioned one, which already is a breach of confidence. As bad as the language use is, the not yet published letter is written in understandable English and structured as a lawyer in Hungary would structure a letter. The emails, however, are definitely out of the question in both form and content. And the Hungarian version of the 1st mail is pretty much longer, but even worse. Even more examples of wrong chosen words as deformation instead of defamation and really everything without obeying the rules of grammar. In one passage the text is even switching between 3rd and 1st person in grammar. Is there the key? Honestly, either the lawyer has severe problems that don’t allow him to write straight sentences any more, or the mails were written by someone else. But one thing is pretty clear: If a Hungarian commits a crime against another Hungarian this is punishable in Hungary. The bank account to be paid to is in Hungary as well. The attempt of extortion is committed as soon as “pay the amount of” is suggested to avoid a trial and either the client or the lawyer or both know that this claim is unfounded. For the lawyer the rules are stricter of course, since he can’t hide behind an error easily.
I think something like this is worth a report to the police. It sounds very strange!
The police in the USA? Certainly not the police in Hungary I would think. I know police reports are sometimes used to establish a record, but in civil litigation it is largely useless. If there were a clear attempt to extort money outside of any legal cover, that would be a legitimate and correct basis for a police report. That is not the case here, from my reading of what Istvan was sent, it was an amateur demand letter written by a non-lawyer who has established no standing to bring any legal action against our host Istvan.
Eva discussed in an interview once I recall (which she posted on her blog) the problems she faced with actually having her blog presented in Hungarian and the attacks she faced from the right wing. She was a tough woman not easily intimidated by attacks from Fidesz operatives here in the USA. She also had friends inside the US government who read her blog and agreed with her general assessment of Fidesz.
In fact I have even in the small Hungarian community in Chicago had Fidesz supporters try to intimidate me to my face for expressing my disgust with the Fidesz government and the crook Orban. My general response is F- off. As yet I have not been shot over here in the USA.
apologies for going off-topic but I couldn’t post on the relevant (“Final results of the cheating” article):
telex.hu (quoting 24.hu) is running an article with the headline “Three quarters of opposition voters believe Gyurcsány’s retirement would help facilitate a change of government” https://telex.hu/belfold/2022/04/20/az-ellenzeki-szavazok-haromnegyede-szerint-gyurcsany-visszavonulasa-elosegitene-a-kormanyvaltast
My translation of some of the relevant parts:
“When we asked about personal responsibility within the opposition, 26% of respondents said everyone was equally responsible for the defeat. Márki-Zay Péter’s name was mentioned most frequently (20%), but he was folllowed very closely by Gyurcsány Ferenc (19%).
In relation to Gyurcsány they were separately asked about whether his potential retirement would improve the opposition’s prospects.
The vast majority of respondents answered yes: three quarters of non-Fidesz voters say there would be more chance of a change of government if Gyurcsány were to retire. Unsurprisingly only a majority of DK voters don’t agree with this statement – although even in their camp 42% replied “yes” to this question –, whereas at the other end of the spectrum 89% of Momentum voters agreed. Far fewer voters (49%) expected the same impact from any potential retirement by Márki-Zay.”
I do not need any persuasion that the current political situation in Hungary is a result of a number of factors and that very high on the list of these is Gyurcsany’s speech “elkurtuk” and his failure to retire from all public life immediately thereafter in 2006.
I understood it as a positive speech.
He had a opportunity to phrase the whole unedited speech to his advantage.
He failed miserably.
He should leave now.
You are right. He is an arrogant, entitled man who has some modest talents which unfortunately those don’t include how to serve and to lead a nation.
to lead a nation ? Before 2010, life was quite positive in Hungary. People were open-minded and curious … today … today being proud is important. But this is not pleasant but not yet deadly. How do you think a nation should be led?
Don, Gyurcsany and his affable successor, Bajnai, may have produced life in Hungary that was to your liking. However, Hungarian voters rejected it decisively by giving Orban a constitutional majority. I have not heard any challenge to the legitimacy of the result in 2010. Both Orban and Gyurcsany are in their own way unsuitable as leaders but Orban has demonstrated that he at least has the support of a blinded majority in Hungary.
Sadly, Gyurcsany’s arrogance and obstinacy makes it impossible for him and his wife to accept that for a variety of reasons his continuing involvement in politics has made it more difficult for the anti Orban parties to remove him from power. That will remain to be the case until they decide to retire from all public life.
Robert
You seem to miss how democracy works:
GyF was elected, just as Orban in 2010, in free and fair (if not perfectly so) elections.
Now GyF is the leader of D the second biggest party in Hu, also voted for even in unfair and not free elections.
Apart from the relentless and libelous character assassination campaign by Fid, no one has specified what big wrongs has GyF done.
I can, on the other hand, list 100s of cases where Orban and his regime have commited what in every real democracy would be prosecuted as crime, incl. high treason.
But there is no democracy in Hu, and therefore no justice either, if there was divine judgment Orban would be spinning on the roast.
Gyurcsany is an MP and he leads a Party. That, of course gives him a position in politics and also a platform. That is not the real question. It is a question of judgment. His. He will remain a target for a number of reasons which cumulatively have become lethal. Some are facts some are speculation. He can of course remain in politics. The question is should he? My view is that his presence is a serious distraction and he is so not only because of being a target of Orban’s propaganda machine.
I’m certain GyF’s retirement won’t help the opposition since the Fid propaganda machine will flood the country with slogans about other “enemies” (which don’t have to exist).
Eg. remember “the Soros army”, “Stop Brussels”, the “migrants are coming to take your jobs and rape your wives” and finally after so many years of “Russia/Putin is our friend” now Orbàn poses as a peace maker or at least as a dove.
The problem lays mainly with the Hu society which doesn’t appreciate civic freedom and allowed the Orbàn regime to dupe them into selling their for several silvers and slogans, and once in power Orbàn realized his plans and smothered democracy. It’s hard to run a democracy with so few democrats or even literate people. (Nevertheless the opposition should continue doing what they can, maybe god will help them..)
You are right that Gyurcsany’s retirement would not necessarily be a match decider. However, on balance, I would let him go. He largely provided a diversion, which is entertaining, up to a point. But, this does not make up for the downside.
Be careful what you are telling! If Gyurcsány was retired long before the elections it wouldn’t have made a difference. Hungary would have been full of “new clone” posters as well. Orbán wouldn’t have had a debate, because he doesn’t care whether Gyurcsány was candidate for PM or not, he declared him to be so and that the opposition would make Gyurcsány PM in case of winning the elections and not Márk-Zay. With this story Orbán closes the rows of own voters and scares others. It doesn’t matter whether active in politics or not. Soros never was active in politics and still is beloved scapegoat for everything. Every politician not following Orbán is a Soros agent, even if this politician never had close contacts as Orbán had. Every NGO not FIDESZ owned is paid by Soros, small details as having no connection don’t matter. Gyurcsány will as long as he is alive Orbán’s main argument for voting on FIDESZ.
I just read this morning an opinion piece by László Szőcs in Magyar Nemzet https://magyarnemzet.hu/ahelyzet/2022/04/harc-a-donbaszert . For several years I watched Szőcs on the Hir Tv program “Sajtóklub” (Press Club) and from my perspective he operated generally as a soft agent for Putin consistently attacking the USA. Interestingly his first work in journalism was in Népszava. Then he worked for Népszabadság from there he evolved into being a pro-Fidesz operative in my opinion and seems to have further evolved into being a pro-Russian journalist. He was located here in the USA for several years and I heard him speak before an American Hungarian audience back in 2010 where he indicated that Orban’s Fidesz would be a solid friend of the USA.
In today’s article he adopts a supposedly objective stance in relationship to the Russian offensive against Ukrainian forces entrenched in the Donbas region. He betrays his own Russian sympathy by using the familiar Vladimir Vladimirovich for Putin in this article. In Russia, when you speak face-to-face with someone older than you, or higher by status, or to emphasize respect – you name him by First – Patronymic. When you mention someone in absentia, this form is used to emphasize respect. Why would any journalist want to show formal respect to the war criminal Putin?
In this article it is also interesting that László Szőcs tries to hide is pro-Russian tendencies by obscure comments like this – “As well as over time. “If you don’t end the war, the war will end with you!” Warns HG Wells in the Battle of the Worlds. If you start a war, have a strategy to how do you get out of it. A warning example: America, now battling against the Russians through its “deputy” —and the weapons sent there — was pulled down by its own wars; it is true that the (US) arms industry has been on the go (my translation).” This is basically all part of the Fidesz ideological campaign to appear to be neutral in this conflict, when in fact if Russia is stalemated in this war Putin faces a crisis of legitimacy for the many dead Russian soldiers that will have achieved very little indeed except destroy the infrastructure of Ukraine and create massive suffering for the people of that country.
“Putin faces a crisis ….” ALSO for the effects of the economic sanctions which are already being felt and are going to get much worse adding misery to the already declining standards of living.
In audio messages sent to the US newspaper the Washington Post yesterday, Maj. Serhiy Volyna of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, holding out against an advancing and much larger Russian force, appealed for other countries to help them secure a way out Mariupol.
“While the world is asleep, in Mariupol, the guys are dying,” Volyna said. “They’re suffering losses. They’re being bombed with heavy bombs … torn up by artillery, and they’re dying underground — the wounded and the living there.” Volyna added that more than 500 forces were wounded and that civilians were also sheltering inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant under a barrage of fire.
Just in case readers from Hungary are wondering why a Ukrainian officers would be reaching out to a US newspaper it has to be understood that the Post’s coverage of the war in Ukraine has been made available to Ukrainians since the invasion began free of charge and is translated via google.
Volyna will not surrender because he probably correctly believes the Russians could start shooting his troops if they surrender since they have been declared to be nazis. He has asked for safe passage for both his wounded soldiers and for civilians out of Mariupol.
When I was a young US Army officer in Vietnam one of my commanders fought in the WWII battle of Bastogne where surrounded US forces too refused to surrender when surrounded by German forces. He gave US advisers in the surrounded South Vietnamese town of An Loc where I was a motivational talk via radio, and explained why surrender was not an option back then at Bastogne and not then in our situation at An Loc. Part of the calculation was the very real possibility our South Vietnamese allies would be executed by the communists and it was similar for US forces at Bastogne because some US Army POWs were shot by SS troops too.
A higher ranking US officer advising South Vietnamese forces had his position over run near An Loc and according to rumor shot himself rather than surrender to the communist forces. I will admit that rumor rattled me and to this day it has not be proven if he did indeed shoot himself. The situation of the Ukrainians forces still in Mariupol are deeply disturbing to those of us that have actually seen combat and bring back pretty bad memories for many of us. The world of the internet, cell phones, and satellite phones actually have changed warfare and have brought about direct contact with people in combat that did not exist prior to this war. How someone like László Szőcs a supposed journalist can be an apologist for Putin given the real time access this war is providing even to him is beyond comprehension.
Beyond comprehension is the acceptance of many Huns the Orbàn slogan “the Huns should not pay for this war” , I’ve heard personally the “why are these Ukrs doing this and prolonging the war” in the context of higher energy and other prices. How thick coming from the same people mouthing about the suffering of the Huns under Osmans, Habsburgos, Soviets, about 1956 and chastising the US for not FIGHITNG the Russians off Hungary.
The so called legal claim is a typical scam, and as such, not to be taken seriously – just as “Nigerian” e-mails from “persons” representing unknown benefactors without a registered address.
The difference between the Nigerian Prince and the Swedish Comtessa is that I have all data of both the wonderful lady and her lawyer. Name, name at birth, date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, current address of her, name, business address, registration and tax number of the lawyer.
It would depend on the issue, if they both had interests in the USA that were commercial in nature and one of their companies were had a branch in the USA it could happen.
https://telex.hu/video/2022/04/19/kormanyellenes-szavazok-a-valasztasok-utan time to go for many young Hungarians after Orban wins again.
Maybe this Putin model discussed in this article today https://ridl.io/en/russia-ukraine-and-the-emergence-of-disconnective-society/ is where Orban like to take Hungary in stages over time. I can’t blame our host for leaving Hungary following this electoral disaster.
The comparisons between Hungary and a lot of the world contained in this article https://24.hu/belfold/2022/04/21/orosz-ukran-haboru-magyarorszag-velemeny-szankciok-ipsos/ are deeply disturbing. This passage is really shocking “n connection with the war in Ukraine and the measures taken so far, the government election campaign messages in Hungary seem to have had an impact, as
67 percent of the Hungarian population believes that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a matter for the Ukrainians, and we should not intervene.” Possibly even more amazing is the idea that Hungary can avoid all the troubles with Russia. The article indicates while according to the aggregate data of 27 countries, 68 percent believe that if we do nothing in Ukraine, it will only encourage Russia to attack others, only 47 percent of Hungarians thought the same.
Paul Lendvai in this short article https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000134999824/trauerarbeit-in-ungarn basically says Hungary with the reelection of Orban is going the way of the “New State” (Estado Novo) established in Portugal between 1932 and 1974 under Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. I thought the comments on his short essay were very interesting too, there were 345 of them at last count.
I do not read German so I had to rely on google translate for a quick read of the article and comments into English. It seemed to translate very logically. Most of the detractors of Lendvai’s article seem to have never have read his books on Hungary which are very insightful. One actually said Lendvai had lost real contact with Hungary and no longer understood it which is amazing to me.
Fascism it is folks.
The new kind that doesn’t use the label, but everything else: ideology, methods, system, oppression, etc.
And has much more corruption at the expense of ideology – the mafia state definitive.