Vidnyánszky Theatre

In the flood of news about Putin’s war on Ukraine, minor events naturally take second or third seat. It is such a small, but very indicative event that I would like to highlight here, indicative to the mental and moral depravity of Orbán’s regime, as reported by HVG.

https://hvg.hu/kultura/20220426_Orbannak_uzentek_Vidnyanszky_fesztivaljan_Nemzeti_Szinhaz

https://hvg.hu/kultura/20220428_vidnyanszky_attila_litvan_tarsulat_uzenet_gog_orban_viktor

The company of the Vilnius City Theatre led by one of Europe’s most acclaimed directors Oskaras Koršunovas gave a performance the at the MITEM festival in Budapest. As everything in Hungary now, the festival was organized by an Orban loyalist director Attila Vidnyánszky, (a migrant from Transylvania, Rumania) who was appointed director of the National Theatre in Hungary.

After their performance on the National Theatre stage the Lithuanian company went on with another short performance – a message to Viktor Orbán about the war in Ukraine and about his ambivalent position regarding this tragedy: instead of bowing, the actors stood up and collapsed as if hit by a bullet, until finally all remained on the ground.

This enraged stooge Vidnyánszky, who went in front of the visitors’ table and in a boorish manner blurted the following mix of tired cliches, a sycophant oink and some brazen lies, the late being so unhinged that I quote the whole tirade verbatim.

“One after the other, everyone has been sending us some message, we have been living like this for a thousand years: the Tatars, the Turks, the Austrians, the Germans, they are always sending us messages, they know how to live, the communists sent us a message, they also forced us to do everything the way they wanted for forty years. The Americans also terribly well know how to live, even now they are sending messages, they sent messages to Iraq, they sent messages to Syria, they have sent messages everywhere. Now we know that there is another people, the Lithuanian people, and they are also sending us a message. In spite of this we have always stood by our own opinion, and we will do so now.

With that said, we welcome you with much love. Our soldiers, who are sitting above you in their aircraft, who’s commander is Viktor Orban, despite of our callousness here, are, rest assured that, defending you. They will even lay down their lives for you. I would never be so arrogant, my dear fellow director, as to dare speak like that.”

After which the uncouth bum dropped the microphone on the guests’ table, turned his back and stomped away from his “dear fellow” artists, obviously having lost the “much love” for them he professed a while earlier.

For those who don’t follow the war related politics in Hungary – Orban declared that no Hungarian troops will take part in any NATO action against the invaders, nor will it supply any weapons to Ukraine, nor will such shipments be allowed from Hungarian territory. “We have to stay out of this war” and “the Hungarians are not going to pay for this war”, proclaimed Orban on every occasion, so there are no Hungarian aircraft over anywhere and no Hungarian soldiers are protecting anybody and the Hungarians don’t want pay anything, let alone risk their lives.

So much for a morally bankrupt and treacherous NATO ally, ie. a mean dog that will bite the feeding/protecting hand from behind.

Not a pip about the 14 year subservient “friendship” with Putin or about how the latter set the region ablaze. Not a word about the death, destruction and suffering brought by this war and the huge costs it imposes on the Hungarians, yes on the Hungarians, as prices of food and energy skyrocket and push the 8+% inflation here.

To finish the picture, after the Lithuanian director Koršunovas and the company’s international relations manager arranged to have an interview with HVG and advised the National Theatre staff about it, the Vidnyánszky minions physically barred the HVG journalists at the entrance, on orders from above, they said.

BTW HVG had their interview with director Koršunovas, which can be found on their site soon.

At the same event another Lithuanian company, the Klaipeda Drama Theater, finished their performance waiving Ukrainian flags and displaying a large banner with a Hungarian-language sign reading “Hungarians, don’t be indifferent!”.

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Don Kichote
Don Kichote
May 4, 2022 13:05

Aircraft commander Viktor Orban is defending you. 😀 Genre 1000 Years culture

tappanch
tappanch
May 4, 2022 14:28

I had a strange dream last night.

I was an foreign observer at a Russian annexation referendum in southern Ukraine. I noticed that the name of every male “voter” was Gregory Peck.

Perhaps these “voters” are not really local Ukrainians… – I remarked and woke up.

What happened to Istvan (non-Chicago)?

tappanch
tappanch
May 4, 2022 14:47
Reply to  tappanch

This is mysterious. I did not know anything about Gregory Peck. But I read a few minutes ago that his first movie role was “Vladimir” in 1944.

theestampe
theestampe
May 4, 2022 16:01

I read about Attila Vidnyánszky’s rant on Twitter a few weeks ago:

He’s responsible for dismantling Budapest’s oldest school of film and theatre in 2020. This lead the students to try to block the access to the school for several days. Eva Balogh wrote about him many times on Hungarian Spectrum. Here are just a few posts about him:

There is even a video with EN subtitles on Youtube:

Vidnyánszky is from Transcarpathia, Ukraine, not Transylvania, Romania (same Fidesz-bought HUN minority I guess).

I tend to think true artists are among those who try to resist any form of oppression from a political regime. I am curious to see where Vidnyánszky’s talent is but judging by his pro-Orbán stance, I assume he doesn’t have much.

tappanch
tappanch
May 4, 2022 16:52
Reply to  theestampe

Orban and his imported dogs from Romania (Sz. Demeter, et al) and Soviet Union (A. Vidnyansky).

They grew up in rabidly dictatorial countries, not in Kadar’s more liberal Gulyasland.

So it is more natural for them to bark and bite promptly as their owner orders them to do.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bbXVlwtsaF8/T45RhKcsE9I/AAAAAAAAA34/MeIx_M0J-e0/s1600/Animal+Farm_3.JPG

tappanch
tappanch
May 4, 2022 17:48

Russian, to be precise Rossian troops broke into AzovStalingrad today, May 4. The Ukrainian military leadership lost their contacts with the Ukrainian troops there.

tappanch
tappanch
May 4, 2022 17:51
Reply to  tappanch
Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 4, 2022 19:48

I often read https://honvedelem.hu/hirek/hazai-hirek.html which is the website of the Hungarian armed forces. When one regularly reads that website it becomes obvious that the “enraged stooge Vidnyánszky” who seems to believe the great commander Orban is protecting Hungary with its military might knows zero about the state of the Hungarian ground forces which would be tasked with repelling or at least delaying any Russian incursion or full invasion into Hungary until NATO could hopefully save the day. The Hungarian Army is what could be called a Potemkin army, but the sad part of all of this even the German Bundeswehr in its present form has been described as a Potemkin army itself. Although the German Leopard tanks and the Eurofighters are some of the best military equipment in the world, this cannot hide the fact that the actual condition of the Bundeswehr is disastrous. Besides ammunition, even the absolute basics of equipment are lacking – it doesn’t help to have special equipment that is state of the art in very specialized areas.

The good thing is the Russians are proving there own military ground forces are a fraud. As the invasion of Ukraine eventually showed, the special Russian equipment that they show in parades appear to have been an attempt to hide the fact that the core army was in less good shape. The attack was sometimes carried out with equipment that dated back to the 1960s and 1970s, was produced in the Soviet Union, and apparently had not been tried out for several years. This could be seen from the conquests but also destructions in the first days of the conflict. Since the sheer mass of the Russian army’s equipment does not at all meet modern requirements, the term Potemkin army is now used for the Russian army. But the Russians can still kill a lot of people as they have demonstrated as they plod along basically fighting on the ground using massed artillery and missiles to inch forward. 

Here is an example from the military news today in Hungary of the Potemkin nature of the Hungarian Army https://honvedelem.hu/hirek/csapatlatogatason-jartak-a-leendo-katonadiplomatak.html it features the 25th György Klapka Rifle Brigade of the Hungarian Armed Forces located in its base near the town of Tata Hungary. The first problem is this depicted unit is located in Komárom-Esztergom county, at a once upon time Warsaw pact base designed by the Russian plan to protect Hungary from an attack by NATO.

Záhony, Hungary is a small village with just over 4,000 inhabitants. However, it plays a very important role in the exodus of refugees from Ukraine. The village is one of the main entry points into Hungary and is the only border crossing where trains can cross the border into the country from Ukraine. It would be a major target for the Russians if a war actually happened with Russia because of the need to bring military support to the border with Ukraine rapidly. By road its probably 348 km for the 25th György Klapka Rifle Brigade to get to this critical point at the Ukrainian border. 

There is a direct rail connection to move this Brigade to the Ukraine border. It seems rather obvious that the heroic 25th György Klapka Rifle Brigade would never make it to the Ukraine border because it would be hit by missiles before it could ever get its forces transferred. 

Now it was obvious from the article on the Hungarian Armed Forces website that the military is proud of the Brigade. Brigadier General Gábor Lőrincz, the commander of the unit, introduced the brigade to group of future Hungarian diplomats. He showed them the Leopard 2A4HU tanks, the Gidrán multi-purpose modular combat vehicle and the Carl Gustaf M4 armor-piercing cannon. He did not explain that Hungary currently has only four of these German made battle tanks and currently all of these are located at the base of Klapka György Infantry Brigade in Tata and its 11th Tank Battalion. Eventually Hungary will have 23 of these more advanced battle tanks, for now the 11th Tank Battalion is using mostly older Russian tanks the same as Ukraine is. For sure the new Leopards safe up north from any potential danger from combat on the border. 

Hungary’s Szijjártó expressed several times that he thought additional NATO military Battle groups are not needed in the country as the Hungarian Defense Forces are enough protection. So when NATO did not accept that and required that Hungary station NATO troops in Hungary, they were sent largely to Western Hungary apparently with many stationed in Komárom-Esztergom county. I think the Hungarian defense strategy is really centered around protecting the Cardinal in Esztergom not really being prepared for potential combat in Záhony, Hungary. Our fellow blogger Wolfi who lives up that way can also feel safe as can my cousins in Esztergom.

Last edited 1 year ago by Istvan (Chicago)
wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 4, 2022 21:05

Istvan, thanks for the good wishes!
I’ve talked to an IT guy who works for the Hungarian military – and he told me that their IT also is not the most advanced …

Misi bacsi
Misi bacsi
May 7, 2022 08:33

Another set of informed and useful comments.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 4, 2022 21:08

Totally OT:
Some of you may remember Andre Goodfriend who represented the USA in Budapest a long time ago.
He just announced on facebook his retirement from the US government but of course he’ll stay active as a defender of freedom and democracy.
Among the people who wished him well were also some Hungarians …

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 5, 2022 15:53

I missed Zoltan Felldi’s attack on the Lithuanian actors protest at the MITEM international theater festival in its original Hungarian published in Magyar Nemzet on May 2nd, luckily for me it was translated into English and published on its website again today https://magyarnemzet.hu/english/2022/05/thoughts-on-the-lithuanian-performance. 

There was one section of this opinion piece that jumped out at me because of its amazing brilliance that read in its official English translation: “Dear Lithuanian guests! We have been allies to many big powers in several wars, and it has always ended badly for us. This is exactly why we are not interested in how the Russians and Americans are destroying each other in Ukraine, and we certainly do not want to get involved. We do not sympathize with the Russians nor the Americans. We do feel bad for the Ukrainians; we know all too well what it is like when great powers are playing a game of soccer on a smaller countries’ territory. Throughout our history, we have experienced this more than once. However, our sympathy is somewhat diminished by the fact that, as a result of a historical mistake, Ukraine owns a portion of land, without any legal basis, that was an integral part of Hungary for over 1000 years and has a prominent role in the Hungarian identity. Ukraine has sought to forcefully expel or assimilate the Hungarians living in this region. Meanwhile, Ukrainian parliamentary representatives wave threats that their army is ready to attack Hungary and could be at the Balaton within two hours. Let us have some relief that the brave Ukrainians get to show off their military capabilities on a different front than ours!”

Given the actual defenses that the Hungarian Army has at the Ukrainian border, which are fundamentally lightly armed reconnaissance units in armored cars it is totally possible that even part of the Ukrainian Army could easily push aside the Hungarian forces. In the old days the US Army called establishing the type of defense the Hungarian Army has at the border, a picket line. It was also called a skirmish line. NATO has deployed a US Army light units in Hungary called Stryker brigade combat teams that actually are the modern version of a skirmish line force, but the Hungarian government located them not at the Ukrainian border, but rather in the west and north of Hungary as I discussed yesterday where they will serve no apparent real purpose in relationship to protecting the NATO border against a potential Russian invasion. 

But since Orban is among the great military minds of our time we need to dig deeper to understand the Hungarian strategy. The real danger to Hungary is not yet another Russian invasion, but a Ukrainian invasion that has as its goal the seizure of the strategic Lake Balafon resorts as was revealed by in the Ukrainian parliament itself according to Zoltan Felldi’s article. I suspect that Hungarian intelligence leaked the secret Ukrainian attack plans to Zoltan Felldi.

Therefore, Orban being a brilliant military tactician is massing troops and Hungary’s most advanced weapons in Komárom-Esztergom county allowing the Ukrainian invasion to advance incredibly rapidly bypassing Budapest to be trapped encircled and destroyed on the ground of Orban’s choosing near Lake Balaton. No doubt Orban has been reading about this tactic for a month now learning from the masters like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Khalid bin Waleed, Hannibal, Sun Tzu, Yi Sun Shin, Shaka Zulu, von Wallenstein, Napoleon, von Moltke, Heinz Guderian, von Rundstedt, von Manstein, Zhukov, and even the US General Patton . Really my own knowledge in this area of war is pretty limited compared to what Orban and his brain trust now know, what i know largely comes from an US Army manual U.S. Army FM 3-90 Appendix D, Encirclement Operations”, I should have never doubted the brilliance of Orban. 

Last edited 1 year ago by Istvan (Chicago)
Robert
Robert
May 5, 2022 17:22

I love this piece Istvan. A great piece irony/sarcasm, presumably also taught to the US Army senior officers alongside encirclement.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 5, 2022 19:40
Reply to  Robert

It is true my own level of sarcasm does come from the US Army and having been in three different so called “zones of combat” during my career. It an official designation of a combat zone is an area designated as a war zone during a specified period of time for the purposes of reporting to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by military personnel. While serving in a combat zone, members of the US military accelerated active services days for each day served in a zone of combat towards your retirement entitlement. There are many other benefits like Hostile Fire Pay/ Imminent Danger Pay (HFP/IDP), and on and on. I actually had to use an Army benefits specialist to figure it out.

These are basically a war bonuses for surviving for active combatants, but it also applied to me when I was in Grenada and was not an active combatant, but doing basically data analysis really on site. Of course if you get killed you also can get a big increase in life insurance benefits from the Army. You are also allowed by law to have private life insurance added on the what the government pays out to your survivors. I am pretty sure I had at least a million dollars in such life insurance policies back then. I would say internationally military officers have a dark sense of humor, I can only imagine what Russian officers are joking about now, very privately of course, in relationship to Putin’s military brilliance.

Robert
Robert
May 5, 2022 21:06

I also would like to know

Misi bacsi
Misi bacsi
May 7, 2022 08:36

Yes, a wonderful set of satirical and wise observations.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 5, 2022 16:28

This linked article comes from a left wing US publication called The Intercept, Pierre Omidyar, eBay founder and philanthropist, provided the funding to launch The Intercept in 2014. Omidyar’s foundation and the Soros foundation have jointly funded some media projects, so based on the Fidesz analysis of the world they are part of the global elite trying to undermine traditional values in the world. What is interesting in this article https://theintercept.com/2022/05/05/nato-countries-russia-ukraine-left/ the pro-peace European peace movement actually presents some arguments very similar to those used by Orban in blocking military aid to Ukraine. 

I share the peace activists skepticism of the military industrial complex that I once was part of, but honestly can’t support any of their anti-NATO rhetoric in the face of Putin’s war in Ukraine and his vision of a greater Russian. Ludo De Brabander, a member of Belgian peace group Vrede vzw, is quoted in the article as saying “Many are in despair. They no longer believe in diplomatic solutions because Putin has gone too far. And they don’t believe in arming the conflict either.” It is pretty clear these left peace activists are not Russian operatives and do not want to play that role. Orban is playing the role of a Russian operative, while pretending to be a promoter of peace in Ukraine. 

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 5, 2022 18:24

In Germany we had something similar:
A group of 28 Leftists/peace defenders sent a letter to chancellor Scholz that Germany should not give weapons or munition to Ukraine, it would be against peace. There was a big outcry about this, many people spoke against it, some of the people who had signed the letter changed their mind too.
These guys just have no answer what should be done against the Russian invaders – let them have their way?
It seems to be too complicated for some people to understand, but for me it’s really easy:
If we don’t help Ukraine and then Russia wins and occupies Ukraine the big question comes up:
Who will be next?
The Baltic states, Finland, Poland etc which all were part of Russia once. They are right to be afraid and therefore they are helping Ukraine – while Hungary dreams of a similar success, “reintegrating” all those lost lands?
When someone tries to talk to me about the glory that once was Greater Hungary I ask them if they knew how many of the inhabitants declared themselves Hungarian.
And then I tell them:
Following the census in 1911 less than half of Hungary’s inhabitants called themselves Hungarians ethnically …

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 5, 2022 19:50
Reply to  wolfi7777

Really this war in Ukraine creates many dilemmas for peace activists. I would say religiously driven pacifists have no problems, because their positions are based on a higher power. Generally during wars the Catholic church grants soldiers some exemption from the commandment thou shall not kill. But I am less than sure the chaplain priests I had in the Army provided me with any documentation to present to Peter being the Saint who is physically holding the keys at the entrance of Heaven according to Catholic doctrine.

th.jpg
wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 5, 2022 21:16

The new Czech prime minister Petr Fiala went to Berlin to organize weapons for Ukraine, kind of exchanging them for new German ones.
I wonder if and when Hungary’s isolation in the Eu will end – or will we see a Hunxit soon?
Good riddance!

Robert
Robert
May 5, 2022 22:04
Reply to  wolfi7777

It may in fact unfortunately be true that despite our best efforts, Hungarians are not a European people. Could be a costly failure.

Observer
Observer
May 14, 2022 17:21

Istvan Ch
Actually the Russian Patriarch explicitly stated the “then Georgia, Moldava, the Baltic states will join ..”
Various talking heads on state TV regularly talk about “acquiring” the Baltic, one demanded that they not only crush, but annihilate Ukraine – “the word Ukrainian should not exist.”
On the street one went on to wish “we have to destroy Poland as a state… and punish Czechia ..” for supplying arms to Ukraine.

I think that by now NATO and allies have achieved the first great goal – to strongly discourage Russian from similar actions, although a further sound beating would reinforce the message.
Hopefully many western politicians will see that defense spending and build up are not money wasted as the dangers are real.

Robert
Robert
May 6, 2022 16:44
Reply to  wolfi7777

You make a good point and one not so good. You are right we cannot afford to let Putin get away with his aggressions. If we do, as you say, who is next? And also each time it becomes more difficult to mount effective action against him.
Whilst I have no idea what plans there are for a greater Hungary I don’t think they can be taken seriously. Hungary lacks population size, economic wealth and above all neither their diplomatic nor military strength significant and certainly insufficient.
The ethnic mix of Greater Hungary was its few strengths. Unfortunately Hungarians were too preoccupied with grandiose nationalism and paid no attention to taking their minorities with them. Not that it is easy even in relatively civilised countries. I was with dome francophone Swiss friends when they came across a group of German speaking Swiss. The tension was obvious to sense.

Misi bacsi
Misi bacsi
May 7, 2022 08:38
Reply to  wolfi7777

Thanks. You are spot on. I have not “spoken” this much in months!

Misi bacsi
Misi bacsi
May 9, 2022 07:01
Reply to  wolfi7777

Wolfi- you probably know that even the “less than half” was due to Jewish Hungarians embrace of the Hungarian nation. That embrace was -of course-broken by the antisemitism in the wake of WWI defeat and revolution. Said revolution was blamed on “the Jews”. Thereafter, they were no longer considered by many of their neighbors to be “Jewish Hungarians” (in Hungarian, “Hungarians of Mosaic faith”), but rather “Jews”.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 9, 2022 08:06
Reply to  Misi bacsi

Misi, of course!
Some even changed their names like famous mathematician Weiß who became Fejér so he could get a job.
And also many people of German descent tried to be “Hungarian”.
This continued even in Horthy times. My favourite example is the Purzeld family which in 1937 changed their name to Puskás – I’m sure you heard about their most known person before.

Misi bacsi
Misi bacsi
May 9, 2022 20:57
Reply to  wolfi7777

Yes, of course I remember Pukas (Purzeld). Good to read your comments; I don’t write as much as I used to, but I read all the comments.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 5, 2022 19:03

Orbanistan is isolating itself more and more even from former friends:
Euronews Brussels bureau writes:
What others think:
President Vladimir Putin is a “war criminal” who is committing “genocide” in Ukraine and the European Union must not resume “business as usual” with Russia as long as he remains in power, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told Euronews in an exclusive interview.
Morawiecki spoke with Euronews’ Efi Koutsokosta at the end of an International Donors’ Conference that he co-hosted with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson in Warsaw

The conference raised €6 billion to support ongoing humanitarian efforts across Ukraine.

During the interview, the Polish PM spoke at length about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which he described as “brutal” and “atrocious,” and the geopolitical implications for the entire continent.
Sorry, haven’t found a link yet.

Last edited 1 year ago by wolfi7777
Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 6, 2022 17:59
Reply to  Pantanifan

I like the part where he describes the talent-mass as enough for two or three governments – Well ok, but what about the one in question? It’s only been a month since the election!
Here’s a peek at Orbán’s elite talent draft endeavor:

Orbán drafts talent.jpg
Misi bacsi
Misi bacsi
May 7, 2022 08:39

Wonderful cartoon:->

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 6, 2022 19:02

It is looking more and more like Putin is going to order something close to a full mobilization of military service age popole to feed his war machine possibly on May 9. Both Russia and Ukraine are taking very large losses in combat now. Supposedly the Russians are getting the worse of this, but I trust really nothing I am reading on casualties in combat. It is obvious that Russia having a vastly larger population has more bodies to throw into the meat grinder, so in a war of attrition Russia has some advantages regardless of the material support NATO and the USA provide to Ukraine.

I recall well that in May 1972 in Vietnam after the North Vietnamese took massive losses in what we called the Easter offensive the US Army intelligence people thought the communists had exhausted themselves and it would take years for them to launch another serious offensive so the Paris peace agreement would stand for a while. Having seen the massive number of dead VC and north Vietnamese troops in the field in and around An Loc where I was I took agreed with Army Intelligence people. By 1975 the communist forces launched their final offensive and destroyed the South Vietnamese Army and took full control of all of Vietnam. US Congress blocked all additional aid to South Vietnam saying we had given them enough. That was it.

North Vietnam was in that war for the long run despite horrendous losses, it is hard to measure the capacity Russia will have for their losses in this war.

Robert
Robert
May 6, 2022 21:04

There is no way of avoiding asking the obvious question. If your assessment is correct, what are we doing there? If it is not a strategic threat to us, what is the purpose in supporting and prolonging an un winnable war? If it’s of strategic importance and if it represents an existential threat to us if Putin won, we must put troops on the ground and defend Ukraine.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 7, 2022 16:12
Reply to  Robert

Well General Austin now US Sec of Defense has declared the war in Ukraine winnable by the Ukrainians. Really we are being given here no real information on the NSA and CIA assessment of the Russian capabilities to carry out the war for many more months.

The UK intelligence services seem to be most optimistic in that Russia is struggling to keep putting infantrymen in the field. All the US discusses are the level of Russian losses, never really a word about Ukrainian losses which I have little doubt they have some pretty good estimates of.

From various reports appearing in the western media we are seeing it appears front line Ukrainian soldiers aging in their late 30s to 50s. The problem isn’t that you can’t fight at that age it’s that you can’t take the deprivation that combat imposes on your body. Sickness normally kills as many soldiers as do bullets and artillery shells. So safeguarding the health of a command is indispensable for the success of any campaign. Wars are lost by disease, which causes an enormous drain on the military’s resources and affects both strategy and tactics.

As is obvious from Ukraine’s Covid data the death rate for middle age men was very high because so many smoke cigarettes and develop respiratory complications much easier.

Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of the Ukrainian land forces, told the Guardian that from about 150,000 soldiers in his ranks, 2,400 were infected by Covid.

Testing was taking place only before special events or in the case of symptoms, he said, suggesting the real number might be much higher. Ukrainian military bases have been closed to visitors to help prevent the spread, and very few US news reporters have been given access to Ukrainian field medical stations so there is no verification of anything.

“It’s not dramatically affecting our plans, because few people are getting seriously ill, but of course we are having to ensure isolation of cases and also to be more careful with mask-wearing and other anti-Covid measures,” the Ukrainian Commander said, in an interview at the Boryspil military airfield about a month ago. But the General provided no break down of the impact on the increasing numbers of older Ukrainian soldiers in front like combat. If you combine Covid with dysentery and the devastating impact diarrhea has on solders my guess is there are a lot of problems. The Russians have their problems too, but they can field many more younger soldiers.

I had a moderate case of dysentery while in combat in Vietnam and it was not easy to recover from in the field. If I had not been repeatedly given fluids by IV I would not be able to stay in combat. Really the horrors of war are largely being hidden from both the Russian and western public by our news media.

If you watch the major reports on TV in the USA mostly what you get are endless reports on Ukrainian civilian casualties and outright murder by Russian forces. Really very little about the daily nightmare of combat. This story is one of the few discussing suicide among Ukrainian soldiers see https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60318298 . I am confident the same thing is happening among the Russians.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 7, 2022 18:24

Thanks for the info, Istvan.
From my father who fought in WW2 i know a little bit about war – but he didn’t tell us too much.
And it seems to me that each war gets more horrible for the poor soldiers …

Robert
Robert
May 7, 2022 18:50

Istvan, this is a very helpful reflection of which we should need no reminder. But unfortunately we do. I welcome your thoughts very much. We should make it a rule of our laws that it is a serious crime to start any war save in a set of well defined circumstances. Our rules based international order ambition is under challenge from people who are the enemies of not only humanity but life on earth.
Your thoughts on what causes major casualties is of course correct. I would add just this. George Bernard Shaw wrote many plays. One of my favourites is Arms and the man. Later it was made into an operetta called The chocolate soldier. The story includes the arrival of a Swiss mercenary (in the Austrian army fighting the Bulgarians) in an upstairs bedroom of a daughter of a Bulgarian officer. He was in retreat and shinned it up the drainpipe to escape his pursuers. The young lady is duly terrified but is reassured somewhat when he tells her that he is out of ammunition and his pouch has nothing but chocolates. He explains that most war casualties did not die of being shot but of starvation, hence his supply of chocolates.
But, the question remains, where is the purpose in prolonging a hopeless struggle? Unless it is not hopeless. Is it?

Misi bacsi
Misi bacsi
May 7, 2022 08:31

A memorable post!

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 8, 2022 11:52

Putin’s and O1G’s propaganda seems to work – at least on some ***expletive deleted*** Hungarians.
Less than half of Hungarians want Ukraine to join the EU and there are other points like “Who is responsible for the war” where Hungary is a real outlier, horrible!
https://kafkadesk.org/2022/05/08/less-than-half-of-hungarians-in-favour-of-ukraine-joining-the-eu/
Hungary is the only member state where less than half of the population supports Kyiv’s membership bid. EU-wide, 66% of Europeans declare themselves in favour.

Last edited 1 year ago by wolfi7777
Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 8, 2022 15:59

This article in the US newspaper Washington Post yesterday https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/07/russia-ukraine-victory-day-mobilization/ discussed the possibility of Putin ordering a full war mobilization and how would it would take at least six months to train these draftees for combat.
The article was written Robyn Dixon and Liz Sly, it completely follows the predominant narrative in the US media, that the Russian war effort is a disaster. The problem is the article does not take into consideration that the USA during the course of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had to mobilize parts of our reserve Army units and even National Guard units sending some into combat for up to a year. That in Vietnam we had to increase our conscription quotas year after year. Then we switched to our Vietnamization program that I was part of, which ultimately failed.
My own daughter who is a US Army reserve officer has been on active duty in Poland since March, in her case it’s voluntary and her employer Colorado State University by law has to accept guaranteeing her position and tenure status. Modern militaries internationally have lower troop levels to keep costs down and have to plan on using part time soldiers to fill the gap. If that is insufficient then it goes to conscription and recall of retired soldiers and officers. I was eligible to be recalled to the age of 60 as a retired US Army officer. During the middle eastern wars doctors whose medical degrees were paid for by the Department of Defense and had served four years supposedly to pay off that obligation were reactivated into their 50s. Some did not even recall they were in what is called the inactive reserves.
The problem with Putin’s war may well not be that he underestimated his Ukrainian opponents, but rather his own intelligence and military may have presented success in the overthrowing of the existing Ukrainian government as reasonably achievable. In the US Army we call it a “can do” response, meaning you are expected to say to a superior once a decision has been made for military action we can do this. It’s not a process of continuing evaluation of what can be achieved by war, it is more often than not only when at the point of exhaustion that evaluations are made of the war you are in and what the hell to do now.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 8, 2022 19:16

So until reading about it today in a Reuters article I had never heard of Putin’s Ilyushin II 80 Maxdome doomsday command plane which would carry Russia’s top brass in the event of a nuclear war. It is supposedly packed with technology but specific details are Russian state secrets. None the less the secret Putin escape plane will supposedly do a fly over of Red square at the Russian victory day celebration.
Where exactly team Putin plans to set down after they are airborne and the nuclear holocaust has begun is obviously a very big secret. But I am totally confident the US CIA, NSA, and the U.S. Strategic Command headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska are attempting to have all possible landing sites for the Putin Armageddon plane targeted with massive nuclear warheads.
Of course the USA has its plans for nuclear Armageddon survival too. For example there is the White House bunker, formally known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC), that is beneath the White House’s East Wing. There is a massive privately run operation for other designated US government survivors inside a mountain in Pennsylvania that also rents space to Bill Gates, just in case. Elon Musk plans to smoke massive amounts of pot at an undisclosed location under the assumption he will not be targeted and can eventually escape into space on one of his rockets. (By the way Musk has said he is not the richest person on earth he says Putin has significantly more money than he does.)
There are all kinds of military survival bunkers scattered around the country. I was in one for the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command Built on massive springs to help survive direct Russian nuclear hits that has never been declassified as far as I know. So saying more than that actually might not be legal.
I have come to believe this entire idea of surviving a nuclear war is in its self a form of insanity by governmental, billionaires, and military elites. Does Putin really think the people of Moscow will go to their deaths happily knowing Putin and his crew of henchmen are safe high in the clouds aboard their plane? Yes he probably is that insane.

Last edited 1 year ago by Istvan (Chicago)
Robert
Robert
May 8, 2022 22:43

This is completely crazy. Even Hollywood before it turned woking useless did not produce a storyline of the tyrant surviving a nuclear holocaust by flying in a big plane and landing in paradise. Putin must have access to Andersen’s Library.

2bits4free
2bits4free
May 9, 2022 07:36

Putin doesnt care about anything. He is dying anyway from cancer and he also has Parkinsons whcih is why in most videos when he is sitting at a table, he holds his hand so people cannot see it shaking.

I doubt that Putin even cares about his own children, in case of a nuclear war, though of course there`s probably room on this plane for them too.
I expect he would land on some desert island, and carry on business as usual, while his own country, as well as other targets, go up in flames.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 9, 2022 14:02
Reply to  2bits4free

Yes that rumor about Putin having cancer has been floated and has not been deemed credible by US and UK intelligence services. I watched his full victory day speech today from Red Square with simultaneous translation and he looked overall certainly not be a guy undergoing therapy for advanced cancer. But the rumors do persist. He never mentioned calling for a full mobilization of Russia’s young adults for the war effort. But his harkening back to the glory of the defeat of Nazi Germany and the suffering of the Russian people may be laying the groundwork for such a mobilization.

2bits4free
2bits4free
May 9, 2022 07:25

Of course Orban is not going to allow troops, or any sort of material and practical help to pass through “his” land!
Why would he when he is party to Putin’s assault on innocent citizens across the border.
Why would he when he made a deal with Putin long before the invasion, that he would get a chunk of Ukraine in return for supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Orban knew well before the war about Putin’s plans, and how it would benefit him, by gaining more territory for Hungary. Here is the news from Ukraine, in case anybody thinks this is a fantasy.
https://nationalpost.com/

Why foreign papers have not exposed the fact that Orban was party to Putin`s plans to invade, and is therefore a double dealing lying traitorous member of the EU, with its KGB spy “bank” in Budapest, is a mystery to me.
And why the EU continues to send money to mafia boss, Viktor Orban, who consistently sabotages the work the EU, is also a mystery.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 9, 2022 08:14
Reply to  2bits4free

Well, the German press reports regularly about the “EU black sheep” Hungary but the EU structure was not defined with undemocratic/illiberal/fascist members like this in mind.
Just look at the other pariah Poland and its homophobic and misogynic “sex laws” which have already killed several pregnant women.
Even if the European courts are involved a real fascist regime/dictatorship doesn’t care and the EU can’t send their armies in …
The only good news is that the Polish PISsers seem to have realised that Russia is more dangerous for them so they might return to European values. At least I hope so.

Marty
Marty
May 9, 2022 09:54

OT — but astonishing news.

65% (!) of Fideszniks under 40 say Hungary should have a closer relationship with Russia and only 25% say with the US. That is now during a war Russia initiated.

This is 54% (pro-Russia) vs. 24% (pro-US) for the 40-59 cohort, and 50 (pro Russia) vs. 23% (pro US) for those over 60.

In other words, the majority of the active voters (pro-Fdesz) are firmly pro-Russia and clearly dislike the US. 59% pro Russia vs. 24% pro US for the Fidesz voters (who made up over 50% of the electorate and in rural areas often over 70%).

In other words, rural voters are madly pro-Russian and madly anti-US.

Russia’s attractiveness has been consistently growing in Hungary (from 24% in 2014 to 33% in 2018 to 38% in 2022, during the war) in the overall population and US’s populrity us steadily decreasing from 54 to 51 to 45% now.

The US is still a bit more popular, but the majority of the voters (who would participate in a referendum on the EU or NATO) are fidesznik, and the young (under 40) fidesznik cohort is more than two times more pro Russian than pro-US.

Propaganda works, folks.

It’s time to make plans for a retirement in the West because this will not end nicely.

https://444.hu/2022/05/09/ugyanolyan-rossz-velemennyel-vannak-a-magyarok-ukrajnarol-mint-oroszorszagrol

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 10, 2022 17:00
Reply to  Marty

I suspect Marty you are correct and the polling data reflects the never ending attacks on US expansionism and imperialism in Central Europe that I regularly see on Hir TV and read in the Fidesz controlled media.

Overall in my opinion the USA has since the gulf wars lost full global hegemony. But Putin with his own military fiasco in Ukraine has given our strategic thinkers great hope in deeply weakening Russia in the great game of achieving global hegemony. Then we would have to face only China.

Every day the war goes on the more Russia bleeds. I have to assume Putin’s more rational advisers see this too and that is periodically reflected in commentary in the Russian media, but it has to be framed always as NATO aggression not Putin over reach. Our media in the USA denies our country is in anyway hegemonic and even the pro-Trump media follows that position arguing the US fights internationally for freedom and democratic values not in the least related to self economic interests.

The situation creates a rationality for Russia to use tactical nukes on selected cities in the Ukraine to force them to agree to vast land concessions and a peace deal that will last only long enough for Russia to rebuild its ground and naval forces to attack Ukraine yet again.

So far I see no inclination on the part of NATO or the USA to order a counter nuclear strike against Russia since Ukraine in not a member of NATO and once that starts the possibility of escalation is very real.

Orban seems to think Putin is a rational player in the great game, and Hungary can play its own role walking in between the great powers. Nuclear war will not spare Hungary as a NATO member the country will be hit.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 10, 2022 17:15

Eva our late host Marty accepted much of US ideals relating to free trade and democracy internationally. She was not naïve but seemed to believe there was an essential balance in US foreign policy between striving for global hegemony and democratic values. My own experience in the US military indicates democratic values are secondary to the economic interests of the USA. Those values do exist and play a role but they are very often subordinate to the economic war for markets and money making. Thanks for your post Marty and the polling data.

jan
jan
May 11, 2022 01:01

Please stop interpreting professor Balogh´s opinion, since she has no chance to react on your opinion about her.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 11, 2022 02:36
Reply to  jan

I agree – Èva was always to the point, she didn’t allow a battle room for interpretation.

Last edited 1 year ago by Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 11, 2022 02:47

For clarification.

Issues.jpg
Misi bacsi
Misi bacsi
May 12, 2022 20:48

Wonderful cartoon. Ironic, wise and spot on.

Marty
Marty
May 10, 2022 19:18

This is propaganda and secondarily a function of loyalty to Orban. Basically people who are Fidesznik loyally follow the official line which they clearly understand to be pro-Russia and anti-US/West/EU.

So it underscores Fideszniks’ extraordinary loyalty to Orban. It’s not just a political preference simply, but a personal loyalty to Orban.They get it that Putyin is good for Orban and the US is not (of course the US never did anything that could potentially hurt Orban in any way, still people think it’s much more possible than with beloved Putin).

I agree that the US lost its hegemonic status, but here it’s a simple preference, US or Russia (asked in a somewhat different way).It’s a bit like not directly asking which party you prefer but asking which party do you think your neighbor would prefer (which would have the same results, but people are more open to answer this question). Fideszniks don’t have to claim that they love the US, just that overall they would prefer the US over Russia. Yet, most of the them prefer Putin and overwhelmingly so.

The second part of the poll came out on 444.hu (restricted) today and it asked about preference for individual international leaders, and Putyin is unbeliavably popular (much more so than any Hungarian politician).

I don’t think that Putin’s military loss would affect his popularity in Hungary (nazis were popular even when Hitler lost) – only his sacking (ie. him becoming a “loser” as opposed to the “omnipotent conservative demigod”), but even in that case he would be replaced by a similar security establishment strongman who could be presented to the Fidesznik voters and the new ideal.

Propaganda is strong and very sophisticated. One should never underestimate its power.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 9, 2022 16:48

I read the Ukrainian newspaper the Kyiv Independent often . Today this appeared: “Ukraine’s military: Russia has lost 25,650 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on May 9 that Russia has also lost 1,145 tanks, 2,764 armored personnel carriers, 1,970 vehicles and fuel tanks, 513 artillery systems, 185 multiple launch rocket systems, 87 anti-aircraft defense systems, 158 helicopters, 199 aircraft, 377 UAVs, and 12 boats.”

However, on Ukrainian loses the Ukrainians are largely silent one article I read today stated “we know that Ukrainian forces have lost at least 3,000 troops killed and 10,000 wounded since the invasion began. Those are the official numbers provided by Kyiv. The real figures are probably higher.“

Indeed they are higher without question. Possibly with time Ukrainian losses will be similar to Russian losses. The Ukrainian population of males over the age of 18 and below age 60 is also lower than the numbers for Russians. The Russian population data from 2021 indicated it has around 42 million males in that age range and Ukraine in total has only around 35.2 million people over age 18 in Ukraine both male and female.

A war of attrition seems impossible for Ukraine to survive the longer it goes on. Ukraine has to count on war exhaustion on the part of Russia to take place in order to achieve an outright victory. This is all looking horrifying even if Russia does not use tactical nuclear weapons to force Ukraine to surrender. We here in the USA set the precedent in WW2 of using nukes to end a war quick against Japan. I can’t believe Putin and his generals have not thought about that option.

John Mearsheimer a University of Chicago professor and pretty much in the Russian camp sees a real possibility Putin could use tactical nukes to try and end this war.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 9, 2022 19:17

Istvan, thanks for mentioning Mearsheimer – I tried to read the very long article on him in wikipedia but gave up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mearsheimer
To me he seems a bit strange, trying for world hegemony, building up arsenals of weapons and starting wars is the main point in politics?
And his comments on Ukraine’s development over the years?
Funny that he wanted Bernie Sanders as US president

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 9, 2022 20:46

Mrs Ursula von der Leyen is visiting Hungary this afternoon, the Prime Minister will …
Yes, what will he do besides offering her a nice dinner and a nice view from his palace?
It will be interesting to follow the media tomorrow.

Last edited 1 year ago by wolfi7777
Robert
Robert
May 9, 2022 22:29
Reply to  wolfi7777

I would guess that she did not make the journey just for foie grass and a glass of Tokay. Her main concern is to maintain unity whilst dealing with Hungarian reservations. She wants to be able to accommodate them even if we think they are over the top.I don’t think we should ignore the possibility that Orban may have realised the need for a rethink on his Ostpolitik. I use that expression because I think Germany has much to answer for in adopting it and persisting in it in the face of the evidence showing it to be flawed.
I looked on TV at the tiny Macron meeting the new German Chancellor who is even smaller and balder than Macron. Maybe there should be both a height and an hair rule?

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 10, 2022 09:04
Reply to  Robert

Reuter’s reports:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eus-von-der-leyen-sees-progress-talks-with-hungary-russian-oil-ban-2022-05-09/
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday she had made progress in talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on a possible EU-wide ban on Russian fossil fuels.
“This evening’s discussion with PM Viktor Orban was helpful to clarify issues related to sanctions and energy security”, von der Leyen said in a tweet.
“We made progress, but further work is needed”, she added.
In other words:
Nothing happened.
Now we’re waiting for the EU to react to Hungary’s obsession with Russia.

Robert
Robert
May 10, 2022 11:00
Reply to  wolfi7777

It is unlikely that EU will leave it at that even if your interpretation is correct. Confrontation with Orban on that issue would be entirely counterproductive.
Maybe you are right that Hungary is unfit for EU membership but even Orban must be aware of the serious implications of the current war on Hungarian security and supplies.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 10, 2022 15:11
Reply to  wolfi7777

It is my understanding from reading several articles that Macron is chatting with Orban today about his stance rejecting the EU offer allowing Slovakia and Hungary, that have been offered a delay in imposing the oil embargo until the end of 2024, to enable them to overhaul their refineries. Orban has indicated that the hundreds of billions of forints to convert its Százhalombatta refinery in Pest, can only take Russian oil. Hungarian officials say they could get oil from Croatia, but this would require their southern neighbour to boost its capacity.

Clearly MOL which owns the Százhalombatta refinery can not be trusted because it is completely part of Orban’s mafia state. The EU needs to bring in independent engineers and experts to essentially expose Orban’s likely lies in relationship to the time the refinery would need to overhaul the refinery and all related costs.

I suspect since Orban wants the EU to pay MOL for all upgrades to the Százhalombatta refinery this will actually be a cash cow for MOL and subcontractors under the ownership of Fidesz oligarchs who will give their required cut to Orban. It is just pathetic how the EU continues to find ways to subsidize Orban’s mafia state.

Reader
Reader
May 10, 2022 15:39

I may be wrong but I think that Holoda Attila recently made the point that it would not be that expensive to adapt Hungary’s refineries to be able to process other types of oil… EU experts will no doubt be aware of that… in the longer run, this will surely be necessary for Hungary anyway, unless… oh… right…

Reader
Reader
May 10, 2022 15:48
Reply to  Reader

… the point is perhaps that the current refining process is, for MOL, advantageous as it generates significant profits… to adapt would dent those profits… therefore a continuous supply of relatively uniform grade Russian oil is good for them and for the accumulation of profit which, of course, always trumps ethics…

Theestampe
Theestampe
May 10, 2022 10:12

Former Jobbik MP János Volner renames his Volner Party as Huxit Party. Is this a Fidesz trick to measure the possibility to slowly steer the Hungarian population toward a real Huxit?

Last edited 1 year ago by Theestampe
wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 10, 2022 11:03
Reply to  Theestampe

It might well be so. In all indicators of democratic countries (corruption, people’s happiness, freedom and independence of the media etc) Hungary is already among the lowest in the EU and this will go on I fear.
So Huxit is almost a logical outcome unless the EU gets weak again, ignores the principles it was built on, and helps Fidesz to contimue ruling.
I’m an optimist but I really have no idea what will happen there in the next years.

Danye
Danye
May 10, 2022 14:11
Reply to  wolfi7777

Something completely different- Hungary seems to have stopped reporting Coronavirus cases and deaths since 2nd May. Why?

Theestampe
Theestampe
May 10, 2022 16:48
Reply to  Danye

Maybe the Orbán government thought between giving fake data and no data at all, the latter was a better option?

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 10, 2022 17:36
Reply to  Danye

That is interesting. I also find even here in the USA many deaths of older Americans are not attributable to Covid when they are found dead in their homes because no testing is done on the dead relating to Covid in that situation.

We really have no idea here on the actual spread of Covid because of home testing and a lack of individuals reporting the positive results to public Heath officials especially when the symptoms are mild. People just tell their employers they tested positive for Covid and have to isolate for ten days. Employers are so afraid of outbreaks shutting them down they are more than happy to accept that and almost none require any formal verification that they are no longer infected to return to work. We have a definite break down here in the USA of public health standards.

Robert
Robert
May 10, 2022 14:33

Here is Thorpe’s report on the meeting:
”European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had supper with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday evening at the Carmelite Monastery in Buda castle, which is now the PM’s office, in Budapest.
No breakthrough was achieved on the proposed sixth sanctions package, which Orban says he will veto in its current form, although von der Leyen tweeted that their talks “helped clarify questions about sanctions and energy security”.
A photograph released appears to show von der Leyen drinking orange juice, Orban champagne.
“We made progress, but further work is needed. I will convene a video conference with regional players to strengthen regional co-operation on oil infrastructure,” she said.
That is expected on Tuesday, with a new meeting of the 27 ambassadors scheduled for Wednesday, according to Hungarian media. 
EU sources suggest the commission is offering access to the sea to bring non-Russian oil to landlocked countries like Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Hungary wants hundreds of millions of euros to adapt its main refineries to take Brent crude.
The Hungarian government is also trying to link any financial compensatory package to the release of €7.2bn (£5.8bn), withheld from Hungary from the post-Covid Recovery and Resilience package over rule of law issues.”

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 10, 2022 20:43

Rather OT but showing that right wing ideas are also getting crazier in other countries – even those considered to be real democracies.
The “Queen’s Speech” spoken by Prince Charles but written by Boris Johnson contains a lot of almost fascist ideas, often similar to the Hungarian situation.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/10/queens-speech-boris-johnson-prince-charles
One “nice” example is that Johnson has plans for 38 new laws which will reduce freedom of expression like in Hungary or even in Russia.

Robert
Robert
May 11, 2022 08:26
Reply to  wolfi7777

Not quite. The article does not even suggest that the measures go that far. If you look at it again you will find that it is largely about sending signals that Johnson believes will help him win next time. We all know he has only one ambition and that is it, at any cost. So far telling lies has stood him in good stead. Unfortunately the English like him because he sends the right signals. They, like Hungarians, are not very clever.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 11, 2022 08:50
Reply to  Robert

Robert, I interpreted that article as a kind of threat – we are willing to go that far if necessary to just keep in power!
The title says it all:
Inane and Orwellian
Totally OT:
I once had a discussion with two English gentlemen, don’t know whether they were on business or tourists in Germany. I quoted the Guardian and they looked at me and one said:
What, you’re reading that communist newspaper?
When I went to England the first times as a student (on a paid stipend …) more than 55 years ago it was the only paper I could read – the others like the Sun, the Daily Mail etc were so primitive and horrible, worse even than our German fascist BILD, I would have thrown up …

Reader
Reader
May 11, 2022 09:04
Reply to  Robert

… that would be ‘some’ English I think wouldn’t it? Just like ‘some’ Hungarians or ‘some’ Germans… try not to over-generalise Robert, detail is important here and these matters are deeply contested … but Wolfi is correct in saying that some of the ideas in yesterday’s speech are moving in that disgraceful direction and Johnson, like others we could identify, will do anything to remain in power… OV’s play book is important here and Johnson has clearly learned something from that… the difficulty for him is that he does not control the broad institutional structures as OV does here… see, for example, the difficulties that the odious Priti Patel is experiencing over her absurd plan to deport refugees to Rwanda

Robert
Robert
May 11, 2022 10:22
Reply to  Reader

Some? Far too many.

Reader
Reader
May 11, 2022 11:57
Reply to  Robert

Agree that there are too many, but the point remains that we should not over-generalise… after all, minorities voted for Johnson and OV…

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 11, 2022 10:37
Reply to  Reader

Just to show the state of mind for many Fidesz voters:
In addition, Fidesz supporters hold Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (74 out of 100 points) and the United States (75 out of 100 points) more responsible for the war in Ukraine than Vladimir Putin (70 out of 100 points).
The ratio is reversed among supporters of the political opposition. These voters blame Putin the most for the war (93 points), but they also say Viktor Orbán’s foreign policy (47 points) bears more responsibility than the Ukrainian leadership (39 points). [Telex]
https://hungarianpolitics.com/2022/05/10/fidesz-voters-say-zelensky-and-usa-more-responsible-for-war-than-putin/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hungarian-politics-daily-digest_1
Seems that propaganda really works – in some countries.

Reader
Reader
May 11, 2022 12:00
Reply to  wolfi7777

Yes it does. But it is also the case that it doesn’t always work… for example, you seem to be able to resist quite effectively… and many more like you I think.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 11, 2022 12:46
Reply to  Reader

FOR Fidesz, AfD and some CDU/CSU voters it seems to be difficult to resist Putin.
I’m so happy that I don’t have any of these neither in my and my wife’s family and my friends. And also our neighbours – but we can count ourselves lucky it seems that we don”t live in catholic Esztergom …

Reader
Reader
May 11, 2022 16:35
Reply to  wolfi7777

Yes, that’s right. The question is how do some resist and others apparently not…that’s complex but to change things it’s important to gain insight on this. Like you, I have nothing to do with anyone sympathetic to Fidesz (as far as I know!) … so how is it that we see the world in other ways but ‘they’ don’t?
The left here and in the UK and the US (although that case is slightly different), for example, have failed their constituencies and populism ( a la OV amongst others) has (fraudulently) become seen as a way of representing the interests of those who have been at the sharp end of neoliberal economics over the last 40 ofdd years, less here in Hungary… not only that section of the population but significantly so… apparently there are ‘true beleivers’, those who actually accept right wing populism’s version of the world…that’s frighteneing enough…
We should aim our contempt and anger at those who manipuate others into going along with the autocratic nonsense, the elite who benefit financially and culturally from the exclusion of others.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 11, 2022 16:38
Reply to  wolfi7777

I have a few relatives in Esztergom Wolfi I could loan you and they are true KDNP supporters. For the most part they are not interested in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A lot of bitching about the cost of food though, of course they have no idea what to do about that.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 11, 2022 18:46

“bitching about the cost of food” is probably the only thing they have in common with my wife and her family etc.
We have all been atheists from birth essentially!
I still remember when I took my wife to my home the day after we were introduced and she looked around. Later she told me that she had been afraid to find christian symbols in the house like many Germans and Austrians she had met before as shoppers eg when they came into the boutique where she worked with crosses dangling on their clothes.
I don’t know about Esztergom but in the village where we live there are not many people who go to church eg.

Robert
Robert
May 11, 2022 19:32
Reply to  wolfi7777

I have known some very good Christians.I was a beneficiary of their kindness and charity. I have also known some atheists like you. I am one myself. We share a faith with Stalin, Rakosi, Honecker. Neither you nor I share their cruelty and savagery. I am concerned that one should not confuse faith with morality despite the inevitable overlap.

Reader
Reader
May 11, 2022 22:38
Reply to  Robert

… sorry, Robert, I don’t quite get this… can you clarify the point about confusion and overlap? How can we separate faith and morality?

jan
jan
May 12, 2022 01:30
Reply to  Robert

Since when is atheism a faith?

Robert
Robert
May 12, 2022 07:43
Reply to  jan

Faith is a strong belief, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof. The existence or otherwise of god is totally lacking in proof.

Morality is a set of rules and principles guiding human conduct and behaviour. Whilst often faith gives it backup it survives quite independently.Those who concentrate on condemning god based religion (not all are such) often accept a morality that owes much to the morality of Christians. Putin is outwardly a Christian who clearly does not share the values of their morality. Neither did Stalin and the others I mentioned but they were atheists.

jan
jan
May 12, 2022 21:31
Reply to  Robert

Isn´t atheism the absence of faith in someone or something?

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 12, 2022 11:00
Reply to  Robert

Robert, seems you were lucky!
I’ve often told this story:
When I was just 6 years old I was happy to start school with my friends and neighbours and then I was told that most of them would be going to the catholic primary school and I would go to the protestant school – crazily enough both in the city’s old school building.
Later I found out the reason:
The city had been part of Austria until Napoleon came and cleaned up the political landscape of Germany. Th surrounding Württemberg was protestant following the conversion of some Württemberg duke or king – cuius regio eius religio!
Now these two schools were almost “dwarf schools”, not enough teachers and pupils to have a separate class for each year – it would have been much better if they had been combined but our local christian representatives were against this!
That made me and my friends totally lose respect!
The fact that they also had kept many Nazi laws re sexuality eg didn’t help – we called them the christian fascists.
And after having finished the gymnasium (I was primus even) and going to university I told my class friends that I wouldn’t come to any class reunion as long as those horrible people were there too. It took 40 years …
PS:
That christian fascism is still active today, the CDU/CSU declared they would vote against the abolition of §219b which forbids “advertising abortion” by a doctor eg who has a pamphlet telling women what they can do against an unwelcome pregnancy.
Almost as bad as the US repugs!
Luckily for us they are in a minority in Germany and the churches are losing hundreds of thousands of members every year.
End of rant!

Robert
Robert
May 12, 2022 14:44
Reply to  wolfi7777

Well you might well say I have been lucky indeed.
I share the view we would as people be overall better off without organised religion.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 12, 2022 16:28

I was amazed when I read this story this morning https://news.yahoo.com/not-dumb-might-think-ukraine-214546070.html . Where Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba let it be clear that he believes if the United States and other Western allies had provided the weapons Kyiv requested in the months prior to Russia’s invasion, thousands of lives may have been saved.

Kuleba maybe thinks by making public discussions with NATO and the USA that took place prior to the Russian invasion it gets Ukraine an advantage in getting even more advanced weapons systems quickly. I am not sure about that, moreover I suspect it makes US and NATO officials reluctant to have very difficult and more honest discussions with him because he may go to the media with them relatively fast.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 12, 2022 17:31

This Reuters story https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/hungary-says-eus-russia-oil-embargo-should-exempt-pipeline-shipments-2022-05-11/ actually has the headline “Hungary says its backing of EU’s Russia oil ban hinges on hundreds of millions of dollars,” really no surprise to the readers of this blog.

The article quotes Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stating:
“We are expecting such a proposal not only concerning the transformation of our refineries which costs hundreds of millions of dollars, not only relating to the capacity increase at the Croatian pipeline which would cost several hundreds of millions of dollars, but also concerning the future of the Hungarian economy.” So effectively Szijjarto has now said Orban will betray brother Putin if the west pays up big time.

Of course maybe Putin will respond if the EU stupidly agrees to pay this ransom with maybe an offer to completely cover all costs for Paks II project or other deals. One has to assume Orban realizes that both he and Szijjarto will need to be shot or disappeared if Russia wins the war in Ukraine and its larger goal of having all the former Warsaw Pact nations leave NATO and its nuclear shield.

Putin understands that Orban and his crew are whores who are for sale. He would tolerate some independence of Russian Oligarchs only as long as he needed to, then he had the irritating ones jailed, poisoned, or shot by mysterious Chechens.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 13, 2022 11:55

The top Democrat and Republican in the US Senate joined forces in a rare moment of unity on Thursday in an attempt to pass $40bn in aid for Ukraine, only to be stymied by a single Republican lawmaker: the Kentucky libertarian Rand Paul.
://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/12/us-ukraine-aid-rand-paul-senate
No comment necessary.
Btw I often wonder what US voters are thinking when they vote for people like him or Marjorie Greene (Jewish space lasers …). This reminds me of a bad joke 60 years ago in Germany:
In some parts of Germany the CDU/CSU is so strong that people would even vote for a black garbage can as candidate …
PS:
Many of the CDU/CSU members of parliament were just garbage cans!

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 13, 2022 17:54
Reply to  wolfi7777

Basically it is being held up by a procedural motion, that is allowed under the rule of the US Senate. It will be passed very shortly. Senator Rand Paul is what is called in the political lexicon in the USA an isolationist, a perspective he inherited from his father Ron Paul who was a Congressman from Texas. Even though his father was formally a Republican he was associated with the Libertarian movement in the USA.

He was an Air Force doctor for several years and after the fact he came to oppose the Vietnam war from an isolationist perspective. He wrote about that: “My primary thoughts now about that period of time are: Why was I so complacent, and why did I so rarely seriously question the wisdom of the Vietnam War?’. The sad part is that the military personnel who march off to war are more victims and dupes than heroes.” Of course I was similar back then and it was not until after the Vietnam War when I was involved with the invasion of Panama that I began to have many reservations about how the USA used military power.

Being born into the Hungarian community in Chicago I was profoundly anti-communist which colored my thinking about the Vietnam war profoundly. I was never duped, I was back then a true believer.

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
May 12, 2022 17:36

I assume that Orban will now appoint Putin-friendly ministers and that over time the population’s approval of Orban will rise to 99%. The brain drain has been considerable so far and will continue if that is at all possible. Hungary is Russia

If one thinks of the sooty fire cities in poor dwellings and the breath air … and in return to the relatively cheap and clean power generation by solar panels and wind turbines then electricity could soon become cheaper. But in Hungary there is no capacity for more electricity, so why Paks II?

„Hungary does not have sufficient grid connection capacity to connect weather-dependent power plants, to the disappointment of Hungarian solar power developers and investors.

MAVIR, the transmission system operator, on May 2 set the capacity of weather-dependent power plants that can be added to the grid at 0 megavolt amperes (MVA), Telex reported via portfolio.hu. The current free capacity allocated to substations in the upper voltage range is also zero.“

https://www.euractiv.de/section/energie-und-umwelt/news/ungarn-hat-keine-netzanschlusskapzitaeten-mehr-solaranlagen-gehen-leer-aus/ Unfortunately, I have not found an English version.

So once again slowly – no energy can be fed in because there is no capacity for it. Maybe an emigrated Hungarian could help here.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 12, 2022 20:31
Reply to  Don Kichote

But there is the alternative of having many solar collectors on individual houses.They already exist in Hungary, just not as many as we have in Germany eg
However I’m not an expert there.

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
May 12, 2022 21:24
Reply to  wolfi7777

To shot – you have to apply for it then comes a “company from BudaBest” and if you are one of the lucky winners then you pay the company from Budapest about 300 euros to plan the electricity. Whether a heil Orbán is necessary is not known to me. But the application possibilities are limited.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 14, 2022 16:08
Reply to  wolfi7777

I agree and we have a neighbor here in Chicago who just had solar panels installed on their roof. The system he bought does not have battery storage capacity in the house, but rather creates electrical credits from our electrical provider to offset much of his costs depending of the amount of sunshine. But here is the problem their existing roof is about 14 years old and will require a full replacement in about six more years.

The electrical company will not pay for the removal of the panels and reinstalling them so the roof can be replaced. So on top of the $10,000 for the roof they will have to several thousand more to have the panels reinstalled.

Unfortunately as a general rule, solar panels last for about 25-30 years. Then their power generation becomes too weak to be effective. Looking at the math it appeared to me this family will never generate sufficient savings from solar to even offset the costs during their life times, they are in their 50s.

In our home in rural Wisconsin we had installed a thermal heat pump 8 years ago. It draws heat from the from groundwater which remains at a relatively constant temperature all year round below a depth of about 30 feet (9.1 m). Our ground water levels are actually rising due to increased rainfall driven by global warming. Because we heat that home only to around 55 degrees F during the winter we have very low natural gas costs when we are there, during the summer the air conditioning pulls very little power from the grid. The system cost about $40,000 to put in and the value for our rural home has increased well beyond the installation costs. The company we used up there was Heating and Cooling Works, LLC out of Green Bay Wisconsin and they service the system once a year.

The problem is most Americans do not have sufficient assets to afford this type of investment and are unwilling to go further into debt to do it and the tax credits provided by the federal and state government are of little use to lower income families. I also had a thermal heat pump installed in one of the renal properties my company owns in Chicago and it has dramatically lowered the heating and cooling costs passed on to our tenants.

I would like to do this with all my Chicago rental properties but as yet no company will give me a good enough price for a large deal like that. Labor costs in Chicago are very high and even the required electrical inspections by the city can take months.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 13, 2022 03:14
Reply to  Don Kichote

We are all too familiar with the Orbán administrations’ total ignorance regarding infrastructure-planning and adequate provisions for predictable needs at national levels. Not because Hungary lacks expertise, but the experts are treated with dumbing political arrogance, which basically hasn’t changed much since the Soviet times.
In this context, being a suckling on Russian oil and gas pipelines makes perfect sense, and the delirious “harbour” babble fits the bill, as a pathetic and neo-decadent adaptatation of the iconic “Are they starving? – Give them pastry!”-remark .

As an EU-member, 21st century energy planning has to incorporate grid compatibility with neighboring countries and – boy, this really hurts – market-based exhange rates in Euros for the unrestricted import/export of power between national grids.
It goes without saying that these things require levels of oversight and cooperation no Orbán administration could possibly manage.
Adding to these challenges, 20th century achievements in energy conservation are still abstract sci-fi ideas in HU. In short – the tub leaks, the heating is insufficient, and the only remedy is to tap into the pungent river, flowing nearby and the big fires, burning up in the air.

My unsolicited advice to the Fidesz faithfull: Don’t worry – Be happy!

Unsolicited Advice.png
Don Kichote
Don Kichote
May 13, 2022 11:05

One could say: “everything in butter” minden jó that know even a few Hungarians I have read although that is typically German. Even that Le Chat botté was written by Charles Perrault is known to some as you can read here. The Goete Institute speaks of a great success in Hungary. Who has written the fairy tale about Trianon they did not want to call also when the next emigration wave comes is no topic. Completely in the sense of the viewer, nothing see nothing hear nothing say … valami lesz 🙂

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 13, 2022 18:00

So I read this article today after seeing it featured discussed in Magyar Nemzet today https://hirado.hu/kulfold/cikk/2022/05/13/visszautott-a-rendorseg-leszerelese-tobb-afroamerikait-gyilkolnak-meg-ma-mint-a-blm-mozgalomma-valasa-elott . The title translates as “Police disarmed back: more African Americans are killed today than before the BLM became a movement.” It presents Black Lives Matter (BLM) as an on going and significant movement in the USA. Which is simply not true, here in Chicago the local BLM chapter is in a state of collapse. it only has 285 followers for its facebook page and a similar number on instagram. The national BLM organization is totally caught up in a corruption scandal that went on and on (see for example https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/us/black-lives-matter-fraud-atlanta.html ) the last BLM protest in Chicago that I know of was almost two years ago, and it drew only about 200 people. People with BLM flags show up at various things, but it is no loner functional as a large movement.

The crux of the hirado.hu article is that BLM actually made things worse for Black Americans because the murder rate for African Americans has increased since the inception of the movement since the killing of George Floyd. Murders of all types increased in the USA. The U.S. murder rate rose 30% between 2019 and 2020 – the largest single-year increase in more than a century, according to data published this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The US Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ), a nonpartisan criminal justice policy organization found that the Urban murder rate in the USA increased again in 2021 by around 44%, I haven’t seen any report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 2021 as yet. 

One problem among many with the hirado.hu article is it does not discuss the big increase in gun purchases in the USA which is a very big factor in all of this. (See for example https://www.npr.org/2020/07/16/891608244/protests-and-pandemic-spark-record-gun-sales# or https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/20/us-gun-purchases-2020-2021-study, it goes on and on). The USA is a heavily armed society, the most heavily armed civilian society on the earth. I am a legal gun owner here in Chicago and I am allowed by law to carry a weapon concealed in most public areas in the entire State of Illinois. The reality isn’t that BLM actually succeeded in defunding the police, it’s that the police themselves are frightened of getting killed and fearful of being on camera all over the country due to cell phone videos that have led to police going to jail for murder in some cases. The reality was police historically in the USA could shoot first and ask questions later if they were fearful of a suspect, particularly Black suspects even if the police officer in question was an African American. Almost all urban police departments in America have many unfilled positions and that is likely to continue.

On top of the massive increase in legal purchases of hand guns in the USA, there has been a massive arming of very young urban youth linked to criminal gangs in the cities across the USA. Many crimes seem incomprehensible committed by 14 and 15 year olds, many more of the shooters are never arrested in the cities. The USA is to be honest no where near as bad in relationship to the young gangsters killing rivals or their family members anywhere they can find them as in Mexico, and Central America where massive street gangs rule communities and collect street taxes.

Armed robberies are taking place here in Chicago at all sort of times of the day, disputes that arise between people turn into gun fights too. We regularly have armed robberies on the public transit system here in Chicago, and we have also had cases where people carrying concealed handgun illegally on the subway have shot it out with attempted robbers on the trains shooting not just the criminal but others too in the mayhem. The USA is a gunfighter society and more now than ever the rules of the old West rule the day. 

The hirado.hu article does a very poor job of explaining the dynamics of gun violence in the USA to Hungarian readers, there is no understanding in Hungary of a place like the USA were the right to own weapons and armed self defense is enshrined in our Constitution. There will be no change in our laws in the future unless it is in fact an increase in the right of gun owners to carry weapons without state registration which could happen nationally with our existing US Supreme Court.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 13, 2022 19:10

They aren’t interested in gun violence at all. The importance of the messages (from the HU govt. media perspective) is principal: At any given opportunity, or simply at regular intervals, to press the hidden buttons of racism and portray Afro Americans as a criminal lot, who took the (white) US hostage, back when Obama was elected.
It works along all the other repeated, hate promoting messages. I expect a lot of Trumpist media spin in the coming days. It won’t even be surprising if Sebastian Gorka appears in this capacity.

Last edited 1 year ago by Michael Detreköy
Don Kichote
Don Kichote
May 13, 2022 19:53

“the hidden buttons” never understood Chicago excuse me Istvan for saying it so freely – but Eva did. Hungarian society is poisoned by codes. I don’t know if it is good or bad to put propaganda here. And I think who wants to have a voice must know who is the source. But the blog has so much sycophant that you do not know whether Fidesz or the opposition is “paid homage”.

Last edited 1 year ago by Don Kichote
wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 13, 2022 20:13

I found some numbers by the CDC and I was really flabbergasted!
In 2021 more than 100 000 people died from overdosing, many on legal drugs like Fentanyl.
Around 50 000 people dies from guns – more than half of them by suicide.
And then of course we have the Covid deaths – all together they were (part of …) the reason that the average life expectancy in the USA went down more than 2 years.
Now I’m waiting for data on Europe, they also will be interesting probably.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 13, 2022 21:13
Reply to  wolfi7777

Officially soon we here in the USA will have had 1 million people killed by Covid. Most specialists who look at the mortality totals believe the number is higher. But arguing about it is worthless, 1 million dead is sufficiently horrible for me.

A big change since the start of the pandemic here is those of us over 65 years old are now being killed by Covid at a lower rate than those ages 50 to 64. Masking is now almost nonexistent in much of the USA. I still wear an N95 mask indoors in public places. But really there are few of us doing that.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 13, 2022 21:33
Reply to  wolfi7777

The drug problem is one thing and the gun problem is another.
It would take a revision of US/Mexican definitions of “freedom” to unravel these issues, to the level of finding a rational starting point.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 14, 2022 16:17

Actually Mexico has formally gun laws similar to Europe, but they are unenforceable in the current situation. The drug cartels actually are incredibly powerful in Mexico and have their own armies equipped with fully automatic rifles and armored SUVs. When they go to war with each other dozens are killed and the provincial police hide in their police stations.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 14, 2022 16:44

That sounds a lot like Aghanistan.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 15, 2022 00:57

Actually, the BLM movement triggers some deep layers of negative feelings in all South Eastern European communities. Not because of the African dimension, but because of the few inherent similarities between the Afro American and the Roma slavery.
Unlike African slaves in the American colonies, the Roma slaves were brought into South Eastern Europe on foot, by the great Tartar armies, as slaves, during the early 1300’s. (Just try to magine the work-force needed to keep several thousand sword-wielding riders and battle-men fed and operative)..

After defeating the Tartars during the mid-1300’s, the victorious Dacians and their allies kept the Roma slaves of the Tartars, trading them freely as labor until European slavery eventually was fased out during the late 1700’s/mid 1800’s. This happened gradually, during the last half of the 1700’s when simple slavery was slowly converted to serfhood. Serfs were granted certain limited, local rights for personal livelyhood. A great improvement over being the private property of land owners. Although nothing like a citizen’s status, it put them in the higher social layer of common laborers. This meant they could register their children with a surname and claim the practice of (limited) crafts as well as certain rights to local market-trade. Schooling and litteracy was still not an option.
For colonial slavery, later agreements, protectecting the interests of slavery economy, were eventually effectuated.

Soviet-era social reforms included the Roma and during this period, Roma communities experienced “modern” progress, such as education, housing and jobs.

During the post-Soviet era, the Roma lost the status they had achieved in the Soviet era and gradually regressed to their present state at the absolute bottom of their present East European, national societies.
Since joining the EU, the most noticeable social effect in Western Europe, is not the millions of temporary workers from the East (they tend to live “abroad but like at home”), but rather the large export of Roma and the extreme and badly depraved poverty they represent.
Today, most larger cities in Eastern Europe have a dump-scavenging Roma colony and most local people regard this as “evidence” of the true Roma worth.
In the West, welfare and different legal measures limit the perpetuation of that social deroute. Most Roma either settle and send their children to school, or move on. But if sending home 15 Euroes a day is the only ambition, it’s easily accomplished on a day-to-day basis, if you are mobile enough. Illiteracy still keeps many Roma dependent on middle-men.

The present bottom layer in Western Europe consists mainly of poor Africans, not Mid-Easterners, who somehow made it across the Mediterranian, scavenging garbage and finding work locally, for day-by-day survival.
But they don’t actually see that in Eastern Europe, and they (generally) only see the absurdly exaggerated reality of the national media.

Last edited 1 year ago by Michael Detreköy
Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 15, 2022 14:00

That post was most interesting thanks for it.

Reader
Reader
May 15, 2022 16:20

An interesting post but I wonder to what extent people (generally) in this part of the world are aware of the parallels you see between African-American and Roma slavery. If not then it’s difficult to know how the similarities you refer to could generate the feelings you identify. Isn’t the prevalence of racism sufficient as an explanation for negative views of black people in Hungary and elsewhere in Europe?

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 15, 2022 18:59
Reply to  Reader

Prevalent racism certainly explains it. But I think the legacy of slavery still has a strong reflection in our present socities, to such an extent that it shouldn’t be ignored.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 15, 2022 19:17

Not only outright slavery but serfdom which afaik was still rampant under Horthy. I read somewhere that serfs couldn’t even move from their “owner”s village to another village or a city without his agreement.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 14, 2022 16:47

This morning I read in the Kyiv independent that Russia’s war destroyed 23% of Ukraine’s railway network. The cost of damage already reached $90 billion USD and the figure is growing every day, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on May 14. Over 6,300 kilometers of tracks were damaged, as well as 23,573 kilometers of roads, including 289 road bridges, 41 railway bridges.

If Putin somehow manages to win this war and take full control over Ukraine he will likely have acquired not an asset but a money pit. For Russia this war is the very definition of insanity as was the US war in Vietnam that I participated in. I just do not see how Russia will be able to honor the Paks-2 deal after this war win or lose.

I was in Vietnam visiting just prior to the Covid outbreak and saw the current level of industrialization built on very low wages and highly polluting industries that even China wants to jettison. It has raised the GDP dramatically.

When I visited An Loc where I advised South Vietnamese forces they were still digging up artillery shells I was involved in shooting more than likely back in 1972.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 15, 2022 01:31

In Putin’s calculations for the war are only personal gains.
For anything else, he relies on “business partners” who know how to make tings appear real – on paper – costs don’t enter that equation, because the Russians pay for everything. The spoils of war (territory and what it holds) is the profit.

Last edited 1 year ago by Michael Detreköy
Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 15, 2022 14:40

Yes in Vietnam this happened too with corruption within the South Vietnamese government, their were generals and other high ranking officers were making money on everything for years. The most honest and upstanding South Vietnamese officers I met were very committed anti-communist Catholics and Buddhists, I discovered around 1979 or so how many of those officers I served with in Vietnam killed themselves rather than submit to re-education by the communist government from the refugee community in Chicago.

Some of the most corrupt officers escaped South Vietnam in 1975 with the assistance of the CIA and US military intelligence. In some cases carrying suitcases filled with US dollars. But really what they thought would be their nest egg for a new life in the USA turned out to be completely deficient to create thriving business here in the USA. Their children actually did much better, very often doing well in their educations and lives on top of working in small Vietnamese family run businesses here in Chicago. There is still a small group of former South Vietnamese officers alive here in Chicago, some were very corrupt and others less corrupt I think. There are also a few surviving Vietnamese speaking American veterans of that war here in Chicago like myself who retain friendships with them.

It is not impossible that in Russia the whole of Putin’s mafia state will fracture as a result of this war, what might follow it is hard to comprehend. Assuming Putin retains total power he could well play the atomic card to one degree or another in desperation rather than watch his corrupt creation slowly fall apart. Wolfi and other Germans who came of age in the shadow of the 3rd reich are totally aware of the madness of total dictatarship in its last year of rule. Just because a dictator is ranting incoherently does not mean they always can’t see where their future is likely to be going.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 15, 2022 14:46

My daughter is returning to the USA from her service in Poland in 48 hours. She is taking off a month from her professorship in Colorado to decompress and she will be coming to Chicago to visit. Apparently the Army is starting to rotate its forces in Central Europe.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 15, 2022 18:28

I also believe that when the war ends, whatever territorial gain the Russian army manages to retain, they will control it with ex-military warlords and loyal militias. Successfully reeducated individuals from the original population will be selected for redistribution and administrative duties.
This scenario already exists in Transnistria, where everything is controlled by a red star mafia, simply known as “Sheriff”.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 16, 2022 14:50

Michael since you mention the Mafia operating in Ukraine I thought about the one operating night clubs in Budapest. I am unclear why exactly the police in Budapest carried out a large raid Saturday night in three districts (primarily V and VII to a lesser extent VI) and several nightclubs for drug possession, drivers in the area for drunk driving, and for supposed “possession of a particularly dangerous devices for public safety.” One of my younger cousins from Esztergom posted about the raid on his Facebook page and linked to this report https://24.hu/belfold/2022/05/16/razzia-volt-budapest-belvarosaban-drogosok-verekedok-ittas-soforok-es-csalok-buktak-le/ . The report included a police made video of some the raid that was posted youtube 

Now the tale my younger cousin related was very interesting because he got caught up in the raid but was not arrested. But his biometrics were recorded, the article he linked to indicated that the biometric data and identities of possibly 700 people were captured and recorded by the police. He said he and his friends were at a nightclub when the raid took place, he did not say which club. He did say there were numerous “kurvák” at the club when the police raided it, he indicated he “might” have been dancing with one of them when at least 20 police entered the bar.  

Many of my cousin’s friends said they were glad they did not go clubbing in Budapest Saturday night in posts on his Facebook page. One wondered how this cousin of mine was not arrested for being drunk, “mivel általában részeg…” Another commenter said my cousin was a cheap asshole who went to cheap clubs who did not give the police their appropriate compensation that they deserved. Really none of the commenters to my cousin’s post seemed alarmed by the capturing of some much data by the police in the raid, I guess it is part of the reality of being a 20 something Hungarian young man out clubbing on a Saturday night.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 16, 2022 15:02

I am amazed by the stuff younger members of my extended family in Hungary post on their Facebook pages. Since I am so damn old the use of electronic communications at that level is really alien to me, but very normal for 20 somethings. It is interesting that one my daughter who is in her late 30s and a US Army reserve officer is very restrained in what she posts on Facebook. She said her communications using what is called the US military network for email is all subject to monitoring by Army intelligence.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 16, 2022 16:07

The Budapest night club scene has many of the same characteristics as the scene in Prague. Numerous gangs divide the “mine fields” between them and they also control a number of taxi-licenses for night time hustling operation. There are direct connections with international drugs and prostitution mafias, and all functions safely because the police is kept well fed.
In order to help keep up the public image of a working law enforcement system, from time to time the more established gangs trade in a number of troublesome and intruding operators, in exchange for more secure working conditions.
I would think that saturday’s “exercise” was planned for the purpose of eliminating some of the most embarrassing pitfalls of night life tourism, ahead of the CPAC conference. I would also think that a large number of honey traps are installed in hotels and bars/clubs specifically for that occasion, in which case you would like to avoid too much competition as well as reducing the number of firearms and other weapons on the scene.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 16, 2022 16:17

One of the first things I was told when I came to visit my sister and her English husband who worked in Budapest more than 25 years ago was that you should never accept any offer made to you in the center of Budapest – especially not if it’s a good looking young woman.
The same goes for offers to buy something cheap, go to a very good bar or restaurant etc.
So nothing has really changed there …
A bit OT:
My English brother in law told me then that he always had a 50$ or 50DM note in his driving licence – just in case …

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 15, 2022 16:14

This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nvlYUjkUqY by Volodymyr Zelenskiy is from his nightly messages to the people of Ukraine, it has subtitles in English. Notice that really not one word is said to his people of Ukraine’s own losses in this war. Zelenskiy is a complete propagandist in this video and it is possible every thing he says is also true.

Zelenskiy also knows he is being forced to throw older and older soldiers into front line combat every day. Ukraine announced back in February a fourth wave of mobilization, which was supposed to recruit about 50,000 men, ages 25 to 60, to replace soldiers who have been serving in a war zone in the east of the country. Somewhere around 30% of those called up did not report for duty and according to the Washington Post and there are also Ukrainian soldiers who while on leave following combat who have gone into hiding, there could be near 13,000 of them. No doubt there are some Hungarian Ukrainians who escaped the draft by crossing the border illegally into Hungary where it appears likely Hungarian border guards did not return them to Ukraine.

The Russians just on May 8th through 11th attempted to put up a pontoon bridge across Donets River near Bilohorivka to save its own troops stranded across the river and facing destruction. It became a disaster when the long range artillery provided to Ukraine by the USA rained fire on the attempted crossing. Possibly as many as one thousand Russian troops were killed or wounded. There are Satellite images from independent sources showing this disaster that can be viewed here https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10812449/Ukraine-war-Russians-make-second-failed-attempt-crossing-river.html . This has become a real war of attrition and so far Ukraine with the assistance of NATO and the USA has done amazingly well. It would seem that pressure has to be growing inside the Russian military to use tactical nuclear weapons in this war especially since the Ukrainians have been able to attack across the border into Russia itself which has been admitted in the Russian media.

By the way there were elements in the US military during the Vietnam war that advocated for the use of nuclear weapons against North Vietnam (see https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/world/asia/vietnam-war-nuclear-weapons.html) I was asked several times why the USA did not use atomic bombs on the North by South Vietnamese officers while serving in Vietnam. My answer was the always about the same; quyết định đó nằm ngoài khả năng của tôi in English it means it was a decision beyond my authority.

Robert
Robert
May 15, 2022 21:11

Fascinating insights again. Many thanks.
I find the debate on the use of tactical or any other type of nuclear weapons puzzling. In the Cold War the Alliance made it crystal clear that any use of nuclear weapons would result in a similar retaliation. Would not its first use by Putin be made much less likely if the Alliance made it crystal clear that nothing has changed. Is that not the basis of deterrence? I am not an expert in risk assessment but your old mates in the Pentagon might be.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 15, 2022 21:37
Reply to  Robert

Because the nuclear weapons are in the tool kit, there is dicussion about their use. But so far, only Putin presents the idea to the general public public, while knowing that appropriate retaliation would surely ruin anything he might try to achieve by using them. He challenges the West to play “Chicken”.

Last edited 1 year ago by Michael Detreköy
Robert
Robert
May 15, 2022 22:10

Michael, I think that this question is not just for home consumption. It is more of a question of what we tell our adversaries to expect. That is something that should be clear, if we expect any deterrent results. I span many generations. This one is going soft on democracy and on the desire to win for our values.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 15, 2022 22:22
Reply to  Robert

I see what you mean. Also, deterrence levels depriciate with frequent threats that aren’t followed through, but nothing can soften the impact of a nuclear weapon.

Robert
Robert
May 15, 2022 22:24

Absolutely, but position statements must be consistent and clear.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 16, 2022 15:17

This article https://ridl.io/en/russia-and-european-illiberalism-a-partial-decoupling/ in the Russian opposition journal Riddle about the European far right was interesting. The reference to Hungary and Serbia is also interesting it stated simply “some regimes continue to take a clear pro-Russian stance, such as those of Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Aleksandar Vučić in Serbia.”

Really there was no speculation why both Hungary and Serbia continue to take such pro-Russian stances in the article. The discussion of the pro-Russian wing of the Trump supporters here in the USA was also interesting.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 16, 2022 20:14

My wife told me that Pintér just quantified how much the autocrats want from Brussels – sorry how much money Hungary needs to get independent from Russian oil and gas:
15 – 18 billion €
And she also said that the Forint went down again – 389 HUF/€

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 16, 2022 16:11

I had not read about László Kövér’s Europe Day speech in parliament prior to reading this article https://telex.hu/belfold/2022/05/16/kover-laszlo-europa-bayer-show . László Kövér in that speech attempted to situate the Russian invasion of Ukraine not as any attempt to recreate the Russian soviet empire, but rather “the Russo-Ukrainian war is, in fact, an American-Chinese war in which the United States aims to separate Europe from a larger geographical, Eurasian unit.” He went further stating “the European United States would only formally have a provincial center in Brussels, a true imperial center beyond the ocean” obviously referring to the USA.
 
It seems obvious to me that László Kövér was in that speech explicitly mimicking the Russian ideological line that the entire EU and NATO is but a tool of the USA. It reflects László Kövér’s ideological training being raised in communist Hungary. According to Gábor Fodor who was lived in the same college dormitory with László Kövér where Fidesz was born and had a leading role in the party until 1993, Kövér’s favorite class in college was Tamás Fellegi’s course on Marxism. Tamás Fellegi was of course a member of Kadar’s  Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party. Some those lectures that Kövér attended are actually reflected in László Kövér’s Europe Day speech on the USA as a world imperialist power. 

Now when the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament can say these things in a speech before the Hungarian Parliament and still be part of NATO and the EU without concern for the consequences it indicates how incredibly weak the Orban elite sees Europe as being. László Kövér has no fear of being labeled a Putin agent and Hungary potentially being expelled somehow from the EU at all.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 16, 2022 17:59

Obviously, Kövér considers himself and his position in parliament parts of a EU- and NATO-free zone. That would be consistent with believing his own propaganda.

Robert
Robert
May 16, 2022 19:07
  1. I don’t think the risks you mention are real to them. The only question is how long they can stay in charge and if they have to flee, where is it safe for them? Also when and how they can plot their return to continue their theft. But frankly, these are not top priority right now.
Pantanifan
Pantanifan
May 17, 2022 14:01

Visegrad 4 unity continues to fall apart with this tweet from Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky:

“Viktor Orban swore in as Prime Minister of Hungary. The decision and approach of Hungary’s government not to support any sanctions that target Russian energy exports is unacceptable. Especially now as Europe needs to be united more than ever.”

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 17, 2022 15:00

So the Guardian newspaper today is reporting that “More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers, many of them wounded, have been evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the port city of Mariupol.” It was in fact reported more than 24 hours ago by the Russian media. The story in the West is reported as an “evacuation,” in Russia it is reported as a surrender and was reported as such over 24 hours ago. MTI today used the description as “kimenekítettek” (from the root kiment) which is Hungarian for those undergoing evacuation, but interestingly would not describe the Ukrainian forces as soldiers but rather as “fegyveres” or gunmen as opposed to “katonák” or legitimate soldiers, MTI’s use of gunmen is the one used to describe the Taliban or other illegitimate fighters over the years. In Vietnam the US Army used soldiers only in reference to formal members of the North Vietnamese Army, we used Viet Cong for the armed communist political revolutionary organization in South Vietnam who we did not recognize as soldiers under the laws of war. That distinction may seem absurd to civilians, but it was actually used as a defense in the military trial of one US Army officer accused of a war crime in Vietnam.

Now all of this should give those of us in the West some pause because as we will recall the Ukrainian forces trapped in the Azovstal steel plant as late as April 17th had told Ukrainian MP for Odesa, Oleksiy Goncharenko, who reported it to the BBC News the last defenders will ‘fight until the end.” Which was an idiotic statement done for propaganda purposes. President Zelensky admitted in April only that the situation in Mariupol was ‘extremely severe’ and called on the west to provide the country with heavy weaponry. Now how exactly that additional heavy weaponry would have saved or alleviated the situation of the Ukrainians surrounded in Mariupol seems only to have been understood by the President Zelensky because these forces were checkmated. But even just one week ago I read in the Washington post that the Azov Battalion’s deputy commander, Capt. Sviatoslav “Kalina” Palamar, said in an unusual news conference from within the Azovstal steel plant “We will always fight, as long as we are alive, for justice.”

Azov Battalion which composed probably the majority of Ukrainian forces trapped in the Azovstal steel plant were without question linked ideologically to the fascist movement in Ukraine that in fact has historic ties to Nazis collaborators going back to World War II who were in fact executioners of Jews in some cases. Some of these murders ended up in the midwest of the USA, here in Chicago in fact where they had open links with former secret Hungarian members of the Arrow Cross. Most of these historic fascists came into the USA via the so called “rat lines,” in some cases with the help of Vatican embassies in Europe and in the USA which I have discussed over the years in posts on Eva’s old blog. In September 2014 the Azov battalion was enrolled into the National Guard of Ukraine as a “special police battalion” In October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Biletsky, the battalion’s commander, won a constituency seat (as an independent candidate) in Kiev’s Obolon Raion in the Ukrainian parliament.

To this day as far as I can tell the Azov Battalion troops wear uniforms with the sleeve patch that can be seen below. On 11 June 2015 the US House of Representatives passed amendments blocking any training of Azov battalion by US forces, citing its neo-Nazi background as the reason. On 26 June, Canadian defense minister declared as well that training by Canadian forces or support would not be provided to Azov. Now the Western media in the are presenting them as very heroic, which may be true. The Russia media today still described the battalion this way: “A large portion of them are members of the neo-Nazi Azov Regiment. The military uniforms of the group feature Nazi insignia and its members have been photographed with tattoos of symbols such as the swastika. Its first commander, Andrey Biletsky, has said he believes it’s Ukraine’s mission to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade… against Semite-led Untermenschen [inferior humans].” 

The Russian media at this point still will not admit that there is any agreement with the government of Ukraine to exchange these Azov battalion members for captured Russian soldiers stating today only: “According to the deputy minister of defense of Ukraine, Anna Malyar, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, those who surrender will be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war taken captive by Kiev. However, the terms of the exchange have not yet been decided.” But one very obvious problem relating to this exchange is that Ukraine has one Russian solider currently on trial for war crimes. Russian Sergeant Vadim Shyshimarin is accused of executing a 62-year-old Ukrainian civilian through an open car window in the northeastern village of Chupakhivka during the first week of the war. The Russians are claiming there are war criminals among the survivors of the Azov battalion that may have been captured. Do the Russians and the Ukrainians exchange alleged war criminals as part of the deal?

When I was a young officer in the US Army in Vietnam, at the Battle of An Loc in 1972 without question I observed several war crimes committed against captured wounded North Vietnamese troops, they were shot in the head by South Vietnamese troops while laying on the field of battle. Whether or not they would have lived was a medical question I was not qualified to make, but I did know what I saw was a violation of the rules of war, one that was also carried out by the communist forces too against members of the South Vietnamese Army. In fact I tried to stop it from happening, but a South Vietnamese officer told me I was only a US adviser and had no right to issue commands to his forces even if I could speak Vietnamese. At least one of the North Vietnamese wounded soldiers was removed by South Vietnamese medics and I was told later died, I have always wondered if I was captured would the communists have executed me for being a war criminal because of my own failure to stop the killing of wounded communist fighters? War is a horror story and the lying going on by the media both East and West in the Ukrainian war is to say the least disturbing. 

AZOV_logo.svg.png
Last edited 1 year ago by Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 17, 2022 17:06

Well according to this story in Reuters https://news.yahoo.com/russian-parliament-may-ban-swapping-100350824.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall there may be no deal between Ukraine and Russia to exchange Azov Battalion POWs for Russian POWs. I mean when did the Russian Parliament ever do anything independent of the will of Putin?

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 17, 2022 19:03

Istvan, reading your reports on what’s going on in Ukraine (and what you experienced in Vietnam …) I feel really happy to have spent my life in peaceful Europe!
I never thought we might have a return to those horrible times like WW2.
But when I read what Erdogan and Putin (and Orbán …) are telling their people …

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 17, 2022 16:00

I also read today that there are problems with the NATO applications made by both Finland and Sweden coming from Turkey. First I read this article https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/16/turkey-nato-sweden-finland-ukraine/ where the US Sec of State seemed unclear if Turkey was really opposing their entry into NATO. Then today it was widely reported Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said diplomats from Sweden and Finland should not visit his country on an upcoming trip because his government does not intend to approve their NATO applications.

Hungary is not the only problem NATO has and that is obvious. Another problem on the horizon will be Somalia because the USA yesterday admitted we are sending in 500 Army rangers to fight al-Shabab and due to the “heightened threat” the group poses to Americans in East Africa. Let’s recall the 2001 Hollywood movie Blackhawk Down depicting US Army combat in Somalia when we lost 18 rangers while killing scores of Somali fighters as part of a failed UN mission that included some NATO nations.

We find it impossible as a country not to get our Army into combat somewhere in the world as soon as possible. After our difficult experience in Afghanistan may we could give our Army a short break? But no, we are deploying not to just Central Europe but to an active area of combat in Africa simultaneously.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 17, 2022 16:22

This article https://telex.hu/direkt36/2022/05/17/ilyen-volt-belulrol-az-ellenzeki-kampany-osszeomlasa originally appeared in direkt36 merits considerable discussion I think. Possibly our host could to a presentation on his take on it to start the discussion, it is very long and detailed.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 17, 2022 19:21

Good news!
Seems that our Balkan autocrats underestimated Mrs von der Leyen.
She just made it clear that Poland will not get those Covid billions of € until the return to democracy, independence of the courts etc.
https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/eu-kommissionschefin-von-der-leyen-laesst-polen-weiter-auf-corona-gelder-warten-a-5e0ca3a1-3bb8-4348-bed1-62de51dadd4f
Now we’re waiting for the conditions for Hungary to get those billions that Fidesz and Mészáros and Rahel need so urgently ..
PS and OT:
We haven’t heard from our dear host for more than a week now, hope he’s ok!

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 17, 2022 20:51
Reply to  wolfi7777

I imagine that a certain Eastern “friend” is a little impatiant about collecting debts from the Hungarian state – and perhaps that it could motivate a more cooperative-like stance towards the EU, but as usual, we’ll just have to wait and see what tricks the almighty dictator has up his sleeve.

Last edited 1 year ago by Michael Detreköy
Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 18, 2022 15:26

This morning the US newspaper the Washington Post ran what the editors called an “analysis” story with the intriguing title “The Orbanization of America: Florida shadows Hungary’s war on LGBTQ rights.” There was also another article about Orban and Hungary the day before in the Washington Post by the same columnist. Now the difference for the Washington Post between what is an “analysis” story and what is an “opinion” story has basically been created by various schools of journalism in the USA. So here in the USA journalists are taught that basically that an analysis means: What happened and why — an expert considers the facts and draws conclusions. But an opinion article is what a writer thinks of something, that writer may or may not be an expert on the topic.

So in the case of this particular Washington Post article the author is Ishaan Tharoor who is a paid columnist on the foreign desk of The Washington Post, where he writes the Today’s WorldView newsletter and column. He previously was a senior editor and correspondent at Time magazine, based first in Hong Kong and later in New York. He does not speak or read Hungarian, nor any Eastern European language, he speaks in addition to English: French, Spanish, and Bengali. Tharoor holds a Yale University, BA, with honors in history and ethnicity, race and migration. He has published as far as I can tell no full length books or academic articles dealing with either Hungary or Central Europe. 

His father is Shashi Tharoor is an Indian politician who is a the Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram and the Lok Sabha Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs. He has previously been the Minister of State for External Affairs and before that was the Under-Secretary General of the UN who has written several books. 

As far as I can tell Ishaan Tharoor’s interest in Hungary was peaked by Tucker Carlson’s visit to Hungary about which he wrote an article on Aug 04, 2021. His observations in that article are limited essentially to this critique Carlson, that he “has said next to nothing about the autocratic character of Orban’s rule, which critics on both sides of the Atlantic cast as a cautionary tale of how democracies backslide.” 

I would argue that Ishaan Tharoor not only is not an expert on Hungary, but rather he does not in the least understand how Orban actually used US Republican media consultants as part of his political rise to power. Our former host Eva documented this in great detail. So really Ishaan Tharoor does not understand that there is no Orbanization of America, but rather there was an Americanization of Hungarian politics implemented by Orban using media strategies coming from Republican US based political consultants that Orban admired and adapted to Hungary. 

It is actually tragic that Ishaan Tharoor can write a supposed expert analysis of the dynamics of Hungary and know far less than those commenting on this blog. Now it’s not all Ishaan Tharoor’s fault, he is a jack of all trades for the Washington Post in relationship to international politics. He writes consistently from a liberal perspective about these issues which I think is his actual mission at the Washington Post. The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) being held in Hungary will create many new experts on Hungary over here in the USA and Orban has become discovered here, much to Orban’s joy I suspect.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 18, 2022 17:30

Not too much OT:
An interesting report on the few judges in Poland which are fighting for the rule of law against the PISsers.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/20/last-stop-for-democracy-on-tour-with-polands-rebel-judges
Will there ever be something similar in Hungary?
Or are all Hungarian judges slaves of Fidesz?
Hungary and Poland’s position re the EU rules:
We’re only in it for the money!

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 18, 2022 19:08

And the beat goes on …
Kafkadesk has an interesting and very scathing description of the new cabinet – mainly old faces and a few new ones.
https://kafkadesk.org/2022/05/18/old-guard-and-new-faces-whos-who-in-orbans-new-cabinet/
Surprise:
There is one female minister!

Reader
Reader
May 19, 2022 14:19
Reply to  wolfi7777

… on a lighter note, it’s good to see the Benny Hill Show back on Hungarian media, not before time…

https://www.facebook.com/orbanviktor/videos/2127555024078099/?extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-IOS_GK0T-GK1C

tappanch
tappanch
May 19, 2022 16:51

I just read the 3 abridged articles in the WashPost.
(You have to sign up for a newsletter the get the full articles)

Even without

  1. gerrymandering of every electoral district by the ruling party,
  2. “victor” compensation (victor’s electoral district ballots count double),
  3. uncontrolled Romanian and Serbian votes. (By Orban’s electoral law, even the dead can vote “legally” provided s/he has never lived),
  4. automatic majority for the Orban regime in the “National Election Commission”,
  5. media hegemony, lack of press freedom

etc.

every election based on electoral districts is unfair.

Look at this country

A. district vote:

———
O O X
———
O O X
———
X X X
———

B. popular vote:
X= 5
O= 4

C. parliamentary seats:
X= 1
O= 2

D. Country is ruled by an O government.
with 2/3 majority in Parliament.

tappanch
tappanch
May 19, 2022 16:55
Reply to  tappanch

Correction:

uncontrolled Romanian and Serbian votes. (By Orban’s electoral law, even the dead can vote “legally” provided s/he has never lived in Hungary)

Question:

what happened to Istvan (non-Chicago) or Observer?

Brigitta
Brigitta
May 19, 2022 20:59
Reply to  tappanch

I sent an e-mail to Istvan, but no reply. This morning I could not open this website, got the text that another page was acting like it is hungarian.news. But later everything was ok.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 19, 2022 17:39

I have not yet seen an official transcript of PM Orban’s speech to the CPAC meeting being held in Hungary this morning, it has not been posted as yet on kormany.hu/en/prime-minister-s-office/the-prime-ministers-speeches . There are numerous reports relating to the speech appearing in the media between this report https://telex.hu/belfold/2022/05/19/orban-viktor-cpac-beszed-amerikai-jobboldal-budapesti-konferencia and the more or less Fidesz friendly report in Magyar Nemzet https://magyarnemzet.hu/belfold/2022/05/orban-viktor-a-gyozelem-feltetele-hogy-a-legjobbak-legyunk we have a pretty good idea of what Orban said today.

At this point not having read the complete text of his speech or watched it as yet on video, my comments are pretty limited to things simply put that pissed me off to put it simple.
 
The first thing that pissed me off was that Orban apparently quoted US WWII Army General Patton, the passage I read in Magyar Nemzet in translation is “the battle brings out the best in everyone and clears everything from what makes it weak…” Which Orban said was “true politics.” Now having become a commissioned US Army officer in the early 1970s I had the honor of serving with other officers who had been under the command of General Patton during WWII.

My first commanding General under combat in Vietnam, General Creighton Abrams who during WWII commanded the Armor Regiment of the 37th Tank Battalion, and he also commanded Combat Command B of the 4th Armored Division during the Battle of the Bulge under the command of General Patton was overall commanding the 3rd US Army. To say I was in awe of General Abrams as a young officer would not be an understatement.
General Abrams did not have to look up quotes from General Patton, in truth he lived the reality of those quotes and transmitted the lessons he learned from General Patton to his officers in field who were in active combat in 1972. The idea of combat and courage is something the coward Orban knows absolutely nothing about, he has never seen combat in his life. 
Moreover, General Patton was not just an anti-communist he was in fact totally distrustful of Russians as a nationality and wanted to continue our war after the defeat of Germany into Russia. Really I learned of this position of General Patton well after the Vietnam war, it is more than obvious General Patton had no fear of the Russians. I have several books about General Patton and the famous quote relating to the Russians he made just after the fall of Berlin is: “You just wait and see. The lily-livered bastards in Washington will demobilize. They’ll say they’ve made the world safe for democracy again. The Russians are not such damned fools. They’ll rebuild; and with modern weapons.” 

One can argue in retrospect that launching a war against Russia immediately following WWII was totally unrealistic giving the war exhaustion of our forces in Europe and actual agitation among the troops to be returned home. But you can’t possibly argue that General Patton feared the Russians or their massive Red Army. I believe PM Orban lives in terror of the Russians and is a boot licker of Putin (possibly worse a Putin agent), and that is obvious by his position opposing even providing weapons for the Ukrainians, and now fighting even against an oil embargo in the EU. The Telex report on Orban’s speech includes this (my translation): “ ‘national interest in foreign policy,’ but Orbán says it’s not always easy because foreign policy is a difficult world, like a war going on next door. Orbán condemns the Russian aggressor, helping Ukraine, ‘while we know that Hungary is not protected by Ukraine, what a nonsense it is. Hungary is being protected by NATO,’ he said.” 

Of course General Patton I suspect would have found Orban’s vision of military dependency on NATO pathetic and his vision of national self interest not to be based on strength but on weakness. Its pretty obvious from the years and years of low funding of the Hungarian military well below the 2% of GDP required by NATO.
 
Orban’s reference to General Patton in his speech is simply a travesty no matter what assessment one makes of General Patton as a historical figure.

In his address on Thursday, Orban praised Fox News’ Tucker Carlson — who earlier delivered a video message to attendees — as being the only figure in American media willing to stand up against “the rule of the liberal media.” But just on Monday after taking his oath of office for a fourth consecutive term as prime minister  Orban echoed controversial theories espoused by Carlson when he described a “suicide attempt” by more liberal European governments to implement “the great European population replacement program,” which he said seeks to “replace the missing European Christian children with migrants.” The part Orban left out was the mass murder committed against African Americans in the US City of Buffalo New York when Payton Gendron went on a murdering rampage and based it on the white replacement theory (in a document he called his manifesto posted on line) pretty much identical to the one Orban referenced on Monday. 

Even Tucker Carlson himself when faced with the horrendous crime committed by Payton Gendron tried his best to claim he did not support the replacement theory. Orban is so oblivious to the realities of that theory he made direct reference to it. Orban is an open racist without question. 

In fact according to Telex Orban compared critical race theory being debated now in the USA to what he was taught under communism saying: “We grew up in a world of woke, only in us the critical theory of race was called scientific socialism.” Orban is profoundly ignorant of even the central document of what is called here in the USA is called critical race theory by the conservative right wing and some US historians who see it as fundamentally incorrect. That document is the anthology The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story. It is a book-length expansion of the New York Time’s series of articles called the 1619 project. 

The problem with Orban’s comparison is that some essays in the 1619 Project anthology promote the idea of Black capitalism and effectively reject state socialism as taught to Orban under the ideology of Kadar’s Hungary. In fact the vision of self reliance and enterprise among African Americans is expressed in many of the essays in an aspirational way, so much so that at least several African American Marxists and other Marxist historians have objections to the book. Orban really understands very little about this debate here in the USA other than he wants to be one side of the Trump supporters over here.

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
May 19, 2022 18:22

I think Orbán understands very well, it was his idea in 2015 that the EU will mix with “dark-skinned” refugees and the German culture will die out in the long run. Isn’t that the critical race theory? By the way, an ancient argument of the Catholic Church or Hitler that caused regular genocides.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 19, 2022 20:33
Reply to  Don Kichote

What he does not understand Don is the discussion in the USA about critical race theory which is different totally than the replacement theory which he does understand Don. For Orban to compare critical race theory to the Marxist theory he learned as a student is wrong on many levels. Many if not the majority of Black nationalists in the USA do not support a socialist transformation of our country in any way, but they generally support critical race theory and it’s underlying critique of the USA variant of capitalism.

The communist party USA thought there were problems with the idea that Black capitalism could in anyway liberate African Americans from racial segregation in the USA. Even Angela Davis who was a Black leader of the US CP and visited Hungary under Kadar discussed this issue in lectures she gave back then. She even talked with George Lukas as I recall about these issues and as a communist he was pretty intrigued by their dialogue.

Don you are right about Orban understanding replacement theory and that is why in my post I called Orban a racist. Orban knows Trump supporters argue critical race theory as taught in public schools by some teachers causes white children to hate their own heritage and denigrate most of the founding fathers of the USA who were in their majority slave owners.

But it’s empirically true that slavery and racism are built into the US Constitution, for example the three-fifths clause in the Constitution defining a person for purposes of electoral representation. Really the debate over critical race theory is a debate over how the history of the USA is presented to children in relationship to our legacy of slavery and the failure of reconstruction following the civil war of the 1860s in this country. Orban wants to be a hero to the Trump supporters.

Istvan (Chicago)
Istvan (Chicago)
May 19, 2022 20:41

Actually Thomas Jefferson one of the founding fathers had biracial children with one of his slaves. Which has been proven now by modern genetics and accepted as fact (see https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/jefferson-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-sally-hemings-a-brief-account/monticello-affirms-thomas-jefferson-fathered-children-with-sally-hemings/) Race in the USA is a very live issue.

Last edited 1 year ago by Istvan (Chicago)
Don Kichote
Don Kichote
May 20, 2022 11:11

Do we talk about this CRT, if I understood it correctly it is a tool to measure or dispute the racism of the society. Orbán’s statement on CRT is the personal rejection of it. For a racist quite normal. With the link to socialism for his faithful lickspittles basically all fascists of the worst kind. It is logical that they reject CRT, isn’t it.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 20, 2022 14:55

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/18/cpac-conference-budapest-hungary-viktor-orban-speaker
No comment necessary …
Oh, I read somewhere about the billions of HUF that the Hun government gives to the CPAC organizers, but I don’t remember where, sorry.

wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 21, 2022 11:36

For those who can read German:
There still seem to be close connections between our German clerical fascists in the CDU and the Hungarian right wing “foundation” MCC – areal GONGO (government owned non government org) which got more than a billion € from the Fidesz gov in shares of MOL and Richter Gedeon.
https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/kontraste/ungarn-orban-stiftung-fundamental-christen-kas-101.html
PS and OT:
Whenever I read about the Hun gov and Richter or when I pass the company buildings near Esztergom I have to think about the way the Huns thanked him for his efforts in his pharma company by shooting him and throwing his body into the Danube.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 19, 2022 21:00
Reply to  Don Kichote

Again, Orbán displays his peculiar, somewhat infantile, deluded personality.
Coupled with the perverted pleasure he gets from being a political arsonist, he makes an interesting case for psychology.
As always – Hungary prepares to defend him, as one of their own.

An invitation from Orbán..jpg
Pantanifan
Pantanifan
May 21, 2022 09:30
wolfi7777
wolfi7777
May 21, 2022 15:20
Reply to  Pantanifan

The beat goes on:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/21/trump-shares-cpac-hungary-platform-racist-antisemite
Bayer is really a racist ***expletive deleted***.
I really feel ashamed of him being of German descent like Trump.
Those guys represent the stuff that Nazis were made of.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 21, 2022 16:13
Reply to  wolfi7777

Bayer’s alter ego.

Zsolt Bayer's Alter Ego.jpg
Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
May 22, 2022 01:15
Reply to  Pantanifan

Behind the scene…

Behind the scene.jpg