If only it was that simple! You have to take some relevant circumstances into account: A Hungarian civil society without…
June 1st, 2022
https://hungarytoday.hu/conservatives-meet-in-brussels-amid-drama-and-intimidation/ Populist Fidesz media are whining about Brussels, the rules and laws so I have one simple question: Why don't…
The Brussels story is all pver the media, everybody is laughing at Farage, Orbán etc. The big questions for me…
Impressing pictures of the Hungarian Holocaust. Not for weak nerves. "Dad saw the huge smoke, the station's inscription: Auschwitz, and…
The police in Brussels, stopped Viktors' right wing conference due to "the possibility of public disorder" Brussels police move to…
Good idea to have a topic for every day so I move this here:
Because of their racist behaviour Hungarian soccer fans were forbidden to join the game on Saturday but the clever Huns found a hole in the UEFA’s rules:
Children under 14 years are allowed to watch the game – accompanied by an adult.
It seems that around 30 000 children already applied for (free!) tickets.
Might be fun to watch this.
Hungary demanded not to include Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in the list of anti-Russian sanctions of the European Union, Bloomberg reported citing informed sources
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 01st June, 2022) Hungary demanded not to include Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in the list of anti-Russian sanctions of the European Union, Bloomberg reported citing informed sources.
Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that, in his opinion, Patriarch Kirill might be on the list of new individual EU sanctions that will be adopted as part of the sixth sanctions package.
According to the agency, the permanent representative of Hungary spoke out not only against the inclusion of Patriarch Kirill in the sanctions list, but also put forward a number of technical comments on the embargo on Russian oil.
In connection with the position of Budapest, the approval of the sixth package of anti-Russian sanctions may be delayed, Bloomberg noted.
https://www.urdupoint.com/en/world/hungary-demanded-to-exempt-patriarch-kirill-f-1519389.html
Thanks for this detailed post.
Exposure and details of Orbán’s foreign policy matter to those who appreciate knowledge.
Even though that would exclude a large majority of residents in Hungary and a few self-isolating enclaves in the neighboring countries, who only want to hear the old “big Hungary” hymnic lament (on constant replay since 1920), it matters in terms of documenting the present subvertive nature of Hungary’s EU membership.
If Hungary, one day, decides to bury the hatchet and move forward in European time, it may not possess the necessary livelyhood.
related:
“One day the Kompromat by which the Russians keep you [OV] compliant will be revealed. What an embarrassment for freedom loving Hungary!”
source: https://twitter.com/gahler_michael/status/1532096641037115392
note: Michael Gahler is MEP [for EPP] and Spokesman on Foreign Affairs!!!
Don’t you guys appreciate our lord and saviour, Viktor, “[who] is a gift from God, who shines like a torch, revealing the light of the world“? 😉 Watch the video with English subtitles for the full sermon
https://telex.hu/english/2022/06/02/we-went-to-the-mass-held-for-viktor-orban
the priest: “We ask that PM Viktor Orbán, although he has become lonely, would be a shining torch in the liberal world which has left Christianity.
What I see is that national socialism, communist socialism and liberal dictatorship are all the same thing. They all have the same root: denying God. That is one thing. They all have the same exact goal, which is gaining total power. And they all use the same method: misanthropy.”
if I understand correctly this was said in a Catholic Church – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_City_Parish_Church_in_Pest -, so must be by a Catholic priest… [Istvan-Chicago, what do you think?]
the first comment under the YT-video: “Félelmetes és ijesztő hogy idáig jutottunk. – It’s dreadful and frightening that we’ve gotten this far.”
„shining torch“ always reminds me of the Nazis how they marched through the cities with torches back then … and they still march with the torches today.
I thought the history of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Budapest was fascinating and to be honest since when I am in Hungary I am most often in Esztergom I am pretty much a tourist when in Budapest. Based on the Wiki photo the exterior of the Church reminds me of Főegyházmegyei Hivatal (the Archdiocesan Office) and St Ignatius Church in Esztergom. As for the concept of misanthropy as used in the church see this essay https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/just-catholic/misanthropes. Like many concepts used in Catholicism it comes from the Greek and means hating of humanity. By the way I am flying to Hungary tomorrow and will be there for six days.
I am in New York City at the airport waiting for my connection to Hungary and I looked at Telex and there was a follow up story about this which can be read here https://telex.hu/belfold/2022/06/04/hodasz-andras-mise-orban-viktor-keresztenyseg-szemelyi-kultusz
Thanks Steven for link. This brief link is-as you commented- very important, especially given who Michael Gahler represents.
Hungary won today’s soccer game against England in Budapest – and of course the Hun fans booed again when the English knelt to protest against racism.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2022/jun/04/hungary-v-england-nations-league-live-score-updates
PS: The reaction in the German media eg was really scathing,if you can read German look at the Spiegel.
Even the hordes of Hungarian children that were invited to yesterday’s soccer game booed the English players for their kneeling.
As we say in German:
Früh übt sich was ein Meister werden will.
Racism, homophobia etc are the first things that Hungarian people learn ……
What else to expect from… OV-Jugend…
Interesting to note that the H fans jeered the England team when they took the knee before kick-off. More than shameful… but are we surprised?
I still have a standing invitation to all of you, to talk and meet in the NewHungarianSpectrum <NewHungarianSpectrum@googlegroups.com>
Send an email!
NewHungarianSpectrum <NewHungarianSpectrum@googlegroups.com>
I am repeating my post from the new hungarian spectrum:
Good review of the brutal Kremlin acts.
In Hungarian.
https://azonnali.hu/cikk/20220607_irpiny-ukrajna-bridget-brink-fegyver-nagykovet-egyesult-allamok-haboru#disqus_thread
America is wonderful in saving the world one more time.
Appreciated if this post will remain visible.
It is quite likely that the day is not far off when those who try to lead the EU will decide to grasp the nettle and terminate Hungary’s membership. They should, I think, concentrate their diplomatic efforts in canvassing this outcome with other governments. That there is no likelihood of the Orban regime’s demise what they can look forward to is more of the same. The Kirill fiasco is pure mischief making. The inclusion of Putin’s evil priest in the list is an obvious necessity and Orban knows this. His gesture of opposition is a clear signal of where his loyalty lies and that is not with us in the West. His posturing in defending Hungarian national interests is bogus and its aim is to render the EU sanctions ineffective.
They can’t dismiss Hungary.
Article 7 get’s closer with the Poles getting in line.
Then the voting rights are gone. Kicking the Viktor out is not possible.
I don’t know if the Poles are getting in line or if Von der Leyen just bought their vote to apply Article 7 against Hungary. Orbán’s pro-Russian stance might have cost him his closest ally in the EU.
We are speculating but I believe that if, and that’s a big if, Poland can be brought in line a unanimous vote to deprive Hungary of its voting rights would command validity. Without Hungarian voting rights a unanimous vote to expelled would pass. It’s validity would be tested in the Court of Justice of the EU. In that body there is no need for unanimity, although there is no practice of delivering dissenting judgments.
The decision to object to sanctioning the evil priest is deeply symbolic. It has no explanation in economic consequences. Only explicable by reference to Orban wanting to stymie the EU processes to help his friend/master.
Hungary has reverted, perhaps never departed from its traditional approach of choosing and following, whenever possible, the most disreputable allies and course of conduct. Maybe it comes with the mother’s milk.
Here some more background.
Maybe not in line, but they get money.
https://hvg.hu/eurologus/20220602_eu_lengyelorszag_magyarorszag_7escikk
To the Patriarch:
https://hvg.hu/itthon/20220602_Sokkal_tobbrol_szol_Orban_kiallasa_Kirill_mellett_mint_a_vallasszabadsag
There are real doubts over whether the Poles are serious… more sleight of hand apparently… see the folowing helpful analysis by a Polish academic lawyer: https://verfassungsblog.de/just-a-feint/
Conspiracies, conspiracies.
Eventually the hits get closer.
Now look at this, they want back to the EPP
https://nepszava.hu/3159121_navracsics-tibor-fidesz-epp-kapcsolat
These pieces underscore my rather more succinct comment. Or in other words Orban’s unfailing ability when faced with a choice to do right he does the opposite.
back to the EPP?? doubt it very much
see also my earlier comment @Jun.02-08:05 – https://hungarian.news/wordpress/index.php/2022/06/01/june-1st-2022/#comment-2304
I didn’t write the EPP wants them back
OK, that’s true.
I think that OV&Co are mainly “working” to get other still EPP members* following them to join their ultra-rightwing group [“off course” under the disguise of a truly “Xristian” banner]
*parties who hardly voted against OV&Co, like:
HDZ [croatia], KDU-ČSL [czechia], ISAMAA [estonia], Les Républicains [france], Forza [italy], Vienotība [latvia], SDS [slovenia], Partido Popular [spain] and of course OV’s Great Hungary supporting neighbours…
If you read what Mr Weber (CSU) had to say about Fidesz it gets clear that either Fidesz stays out of EPP – or CDU/CSU leave the neofascist club, the CDU is not that crazy.
Maybe all Fidesz EP members could go to the KDNP, then they are “in” again. (:
I am sure you’ve all read about the new law that came into force thanks to the new President Katalin Novák’s signature on May 26 which restricts the teachers’ possibility to go on strike. I will never understand how the whole Hungarian society allows such legislation to be passed or why the teachers unions did not decide to go on strike prior to the new law to pressure the government (I don’t think it’s worth mentioning the new President as she’s just another signing machine, just like János Áder was).
Another piece of news I just read was that the Orbán and Sijjártó families earned record dividends this year. Orbán’s father’s construction material business pays 13 times more dividends than the average HU businesses (Győző Orbán owns 51% of the company’s shares). Sijjártó’s wife started a small interior design business 3 years ago with an initial investment of 3 million Forints; her company made a turnover of 781 million Ft this year with a profit of 418 million Ft. She received 723,000 euros in dividends this year alone. Hungary is really the country where the economy performs better, just not for the average János but only for a tiny group of kleptocrats.
The teachers should then have gone on strike when Orban’s so-called career model in compulsory schools an agreement with KLIK, the Klebelsberg Institute, the central state school administration authority, was introduced September 2013. Under it, any teacher can be dismissed for mistrust and will no longer find employment in public schools throughout Hungary. The Hoffmann career model was, of course, a labeling scam from the beginning, and either teachers didn’t understand it or didn’t care. I have no sympathy.
Speaking of label fraud for President there was the dyslexic and doctoral thesis faker Pál Schmitt who produced more errors in the text than sentences. Job description pay homage to the Führer and keep your mouth shut. 🙂
I think the majority of the Hungarians only think as long as their nose is. A friend of mine, a Fidesz voter until the last elections which caused a lot of shouting at each other in the past has two children. One of them will go to secondary school now, and one will enter the primary school. Now he is complaining that the education system is broke, and to get good education for his children would cost a lot of money. the kids do exams to show their level of education to apply for the “good” schools.
For years now I have told him about the systematic destruction of the system. He didn’t care.
Telling him how nice it would be to know your child in good hands independent of the school it is visiting is like a fairy tale for him. I know in every system there are weak points, but here the whole system is rotten, and not because of the teachers.
He will recognize that the health care system is destroyed when he is older and ill, I guess.
You describe the voter base that will eventually follow Orbán’s directions to go over the edge of the abyss, because it’s a firmly established and old doctrine that “The Big Bad West” is only and always against Hungary. After all, they see themselves in him.
Meanwhile, Orbán becoming an object of international damnation only adds to the conviction of all these believers.
I agree with you.
what is wondering me though is the complete lack of knowledge, values and empathy in this voter base. Next door cities are destroyed people are killed women are raped, but they care about the price of the csirke fárhat.
I believe that for any body of people to be able to make qualified decisions and be mutually confident about the outcome, they depend on accurate and nuanced information as well as realistic evaluation.
In Hungary outside Budapest, these criteria are limited to what you can get at the daily food market.
„Kiadták az Európa Tanács jelentését a korrupció elleni harcról, Magyarország elégtelenre vizsgázott“
…
„A mostani jelentés konkrétumok említése nélkül jelzi, hogy 2021. végéig Magyarország a 18 ajánlásból ötöt hajtott végre száz százalékosan, ami miatt ismét csak a „globálisan elégtelen” kategóriába sorolható. Az egy évvel ezelőtti GRECO beszámoló ugyanilyen képet mutatott, azzal a különbséggel, hogy a szervezet akkor részletezte, hogy áll a javaslatok végrehajtása. A friss jelentés nyilvános része csak a statisztikát tartalmazza, teljes közzétételét a magyarországi szerveknek kell jóváhagyniuk.“ -> The public part of the recent report contains only the statistics, the full publication must be approved by the Hungarian authorities. 😀 good joke
Interestingly President Macron has issued a warning that Ukraine should not humiliate Russia. Is he completely off his head or has he just joined club Orban?
Provocation helps no one. Orbán is a street brawler Macron is not. Orban can’t talk to anyone without shitting on his plate.
What do you say Macron has in his mind?
Macron and Scholz keep diplomatic communication with Putin going. It is generally accepted that only Ukraine can determine what agreement it will enter into with Putin. But breaking off communication between the EU and Putin could bring us closer to a nuclear attack. It is not about what is just or morally right, but about power, that must be seen. The fact that some people on the net want to make a name for themselves as EU bashers is due to short-sightedness.
Many people criticise Macron and Scholz for calling Putin regularly. Scholz’s handling of the crisis can be described as a total failure. Macron on the other hand remembers that the Treaty of Versailles led to WWII and considering the level of fascism in Russia under Putin, looking for a way out that will not backfire in a decade or two doesn’t seem that off. I don’t get why people complaint about maintaining a dialogue with Putin; worst case scenario, it doesn’t change anything. I heard some former top-rank Generals on French TV say that keeping contact with Putin with regular phone calls allows the intelligence services to evaluate Putin’s state of mind and mental health. And in any case, many experts doubt that Ukraine will be able to retake Donbas and Crimea. Prolonging the fighting without any chance of victory for Ukraine will only cause more deaths and destruction on both side.
Talk to the guy if he has nothing better to do. He cannot do a deal on Ukraine’s behalf so there seems little point. I agree Russia should not be humiliated, just decisively and irretrievably defeated. That is the purpose of this war. Nothing less.
Since I am stuck at the airport reading this article from the Russian opposition website Riddle https://ridl.io/en/the-russia-ukraine-war-100-days-in/ I am linking to because it is interesting it discusses in a balanced way in some detail the Russian advance in Donbas and the failure of both the Ukrainians and the Russians in combat noting: “from Slovyansk to Severodonetsk. Russian forces first sought to attack from Izyum towards Slovyansk/Kramatorsk, creating a partial envelopment, and cutting off ground lines of communication to these cities. Separately, the Russian military intended to encircle Severodonetsk to the east, thereby capturing all of Luhansk region. The Russian aim was to sever the two areas from each other, creating isolated pockets. This effort failed, as early attacks appeared piecemeal, with insufficient forces, and little progress was made from Izyum. Hence the offensive stalled. The Russian armed forces then shifted the bulk of their effort further east to Serverodnetsk, using Izyum as a pinning front rather than a central axis of advance.”
Tappanch posted some days ago a link to an article indicating that the Ukrainians in the Donbas were close to being surrounded, but it does appear they correctly retreated and avoided envelopment, but lack the ability due to losses to retake land they have retreated from in the Donbas. However Russian long range artillery has been pounding entrenched Ukrainians which this excellent article in the Washington Post discussed https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/04/ukraine-east-artillery-war/ . The Russians have in the field starting in a late 1960s as the Soviet Army large-caliber self-propelled artillery piece, called commonly the “Pion” formally its the 2S7 that combines a 203 mm 2A44 gun with a tracked chassis featuring all-welded steel armor. The Russians have massive amounts of shells for this gun available. The main types of ammunition include high-explosive, high-explosive/rocket-assisted (30-mile range), concrete-piercing, and tactical nuclear rounds which according to the CIA have not as yet been deployed. About 100 Ukrainians are dying a day with possibly 500 wounded a day according to that article. The Post article seemed to me to be very realistic and reflected my own experience as an artillery officer in the US Army in Vietnam in 1972, where South Vietnamese crews I was an adviser to killed thousands of the communist forces outside the town of An Loc. Real artillery warfare is a pretty horrible thing and it goes on for 24 hours a day if the ammunition does not run out.
i have seen a rather worrying statement that the Ukraine war cannot be won by Putin by using conventional weapons he now has. Is that your view?
Has anyone heard of ‘pink slime’ … that’s what you call information mixed with untrue or unresearched facts any third party opinions or views there’s a technical word for it … it’s worth reading. https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/06/05/pink-slime-west-cook-news-school-race-grading/
The article is behind a paywall …
But I found the info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink-slime_journalism
I remember “pink slime” totally different!
It’s a very cheap product which derives from meat and bones which are chemically treated:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_slime
Its use is forbidden in Canada and the EU. In the USA it was often used until 2012 for Hamburgers etc …
I think the comparison is “we” “It’s a very cheap product which derives from meat and bones which are chemically treated:” eat/consume it. If you have a paywall try https://archive.ph/ for journalistic purposes.
https://archive.ph/V1qHb
Since it’s so quiet here I’ll add some stuff for fun – or not?
On the fourth there were the usual Trianon anniversary parties.
We’ve discussed this on Eva’s site before:
Why do Hungarians enjoy festivities showing their losses?
If I asked any German about the treaty of Versailles most would looked confused – and nobody (me included …) knows the date on which it was signed.
But Hungary is not alone. Serbia has big problems with its neighbours and the EU.
Russian foreign minister Lawrow could not visit them because the neighbouring countries would not allow his flight – and there’s no way avoiding them all.
And the Spiegel reports that 40% of Serbs love their “Big Brother” Russia more than the EU and would rather join it …
The EU is probably happy – not getting another member which just wants/needs a lot of money.
PS:
These guys seem to be a bit uneducated, uninformed.
Don’t they remember where the expression “Big Brother” was used in a world famous book? Or is this the kind of society that they really want – just like so many Hungarians?
Big brother *** insert any name here*** is watching you!
It might seem funnny and in the EU context, not just odd, but really strange and antiquated.
But the festivities reflect the (by now) old revanchist national ideology, and the Hungarian linguistic isolation makes the national propaganda seem real to most people.
This is sustained by daily, highly embellished stories about the lives and national devotion of heroic but languishing “Hungarians abroad”, even though most of them would have difficulty outlining Hungary on a map.
You can be fairly sure that authors like Orwell, or even Dürrenmatt, aren’t likely to be found in any Hungarian curriculum, even though they might be translated.
Orwell is extensively available in Hungarian.
Available – but in school curriculum?
I don’t know, do you?
According to this post by Éva, from March 2012, Orwell is in the “New Basic National Curriculum”.
I wonder if it is still the same, today.
The new Hungarian curriculum: Hungarian language and literature (I) – Hungarian Spectrum
It would be interesting to find out
I think Orwell is a history book here.
A history book, yes, but imagine the work (on the teacher’s part) to make it “history”.
This history Michael was written among other things by the Államvédelmi Hatóság “ÁVH” after the pattern of the Soviet NKGB like in East Germany the Stasi. The teachers participated compulsorily today they are silent about it. Orwell described exactly this … as far as the history books are concerned, the truth is concealed and the lie is taught. It is not a great achievement to bend or deny the truth.
The Hungarian government has a migration expert and his name is Georg Spöttle, István has reported about him before. Spöttle has allegedly been visited by aliens several times and has been a ufologist ever since. If he meets aliens again he is ready to kill. 😀 He now serves a body-filling street thug with high excitement potential and the danger of a heart attack. The specialist of the Hungarian government of German descent lives in Hungary and warns of the dangers of migration. Only the best people … a case for trump.
https://444.hu/2016/08/17/tetotol-talpig-atvizsgaltak-az-ufo-k-a-kormany-kedvenc-biztonsagpolitikai-szakertojet
The poor man is haunted by bad dreams.
You can’t analyze his dreams, but you can analyze what he does.
Don you might have added:
Spott in German means mockery, so Spöttle is Schwab for little mockery.
Is that what Spöttle is doing to Hungarians?
Aber wenn mir Spöttle sagen dann kann er es auch „nicht zum Spott geschafft haben“ so wie „eine Niete der nicht einmal dass schafft“ – er hat es unwissentlich versucht. 🙂
But when we say Spöttle then can also be “he didn’t make it to the Spott” the bigger one like “he is a loser” – he unknowingly tried. 🙂
The Atlantic has an interesting and almost funny article on our old friend Steve Bannon and his current activities.
Sorry, it’s behind a paywall, but a summary is available in the Atlantic’s daily news/email.
It’s titled:
Steve Bannon, American Rasputin …
If you mean this post it is not behind a paywall.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/07/steve-bannon-war-room-democracy-threat/638443/
Thanks, Don. But you have to sign in and probably they want a contribution after a one month trial subscription – as I get it.
I am still in Esztergom and actually have been able to link back to my commercial server in Chicago which amazed me. Now I was in the Negra Café where I read Telex on line this morning and read a story about the earliest Hungarian in North America. I was amazed the article raised the possibility there might have been a Hungarian speaker named “Tykir” who might have been on the same boat with Leif Erikson when he landed in Newfoundland, but the article also indicated that what language the guy actually spoke beyond Old Norse was in question based on the historic record. A guy siting near me at the Café saw I was reading Telex and had read the same story. He said to me in Hungarian it did not surprise him that Hungarians were given no credit for discovering America. Really I did not want to engage with him in a debate over the achievements of historic Hungarians, I just said “Igen, érdekes történet volt.” He responded in English: an American that can speak some Hungarian, you are pretty rare. I just responded yes.
You are in the wrong place, however interesting the adventure may seem.
The cargo hold.
Hungarian (pseudo) science is, unfortunate for Hungarian-only people, a constant source of home brewed, baroque historic twists.
Funny story!
The only way a southern “sweetwater mate” could have been brought along on such a voyage, would have been as a skilled slave. On cross-ocean journeys, the Vikings were known to bring along slaves for the extremely labor-intensive rowing, and when they landed, the main chores were logging, rope making, tar cooking and iron making, as well as tending sheep for wool, all of which were essential in keeping a Viking fleet operative. Besides that, there was the hunting-gathering, gardening and cooking. Viking warships also had skilled slaves as “cut men” and chain maille armor tailors. The ships were the maritime formula one of the time, super light construction with riveted, tar-sealed boards and woolen sails. All of which needed regular servicing and repairs.
Here is a picture of a 1:1 recunstruction of an ocean going Viking warship, which was found on the sea floor in a Danish fjord, dated to 1042. It was built with period-exact tooling and genetically related oak and rope/wool.
The smaller ship is an exact reconstruction of an ocean going cargo ship, found in the same place and dated to 1030. Also, a schematic view of the cargo hold.
Ocean going cargo ship.
Putin wants to capture Estonia too.
In Petersburg, “Peter the Great waged the Northern War for 21 years [1700-1721]. It would seem that he was at war with Sweden, he seized something …
He did not seize anything, he returned! Yes, he did.. All the territory around lake Ladoga, where St. Petersburg was founded [1703]. When he founded the new capital, none of the European countries recognized that territory as Russia, everyone recognized it as Sweden.
And there, from time immemorial, along with the Finno-Ugric peoples, Slavs lived, and this territory was under the control of the Russian state. The same is true in the western direction, this applies to Narva, one of his first campaigns.
Why did he go there? Returned and strengthened – that’s what he did.”
http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/68606
” in Soviet times, when we cut ourselves out, created the so-called iron curtain – we created it with our own hands. But we are not going to do this now, we will not repeat this [mistake].”
” It is impossible, you understand, to enclose a country like Russia with a fence. And we are not going to build such a fence around ourselves”
“Last year trade [with China] grew by, I think, 34 percent, and with India by 87 percent. Do you understand? Do you know how much trade with Turkey increased in the first half of the year? By 230 percent, 2.3 times.
The guy is off his head.
So it should be “off with his head”?
Hungary sometimes really reminds us of wonderland.
Unhinged – The condition that evolves through filtering life through political interpretation without open discussions.
Note the ass-licking attitude of the carefully selected participants.
Telex ran a lengthly historical article by Krisztián Ungváry https://telex.hu/kulfold/2022/06/10/ungvary-krisztian-ukrajna-andrij-szibiha-kover-laszlo . It discusses the atrocities committed by the Hungarian occupying forces in Ukraine during WWII jointly with German forces in Ukraine. The historical article is put in the context of comments made by President László Kövér discussed in this prior article https://telex.hu/belfold/2022/06/04/kover-laszlo-interju-zelenszkij-psziches-problema. For those readers of this blog who do not read Hungarian, I think the article translates pretty well into English using either google or the Russian Yandex.Translate. I am flying back to the USA tomorrow morning after my short visit to Esztergom.
Have a safe and comfortable journey.
Time flies – good trip
István, the subject of who did what to whom, in Ukraine during the WW2, is worthy of at least a blog, or eight national ones +1 (a Jewish).
Ukraine – Then and now.
Well I am back in the USA but my biological clock is a mess. Since I can’t sleep properly I have been reading a great deal. Apparently according to the Kyiv Independent news Ukraine will request 1,000 howitzers, 500 tanks from NATO. Ukraine is also planning to request 200-300 multiple rocket launchers, 2,000 armored vehicles, and 1,000 drones from NATO, according to Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, and a Presidential Office document obtained by the Kyiv Independent. The problem is NATO simply can’t train the crews to operate the 155mm towable artillery that has been sent now, more importantly Ukrainian artillery officers are pretty scarce.
The current US Army requirements for field artillery officers are the completion of Basic Officer Leaders Course I & II ( about 44 days of training full time ) and the Field Artillery Officer Basic Course which is at least a month long. That course provides in-depth knowledge for fire support, observed fire, fire direction and platoon leadership. Field artillery officers are required to do complicated logarithmic calculations to fire a mission without computer assistance and have very high map reading skills, the wash out rate for becoming a field artillery officer is high. This level of pencil and paper math skills are required of officers and higher NCOs because the gps systems can be blocked making computerized technology not functional.
I doubt that President Zelensky has any comprehension of the skill sets required and the lack of skilled Ukrainian soldiers to be moved up to officer ranks. Zelensky and his team seem to be delusional about the Ukrainian army absorbing this technology. By the way the Russians have been killing Ukrainian artillery crews using counter battery fire directed both by sound and radar. So there is an attrition factor involved in all of this because the Russian long range artillery returning fire is in part out of the range of most Ukrainian artillery. The Ukrainian air force has made some attempts to take out these Russian guns and have in turn lost planes in these attacks. So the Russians too are having artillery crews killed.
My impression is Zelensky’s team is panicking and fearing this war of attrition being conducted by Putin because they are themselves experiencing 100 to 150 combat troops a day being killed that they now admit to with an additional 500 combat troops so wounded a day to the extent they cannot engage in combat. Ukraine’s General Staff reported several days ago it estimated Russia since Feb 24 has had 32,150 of its combat forces killed. That is amazing if close to the truth, because in the entire Vietnam war US forces had only 58,193 combat deaths (from November 1, 1955, and ending on April 30, 1975). The Ukrainians will not give any total numbers of their own war dead, but military analysts in the USA estimate it is at least 20,000. Assuming these numbers are correct in a long war of attrition Ukraine will lose, they just don’t have enough men between ages 16 and 45 years old. They are already using guys aged 68 in front line combat and they are dying from illness more than combat, now apparently including smallpox. Draft evasion in Russia apparently has become a problem and Putin’s security apparatus is working overtime rounding up Russian punk rockers in hiding. War is hell and this one proves it.
Which airline did you fly with?
KLM out of Chicago with a stop in NYC.
In strictly military terms what is it the Ukraine needs to turn this round? If they are not able to degrade Russian military infrastructure because NATO are too scared of a imaginary risk, what can they be given to stop the rot. If nothing the outlook is leading us to realise Hitler was a modest threat and a mild maniac by comparison with the guys who rule the Kremlin.
… which ‘imaginary risk’ is that?
Well nuclear war is of course not an imaginary risk, it’s a theoretical risk. The German ZDF TV station ran an interview with Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday in which he completely changed his position on Ukraine and a war of attrition against Russian forces. Which can be seen in its original German here https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/wolodymyr-selenskyj-interview-ukraine-krieg-russland-100.html . Zelensky argued that: “Time works for Russia, because its leadership does not care how long the war lasts.” However back on the 16th day of the war Zelensky said in his nightly speech to the Ukrainian people: “We have been fighting for our freedom for sixteen days. It is four times longer than the enemy planned to invade. Four times longer. We have been fighting against the army that was considered one of the strongest in the world, the army that was hoping that the Ukrainians would surrender… They hoped that someone would greet Russian flags with flowers on Ukrainian streets… It is impossible to say how long it will take to liberate our Ukrainian land. However, it is possible to say – we will do it! Because we want it, because we have already reached a strategic turning point. We are moving towards our goal, towards our victory.”
In his interview with German TV Zelensky argues that because Russia continues to get income from the sale of energy resources they can continue the war indefinitely. Yet Zelensky is now asking NATO for massive additional weapons including according to the Kiev Independent 1,000 howitzers, 500 tanks, 200-300 multiple rocket launchers, 2,000 armored vehicles, and 1,000 drones from NATO to prolong the war of attrition. I am finding in Zelensky now an inherent contradiction relating to prolonging the fight as opposed to listening to those calling for a peace deal and hoping for the best. During his interview Zelensky also said he would not engage in peace talks with Putin, unless a full withdrawal of Russian forces was being offered. He also said the best path towards peace was for the west to more heavily arm Ukraine which would allow their troops to “advance faster.” But there is no evidence that Ukrainian forces have been able to advance at all against Russian forces except when they have shifted combat forces strategically.
ZDF asked Zelensky about US President Joe Biden’s statement that Zelensky failed to heed US warnings of an imminent Russian attack. The Ukrainian president shifted the blame, saying Western nations should have done a better job deterring Moscow. “Why was the [Ukrainian] airspace not closed? Why didn’t they supply us weapons before this invasion and why did they not introduce provisional sanctions that the president of Russia was discouraged from attacking?” Zelensky asked.
Zelensky is a comedian with no military experience who really had no preparation for the massive slaughter taking place now. Really combat could go on for years and if Zelensky now believes time is on the side of Putin then he had better look for an exit strategy. Putin agrees with the idea that time is on the side of Russia really no matter how many weapons are sent to support Ukraine.
If Zelensky does not believe the Russians will crack with a protracted war then why the hell is he doing this? In general many US military and intelligence analysts believe the Russians are incapable of a protracted war going on and on regardless of oil revenue, and there are cracks appearing in Russian society due to the war and among the Russian oligarchs. If Zelensky does not believe in that analysis then making a deal is really his only option. The ZDF interview was very revealing even if I had to watch it captioned in English.
By the way the https://kyivindependent.com/ that has been one of the best sources of news coming out of Ukraine has not reported at all on the ZDF interview. I assume they too found it contradictory. They did have a very interesting report on a Russian helicopter assault in Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts, but Ukrainian forces managed to repel Russian attacks. So the Russians are still trying various probes of Ukrainian defenses.
June 13, 2022
EUR/HUF = 402
EUR/USD = 384
Gross debt of the Hungarian central government.
on April 30 of each year.
2022 vs 2021: up 13.87%
2022 vs 2020: up 38.65%
Official source: akk.hu
I read comments on Twitter about the global economic situation in Hungary: the growing debt, the inflation, the depreciation of Forint. Some people replied that the debt alone was not significant as the GDP had been growing in parallel. I checked and saw that the debt/GDP ratio had indeed remained more or less constant if not positive. I am still puzzled: can we objectively say that the increase of the debt is not that relevant? On one hand some economists say it’s not a problem if it’s used as an investment for the future. On the other hand, once the debt becomes too big, it becomes more difficult to reimburse or even pay the interests. Any insight from anyone regarding the Hungarian situation? And can we trust the official data regarding the GDP to begin with?
I compared the evolution of public debts across the EU, it went up because of Covid and the measures that the national governments took to keep the national economies afloat. The debt in HU grew as well but I am wondering what kind of measures the Orbán government took to help the local economy?
… the debt/GDP ratio is one issue but there are arguably more important questions about the kind of society that Hungary is and what it could be… for example, is Hungary to remain a relatively low-tech, low-skill, low-wage economy, what about the significant levels of economic, educational, health etc. inequality that imapact especially on the Roma population, what about the relatively poor performance of Hungary’s education system (and without radical improvements, the country is in peril), what about the health metrics that show deteriorating public health, etc. etc. These are all matters of political choice and politicians views of what counts as ‘the good society’ frame approaches to these… these are not simply questions of economics but of preference, values and ethics…
… add to this a taxation system (including income and consumption taxes) that exacerbates inequality and disproportionately penalises the poor… why not change the existing system to a progressive system that taxes those who earn more and supports those who have less… the answers to these questions pretty much tell us all we need to know.
All the points you list, require a broader basis for adequate decision making. Much broader than civil Hungary can manage at this time, in order to reach the socio-economic, positive bottom line benefits of a functioning democracy.
I would (somewhat conservatively) start at a transition of public educations and public health, to meet the necessary demands for longer term performance improvements – the ability to compete successfully. Of course local infrastructures have to accommodate mobility and availability on a larger scale.
Not sure that I understand your response but the point is that debt/GDP ratios are in one sense irrelevant. The questions concern economies, not as abstract entities but as the basis and means by which societies organise and aim their resources… of course it is not the civil sector that determines this but the entire political apparatus itself… again, q’s of ethics and value…
Is it just me or has something appears to have happened to the layout of this blog… we seem to ahve verey long narrow columns of text which are difficult to read properly…
That layout problem haapened on Eva’s blog too, it’s a wordpress problem.
I meant to say that there are no reactive, technical/administrative fixes that have a lasting positive effect in a constantly changing market. The basic resources for quickly adapting and carrying out strategies, must be present in the population and the trade balance. All economies face this condition, except those that are based on a steady income from oil/gas/rare minerals and the like.
Orbánistan sports a wild gamble – either the west or the east come out on top – and betting on both warrants a minimal/posssible double benefit.
Orban wants double salary and he wants to decide on salaries of a number of government officials, including ministers, state secretaries and government commissioners. There was no talk of the opposition … how submissive do you have to be to get a salary increase … the next in the fideszschist State Theater. 😀 https://hungarianpolitics.com/2022/06/13/parliament-to-vote-on-urgent-bill-doubling-prime-ministers-salary-tomorrow/
PS. “Support our campaign against undemocratic vetoes in EU politics!
We want a Europe that moves forward. We want a Europe that quickly finds the right answers to crises. We want a Europe that resolutely opposes the threats to our democracy.” https://www.change.org/p/end-vetoes-in-european-politics