Since Melania and Donald formally met with the Pope I suspect her transgressions may also have been forgiven.
August 1st, 2022
Melania Trump is a Slovenian Catholic, but it is unclear if she attends mass at any parish. It is clear…
But wait, Donald Trump’s wife Melania hosted a closed-door fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago not long ago for the Log Cabin Republicans,…
Fascistic - or fantastic? Extreme right wing "leaders" from all over the world will meet this weekend at the CPAC…
Promising numbers! How Hungarian "Jungle Drums" convert to votes, will be interesting.
Today the Russians who supposedly were exhausting their supply of missiles unleashed an attack on the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv. According to a statement issued by President Zelensky the attack involved dozens of Russian rockets that destroyed homes, schools and infrastructure. Among those killed in the city was one of Ukraine’s richest business executives.
This comes from the same man who has been telling the west every day the Russians are materially exhausted and with only several hundred more advanced rocket launchers the Russians can be pushed out of Ukraine.
The truth is Ukrainian intelligence may have no clear idea of the stored arsenal of Russia, possibly US military intelligence and CIA/NSA does but will not publicly contradict Zelensky. Most western news reports of Russian casualties being made by Ukraine come with the disclaimer “this report has not been verified.” Really it’s the same for Russian reports.
We are witnessing a modern high tech war of attrition so far done with only conventional weapons. It’s a horror that seems largely ignored by the majority of Hungarians who are told by Orban and his Fidesz spokespersons they are safe from the slaughter due to the wise leadership of the government. Orban also keeps telling the population basically once Trump or another Republican returns to power US funding for the war will stop and a peace deal will be reached.
Orban knows very well that there is a global level to this conflict in Ukraine. In fact he has pretty much stated it is a proxy war between Russia and the USA and maybe eventually even China too. So that really indicates his new claim of the 2024 US elections leading to peace is something for popular consumption.
Orban is not known for telling truth. Even in the propaganda news, only approved “information” can be read. There is a logical construct that places Orban’s statements in a larger context.
That the elections in the USA will bring peace … Orban dreams of a fascist party under his leadership with Putin as his only friend. I am curious which Republican will be nominated. I am already dreading it.
Hello Istvan! Having just concluded a family visit in Hungary, I agree with your observations about most Hungarians not caring about Ukraine. I even heard paranoid nonsense of the “USA financing Putin (directly!) to start war”. Your military experience and analysis continues to be of help to myself and no doubt, others. Orbán’s speech in Romania was-again- for “popular consumption” and filled with the usual dog whistles of racism, antisemitism and homophobic nonsense.
Yes I found the same low level of concern over the war in Ukraine in Esztergom during my visit. Orban’s assurances that there would be plenty of natural gas for Hungary was seen as wise by most of my extended family. One exception was a young supporter of Momentum who generally denounced every party, but still voted for Momentum as the best option in a hopeless situation.
He is also not a practicing Catholic either, yet another strike against him among my extended family. Many of them hope he will move to the EU where he will be happier.
please call me at 760 333 1189 san francisco http://www.menschfoundation.org,steve geiger
So this Reuters article today https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-says-russia-using-nuclear-shield-ukraine-risks-terrible-accident-2022-08-02/ indicates that the Russians are placing long range artillery batteries on the grounds of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear power station which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world.
This prevents the Ukrainians from returning fire on the Russians for fear of creating a nuclear explosion. Even worse the plant is on the shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper river. So potentially a direct hit on it by Ukrainian counter battery fire could create an unfathomable disaster. Russia says this is all a lie they have only a few soldiers there to protect the plant.
I suspect Stalin would have approved of such a diabolical strategy on the part of the Russian Army. Meanwhile the UN is meeting in New York City ironically as part of its Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Many fine speeches were given.
ANTONY BLINKEN, Secretary of State of the The United States will only consider the use of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances to defend its vital interests and those of its allies and partners, he said. I wondered immediately if the use by the Russians of tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine would constitute an extreme circumstance?
PÉTER SZIJJÁRTÓ, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, said the war in Ukraine, a neighbor, has created a security risk for his country, ruining hopes that his generation does not need to endure the terrible events suffered by their grandparents.
He also reportedly said while nuclear-weapon States view this issue through a geopolitical lens, they are far away from the war’s location. For countries in the neighborhood, this is a vital issue. So is he suggesting Hungary faces the danger of nuclear war in Ukraine, between the USA and Russia? Funny neither he nor Orban have even told the Hungarian people that. But he says it in a speech in New York.
MYKOLA TOCHITSKYI, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said today is the one hundred and fifty-ninth day of war waged by a nuclear power against a non-nuclear weapon State. He stated without reservation the Russian leadership openly threatens the world with its ability to use nuclear weapons, backed by clear calls to do so by Russian media. That is objectively true in my opinion.
He went on reportedly stating : Disarmament has been undermined by the Russian Federation’s unjustified development of new strike capabilities — including the Kinzhal, Avangard and Sarmat hypersonic missiles. As it openly threatens the world with its new nuclear weaponry, “non-proliferation became an illusion”, he said, noting that Moscow also expanded the geographic area of its nuclear arms deployment after Crimea’s occupation and has already deployed missiles able to carry nuclear warheads over Ukrainian cities from Belarus, a non-weapon State, according to the Treaty. For the first time in history, civilian nuclear facilities have been turned into targets and a springboard for the Russian army, in breach of the Treaty. All of which I also agree with.
Russia did not speak, but Putin sent a letter. His letter was to be brutally honest just bullshit and if people on this blog want to read it go to http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/69096 .
“the plant is on the shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper river”
The distance between Nova Kakhovka (the dam) and Enerhodar (the nuclear power plant) is 130 km (80 miles).
Back to O1G’s visit as CPAP and the relations between Hungary and the USA – it’s getting really interesting.
Steven Nelson reports on this – there might be a meeting with Trump even.
https://hungarianpolitics.com/?
And the ugly stuff that Zsolt Bayer wrote about the new ambassador Mr Pressman – horrible and almost unbelievable!
Here’s another source – it would be funny if it weren’t so sad
https://hungary.postsen.com/news/38538/Zsolt-Bayer-would-send-the-new-American-ambassador-home-even-before-he-gets-here.html
You are 100% correct about Bayer’s “ugly stuff” about Ambassador Pressman.More of the crypto fascist nonsense from Bayer’s unkind brain.
The stinking garbage and twisted Neo-Nazi bile emitting from Bayer, is a constant ingredient in the daily/weekly media-input a larger part of the Hungarian population consumes on a daily basis when they turn on the TV or read a paper.
That mentally ill man, has a huge influence on the well-being of a nation – Believe it or not! – But he always get’s the benefit of the (unenlightened) doubt in Hungary, simply because he is in the “right” news. For those who read the “wrong” news, there is little to do, except leave the country.
To be honest, when I try to read Bayer´s stuff, I am lost after a few sentences. Already his introductions are such a word salad, that reading any further is discouraged, and I seriously ask myself what is this man writing about. I wonder if the Hungarians experience the same, and who reads his stuff until the end.
That’s because you read the “wrong” news, and maybe you haven’t had the first couple of shots of pálinka before reading/seeing Bayer’s bullshit.
I believe the popular term for the “wrong” news is “zsidó” propaganda.
Could be (:
Maybe you should read this:
https://hungary.postsen.com/news/39249/Is-this-the-end-Dozens-of-hospitals-are-not-treating-patients.html
Tishis postsen is a strange site, usually pro-Fidesz but sometimes reality gets through.
Anyone know who is behind this?
Apparently the US speaker of the House of Representatives is visiting Taiwan shortly even though she has been threatened with military action by the Chinese communists. The community of retired military officers here in the USA are actually thrilled by the threats.
Here is one comment from a retired US Air Force officer I saw a short while ago: “ Any Chinese attack on Taiwan will start with them attacking US bases in the Pacific, in an effort to break our ability to mount a response. Our response should be a full scale nuclear attack.”
Really there are some in our military community who see these threats against Speaker Pelosi as a possible opportunity to start the nuclear apocalypse. I find it terrifying to be honest.
Magyar Nemzet today had an article on the US Speaker’s visit to Taiwan see https://magyarnemzet.hu/kulfold/2022/08/peking-szerint-a-tuzzel-jatszik-washington .
No doubt in an effort not to create any concern among the followers of Fidesz relating to any potential military action by the Chinese over this visit those threats were phrased this way: “Beijing considers Taiwan to be a province of China, and the head of state has previously said that he does not rule out the use of force in order to occupy Taiwan. Local news outlets reported that the military would respond aggressively to Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.”
Actually President Biden held a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on July 25th as China continued demands for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to visit Taiwan in August. The Chinese read out of that discussion included: “Those who play with fire will only get burnt,” the Chinese president told Biden during a phone call. “Hope the U.S. side can see this clearly.” The US read out did not include those statements.
This morning the US Army Times on line news featured this article https://www.armytimes.com/flashpoints/china/2022/07/31/china-conducts-military-exercise-opposite-taiwan/. But the really scary article was this one https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2022/08/01/this-guard-exercise-trains-for-hypersonic-missile-attacks-on-major-us-cities/ . One of the cities discussed in the article was Chicago, where I live. Apparently Budapest Hungary which is far closer to Russian missiles than Chicago is, has nothing to worry about because of the wise leadership of Orban. Below is a photo from one of the exercises related to the simulated missile attack on the US the Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pa., July 27, 2022.
So China might want to do a special military operation on Taiwan?
I just discussed with friends on the internet “end of the world as we know it” – movies like “On the beach” and Dr Strangelove. Already 60 years ago some people knew that humanity might come to an early end.
For Earth it might be even a good thing if the number of humans were drastically reduced.
Suppose a speaker of the Taiwanese govt. went to Washington – Who would write home about that?
For those who read Hungarian, Telex today ran a very good article about where Orban gets some of his ideas about the crisis of the USA see https://telex.hu/kulfold/2022/08/02/orban-tusvanyos-george-friedman-2030-prognozis-geopolitika-usa-valsag-ciklus . I thought it also translated reasonably well into English just using google’s translation program.
I suspect most Trump supporters here in the USA who are deeper thinkers, yes that may be an oxymoron, will likely just watch this video on the Friedman book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzAE6UbJgt8 rather than spend time reading it!
A lot of money spent on promoting Friedman doesn’t make him a global oracle.
True
So the NYT in this opinion piece by foreign affairs commentator Tom Friedman http://www.NYTimes.com/2022/08/01/opinion/Nancy-Pelosi-China.html makes an argument that unnamed US officials are concerned about Zelensky’s leadership of Ukraine particularly in light of the purge of Ukraine’s security services and claims of vast Russian penetration of those services at the highest levels.
Also Friedman says them same US officials, apparently in the NSA, believe Putin would use tactical nukes against Ukraine if conventional warfare does not achieve victory. That is not news to me, I have stated that on this blog before.
Some retired intelligence officers from the US Army have indicated on private chats that they believe the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is also penetrated by agents for Putin. Which also may mean some of the planning for the general counter offensive are known in detail by Russian military. Effectively Friedman has revealed nothing that readers of this blog haven’t already heard from me, but it seems to be a significant development for some policy wonks in the USA.
This long article in today’s Kyiv Independent https://kyivindependent.com/national/the-battle-to-end-the-war-ukraine-has-a-chance-to-win-initiative-from-russia is basically arguing Ukraine can completely defeat Russia with the coming counter offensive.
It can be viewed many ways I guess, as a determined vision for the liberation of Ukraine, or as basically throwing all your chips in to win the war and end the Russian strategy of attrition.
What is remarkable in this article written by a very knowledgeable Ukrainian war reporter that the potential use of tactical nukes by the Russians is not even considered by the reporter.
I wondered if he believed the USA and NATO would support Ukraine with tactical nuclear strikes if that happened? I have seen no evidence for NATO or US responding to the Russians going nuclear with our own tactical nukes. Biden has repeatedly expressed his fear of WW3.
So this article in Magyar Nemzet https://magyarnemzet.hu/kulfold/2022/08/amerikai-orbanizmust-kovetelnek-a-konzervativok-a-tengerentulon basically is an open call for Americans to embrace what one right winger quoted in the article called American Orbanism on the issue of race. I think we have been there already, we had laws outlawing racially mixed marriages in the USA for many years. They were called miscegenation laws, and the US Supreme Court ruled in 1967 that such laws were unconstitutional. We don’t need American Orbanism.
Orbán needs to divert attention away from his failed economic policy, for which people now must pay.
Facing Economic Crisis and a Steep Decline in Polls, Orban Imports US ‘Racial Politics’ | Balkan Insight
Orban visited his good friend Trump in Florida https://telex.hu/belfold/2022/08/02/orban-viktor-donald-trump-usa
According to the article, it was in Bedminster NJ.
Sorry he owns several of these resorts it is easy to get confused. I believe Trump gave up citizenship in New York State in September 2019, Donald and Melania moved their primary residence to Mar-a-Lago in Florida. He currently has six different residences in the US, but only can vote in Florida.
CPAC with Trump, O1G and a lot of other ***expletive deleted*** started today in Austin, Texas.
https://na.eventscloud.com/website/34479/
This site contains a graphic list of all the sponsors – almost funny if you have time enough.
From Gun owners of America to Classic Bible Art
From Moms for America to Alapjogokért Központ (sic!)
And there’s a list of products you might want to buy – or not
https://secure.winred.com/american-conservative-union/storefront/
Now we’re waiting for the news …
PS:
It’s funny in a way. From my visits to the USA I remember Austin as one of the few “left” cities – one would probably have to call it “woke” right now …
It also was the Musical Capital of the USA – fond memories of concerts.
Yes Orban because of his keynote speech today at the Conservative Union conference is receiving some coverage here in both the more liberal media and of course on right wing TV like Fox News.
Most of the criticism of Orban and the praise is focused on Orban’s race mixing comments and hostility towards the LBGTQ community.
For the most part the economic lies Fidesz is putting out abroad about how Orban is avoiding an EU wide economic crisis is accepted by the right media and not challenged by the liberal media because of Hungary’s small economy.
In my Hungarian Catholic parish in Chicago, St Steven King of Hungary Church, we have two biracial children in our Hungarian language school.
To be honest both of the families seem to be accepted within the Church community. One child is part Asian and one child is part African American. I have never talked to these families about Orban’s racism or what they think of it. We honestly rarely open those discussions in social gatherings in the church except privately, however I noticed some discomfort among some women when the US Supreme Court abortion decision was formally praised in a statement by Chicago’s Cardinal and read to us at mass.
I do known both families with biracial kids have taken their children to Hungary to visit family and have shared photos with me. Sometimes the basic humanity of families goes beyond embedded racism.
Most people here are very surprised when I tell them about the weapons ban at the border with Ukraine. They know little about it, nor is there knowledge here about the pro-Russian propaganda in the Fidesz media.
Really because of Hungary’s small size most people here can’t locate it on a map. Some Hungarian Jews who are now third generation who live mostly in Chicago’s northern suburbs who have identifiable Magyar surnames have no connection to Hungary at all, in good part because of the Holocaust. Many have no interest in Hungary other than to say how their great grandparents avoided the gas chambers. As I said years ago when I first started reading Hungarian spectrum I was largely unaware of what was left of the Hungarian Jewish community in the Chicago area.
The Hungarian Catholic and Calvinist community had no contact with that community at all from the 1940s on. Reading Eva’s posts on the Jewish Holocaust in Hungary was a revelation to me and it caused me to read much more about it.
You are right about Hungary being small on the internatonal scene – If there was a consistent record of (signifiant) noteworthy achievements, the picture would be different.
I know “race” is used differently in the US compared to Europe., but please do not talk about biracial kids. That is absurd.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(human_categorization)
So the Washington Post covered Orban’s speech today in some detail.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/04/viktor-orban-cpac-dallas-speech/
This CPAC looks to me like a fascist group – horrible!
And we’ve already learned about Fox’s Tucker Carlson who represents them “nicely”.
And now back to Hun reality:
I just accompanied my wife to shopping, she showed me our favourite products and I was …
Many prices (milk and butter, meat and vegetables) have risen at least 50%, sometimes 100%.
The ugly companies try to hide this eg for butter by selling packets of 200 g instead of the usual 250g etc.
Do they think Hungarians are stupid?
They might be right …
Consumer psychology is extensively studied and tested, and the smaller units of packaged food are a standard reaction to price jumps by the big international retailers. If prices drop again, there will be many “3 for 2” offers of the smaller units.
Yes it’s the same here in the USA with repackaging and size reductions.
My rental units are all having rent increases, asking rent in Chicago on non-commercial property has increased by 4.5 percent in Chicago in the past year, according to Redfin a large on line rental service — but some tenants have seen their rent hiked as much as 20 percent.
I have kept increases at 5%, but have offered some of my tenants long term leases with no more than a 2% annual increase over 5 years. Those longer leases have been grabbed up by my renters.
… prime-time for rent seeking, eh?
The ugly point is that at first sight you as a customer don’t realize that the new package contains less – often its the same size.
In Germany every year the consumer org has “prizes”:
Mogelpackungen
and they publish those!
Still 50% or 100% are almost unbelievable.
The official Hungarian inflation rate for food is about 30%.
Those price jumps must really hurt!
Perhaps the negative development will fuel a growing dissatifaction with the government.
This short program features clips of Orban’s Texas speech and comments by Kim Lane Scheppele https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/americas-far-right-embraces-hungarys-autocratic-president
I started laughing hysterically when I read this remark on Carlson and O1G by Jon Stewart. I won’t repeat it but you can google it “carlson jon stewart orban”.
Enjoy!
Wolfi I don’t know if you’re referring to this video https://youtu.be/aFQFB5YpDZE but the way Carlson reacts is quite revealing of how he simply doesn’t get it and how he cannot detach himself from the sole and only political view he has. Unlike Paul Begala.
That’s old stuff. The latest confrontation is here:
https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-jon-stewart-relationship-argument-crossfire-cnn-1731179
A
Stewart tweeted
“Friends. Tonight I am sad. @TuckerCarlson believes me too short to date… and yet somehow, miraculously, I remain tall enough to not know what Victor Orbán’s a** tastes like! Is it goulash Tucky? Seems like it would be goulash,”
Thanks for sharing Istvan!
You can be reasonably sure that among the things the ultra right wingers discuss, is how they can use Putin’s mis-/disinformation campaigns against Ukrainian war-refugees to their advantage, which would be to cause more division and fan anti-refugee feelings.
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Benjamin Franklin, November 11, 1755
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-06-02-0107
This Washington Post article https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/04/russia-annexation-ukraine/
Raises many interesting issues relating to Russia’s war of attrition against Ukraine. It is totally unclear at this point whether or not Zelensky has actually started his much promoted counter offensive and it is not making many advances, or the Russians are simply continuing their war of attrition with artillery, missiles, and infantry probes.
It is true the Russian artillery batteries are getting hit by counter battery fire from the Ukrainians now that they have more western longer range weapons. But that is honestly part of war and it’s a reality that those of us who are artillery officers.
Really what is not fully explained in western or Russian reports are what constitutes the destruction of an artillery field gun. This is the current US Army field manual on counter battery warfare https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN33999-ATP_3-09.12-000-WEB-1.pdf
Really it’s an updated version of the one I had been trained on prior to my deployment in Vietnam as an adviser to the South Vietnamese artillery units in the Battle of An Loc in 1972. One critical factor in this is the use of the ordinance fired in a counter battery strike. The North Vietnamese used largely fragmentation shells, now commonly called cluster bombs. Their impact area is broader than high explosive shells and it is designed to kill the gun crews, not necessarily make the field artillery piece unusable due to damage. Missiles fired from drones that are being heavily used in this war have limited explosive power and are dependent on cluster bombs.
So really as an adviser to the ARVN forces I was constantly providing primitive training to replacement crews for artillery crews that had been killed or wounded. I also assessed the 105 mm howitzers with dead or wounded crews for damage. In some cases we repaired field pieces and got them back in action.
My understanding based on reporting in Ukraine, most Ukrainian artillery crews have only one week of training. It shows when I have watched them firing 155 mm howitzers on video. Really a highly trained crew is like a highly scripted dance and their rate of sustained fire is impressive and is constantly timed by officers and NCOs. Because in order to avoid counter battery fire the artillery or ground based rockets have to be relocated constantly, the number of shells fired within one or two minutes is critical.
So I doubt Ukrainian reports about destroyed Russian artillery are accurate, more than likely a better description is the Russian artillery is out of action, but for how long is really only comprehended by solid military intelligence.
Ukraine is losing territory, although slowly, every day.
The Ukrainian “counterattack” at Kherson does not show any sign of success.
Will the Ukrainian army implode?
My guess is that Russia wants to occupy Dnepro(petrovsk) , Zaporizhiya and Kryvoy Rog before a cease-fire.
I do not think it helps that Zelensky is not providing reasonably accurate information to the media, which actually gives credibility to some Russian lying.
Here is an example of what I mean tappanch. This report was released just a few days ago https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/08/ukraine-ukrainian-fighting-tactics-endanger-civilians/ . It’s a very credible report of how the Ukrainian military uses civilian areas to try and protect various military operations. Zelensky denounced the report and rejected the claims by amnesty, and said the report sought “to shift responsibility from the aggressor to the victim”. Zelensky put so much pressure on Oksana Pokalchuk, the leader of the organization’s Ukrainian arm, to resign, saying in a Facebook post the report had become “a tool of Russian propaganda.” The problem is much of the work in the report was done under her supervision.
Of course Amnesty Int has documented Russian terror attacks on civilian areas that are impossible to associate with hidden Ukrainian military operations in cities. I suspect that the CIA and NATO intelligence have some understanding of the reality of the situation.
I am hopeful the Ukrainian military can survive Russia’s war of attrition, but I am fearful about any plans for a big counteroffensive.
My analogy is to General Robert E Lee’s offensive against the Union forces that led to his decisive defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg in the US Civil War.
General Lee came to the conclusion that the South would be crushed eventually by the industrial power of the north and he had to risk a general offensive while he still could and hope he could force the union to make peace. All US Army officers study to this day the Battle of Gettysburg and the strategic logic involved in the Confederate offensive.
What territory is it losing exactly? I was under the impression that the frontline has been mostly static for a few weeks now, Russian morale is low, and HIMARS has been destroying materiel with regularity.
I think it’s also good to step back and think about the big picture. I just read an estimate that there are about 120 Russian BTGs on the frontline. (There are some behind the frontline too, but not very many as I understand it.) It sounds like a lot but let’s break that down: each BTG has about 800 troops at full strength, that’s 96,000 troops in total. But of course very few of them are at full strength, maybe at half strength on average but let’s say two-thirds to be generous. That’s about 60,000 troops, but most of them of course are not infantry but in a support role, so maybe 20,000 Russian infantrymen in total on the frontline?
Can a mere 20,000 troops take a country of 43 million (pre-war), which is defending its very survival and is being supplied with armaments constantly? Nearly the entire Russian army is already in Ukraine. Are there enough Russian volunteers,Wagner mercenaries, and Chechens to make a difference?
I may have this completely wrong (somebody please inform me if I do) but it seems to me that unless there’s a widespread mobilization effort in Russia or a complete collapse of Western support of Ukraine, I don’t see how the Russians can take the country.
The current intelligence reports speak speak of Russian artillery movement from areas, along the front, where they are needed, to the south, leaving big “holes”.
Hungary must be proud:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/06/viktor-orban-cpac-far-right-us-trump
That article is so funny – showing Orban on a shirt with the text inscribed:
The Leader of Europe.
That CPAC looks to me like an insane’s asylum …
Another thick far right propaganda-media stunt.
It could work in Hungarian govt. media – designed to divert attention away from the dire consequenses of “Orbanomics”, for which people now pay.
When he returns, you will see another campaign of lies, this time aimed at the Ukrainian refugees.
Wolf, to actually claim that a Hungarian despot has any say in European politics, must be testament to American/British ignorance about European politics.
It may be accepted in ultra-right USA and Britain, but in continental Europe (bar Hungerian govt media), it’s not a message anybody can recognize unless they live in the virtual, digital reality. Based on the Hun. government’s factual record, Orbán’s operation ranks among the poorest performers in Europe.
But that’s based on recorded numbers – not words.
I have relatives in Hungary and Romania. When we talk, they agree that Orbán is exactly the same as Ceausescu – Only Hungarian.
Michael, the CPAP conference is now being followed all over the European media. Everybody is laughing at these extreme right wingers ( fascists?) but they still are dangerous. And they got support from high level now that SCOTUS has continued its “weapons for everybody” politics and the suppression of women’s rights.
When I think of CPAPP and O1G’s Hungary i remember Mussolini and Hitler -many people used to laugh thinking about them – it’s a crazy world.
Just have a look at the pictures that CPAP has on the media.
I can tell you that the conference is not at all “being followed”, let alone reported on daily, all over Europe.
Something could be a little out of proportion, in your media window.
Michael sorry – of course no daily comments but at least one article on the”conference”.
That’s rather uncommon for local happenings in the USA.
And of course the connection to O…
Don’t know if they invited other European politicians too – would be interesting to see.
Previous experience with the former US president, along with the current situation, make finding an elected politician from another EU/NATO country at that meeting, highly unlikely.
German Euronews has brought something about O.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7Kjvct1RRE
I would expect the next state-financed national Hungarian hate campaign to be directed at the Ukrainian refugees and of course, “Brussels” – If anything that could divert some of the growing disappointment with Orbánomics’ failure away from home, at least while the war lasts.
Yes you hear it now Brussels is to blame for the war in Ukraine and the devaluation of the forint and everything. If the statistics do not lie, never trust a statistic that you have not falsified yourself, then the Hungarians are very pro-EU/Europe … well let’s wait and see it will get worse as long as the money from the EU does not flow. Then we can check the wisdom if Orban will be elected from his chair, as some thought in the past …
And the beat goes on …
Austrian former fascist prime minister Strache commented on the meeting of Trump and you know who:
For those who can read German:
“Zwei konservative und freiheitsliebende Politiker!”, schrieb er etwa. Dann wurde er noch deutlicher: “Ministerpräsident Orban ist die Hoffnung für ein freies und patriotisches Europa. Respekt! HC”
https://kurier.at/politik/inland/hoffnung-fuer-freies-europa-strache-huldigt-orban-auf-facebook/402098553
I can’t eat as much as I want to throw up!
“Chuck Norris doesn’t eat honey. He chews bees.” The fighting machine from the video store Chuck Norris turns 80. Unlike Knight Rider or MacGyver, Chuck Norris saved the world with pure violence. Humor: zero, niente, zero. Bang, bang, bang, bang – and that’s it. Orban says he also wants to hit more and politics less. Whether he is tougher with his bulletproof bacon rind on his face than Chuck with his bulletproof full beard remains to be seen, intellectually they are on the same level “I come from the street”.
Trump wants to dissolve the education system Orban has already done that. He wants to become the smartest – like Orban in Hungary. 😀
Funny:
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/05/texas-cpac-dallas-viktor-orban/
The Tribune is not a friend of Cruz etc, you can feel their glee when listing the attendants: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Steve Bannon, Alex Jones etc.The Trumpistas are showing their real faces too:
making lewd jokes about Vice President Kamala Harris and downplaying the number of people who died from COVID-19.“This virus has almost killed as many people as Hillary Clinton,” said Kelly.
Crazy!
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/06/cpac-donald-trump-texas/
And the picture at the start of this article shows that what once was called the bible belt is now the obesity belt …
The Texas Tribune you cite Wolfi is a nonprofit media organization headquartered in Austin, Texas the most liberal city in Texas overall.. The foundation was created in 2009 by venture capitalist John Thornton and veteran journalists Evan Smith and Ross Ramsey. Thornton and his wife, Julie, seeded the venture with $1 million of their own mone to fund the organization’s nascent operations and began to raise money from around the state and around the country from individuals, corporations, and foundations. An additional $2.5 million donated by various foundations and Texas philanthropists including former Democratic Lt. Governor Ben Barnes, financier T. Boone Pickens and businessman Red McCombs.
In Texas Fox News on TV is generally number one and the pro-Trump reporting seems endless down there.
I thought the coverage by the Texas Tribune of the Uvalde massacre was really the best and most detailed, however some reporters based in San Antonio who are deeply tied to Tejanos culture did some very revealing stories about the corruption in Uvalde, things like breakouts of dozens of illegal Mexican border crossers in the town of Uvalde from trucks running from the US Border patrol. Also the LA Times has done some good journalism work on Uvalde and the over all cover up of police incompetence in dealing with the murder in the school. Virtually everything these journalists uncovered has now been verified by a detailed report done by an independent commission under the auspice of the Texas State legislature.
Since Wolfi you raise the issue of overweight Texans. Among the most overweight Texans are actually the Tejanos and there are many health studies that show this, for example see https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15469379/ . For the most part CPAC is largely white and many come from all over the USA to this convention. But there are indeed very right wing Mexican Americans, we need to recall that many Tejanos during the Texas revolution fought against the Mexican government along with white Texans and supported slavery in the 1840s.
Also Wolfi there is a social class divide among conservative Evangelicals in Texas. The Mega Churches in suburban Dallas, Houston, and other higher income areas of Texas often have gyms and exercise programs. See https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/the-fittest-churches-in-texas-ranked/
There are similar church based gyms in the huge churches in exclusive areas of Albuquerque New Mexico where we often go in the winter and have met other retirees who go to these big churches including retired military people i know. The Legacy Church there which is huge has social programs like a runners club and it operates a full christian academy for children with an extensive sports program.
More rural Baptist fundamentalist Churches really do not have the money to have such programs and focus more on traditional things like Bible studies.
.
Istvan thanks again for the background info!
I immediately felt that the Texas Tribune is not your typical Texas Maga news and I had a similar feeling on my visit to Texas (following concerts by my favourite Rock musician) that Austin was much more liberal than the other cities.
In a way this is similar to the relationship between Bavaria which was (and in parts still is …) clerical fascist territory and its capital liberal/left Munich.
I still remember that not too long ago the Bavarin clerical fascist+ government of Seehofer (I’ve written about this little fascist here and on Eva’s site) brought in a law that would have forced every state building whether school or office to have a crucifix near the entry door!
Since I mentioned retired military people who are tied to the Christian mega-churches in the USA, it is only fair to say some very high ranking retired officers filed what is called a amicus brief to a case now before the US Supreme Court trying to end race-conscious admissions policies at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and Harvard University that would impact all colleges in the USA.
Their brief argues that colleges and service academies need to consider race as a factor in admissions decisions helps the U.S. military achieve its goal of cultivating a diverse officer corps, which they said accrues benefits both within the ranks and in overseas operations.I am in total agreement with them. The brief can be seen here https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-1199/232531/20220801183329801_20-1199%20and%2021-707_Brief%20of%20Amici%20Curiae%20Former%20Military%20Leaders.pdf
The letter is about how to make the US army function better, not about real inclusion.
The word “modest” in this sentence from the conclusion says it all:
“Achieving such diversity requires the continuing modest use of race conscious policies at universities…”
The “racial diversity” also serves the goal to look better.
E.g.
If you have an operation in a country in Africa, it looks good if you have some black officers in your troops to the locals.
People serving in the army with South American roots may like it more to be commanded by an officer with the same roots.
I can agree with the goal from a point of view from army functionality, but I would be very cautious to claim that his letter is a call for inclusion of “race groups”
.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racialization
I don’t agree, our officer core has to reflect the composition of the US military itself. For example In 2020, Black Soldiers comprised approximately 21% of the active-duty Army, 15% of the Army National Guard and 21% of the Army Reserve. Black Americans serve in the Army at a rate that is higher than their representation in the U.S. population. But overall the officer corp of the Army is about 74% white. Overall the US military is disproportionately non-white at the level of enlisted personnel compared to our population.
When we look at the highest ranks of our military it is a very white club, General Austin the current US Sec of Defense is a rarity in the Army as was the late General Colin Powell.
Indeed the officer corp is heavily from the south of the USA, the bulk of all recruits to the military come from small cities and rural America. The military offers people a pathway to prosperity assuming you survive or are not permanently disabled.
As for our troops now in Africa there is no attempt to use more African Americans there. The USA actually tried to colonize part of Africa using freed slaves prior to the US civil war and created Liberia. The country has been racked by civil war because the Americo-Liberian settlers did not relate well to the indigenous peoples they encountered, especially those living in the more isolated interior. Colonial settlements were raided by the Kru and Grebo from their inland chiefdoms. Americo-Liberians promoted religious organizations to set up missions and schools to educate the native populace. Americo-Liberians formed into a small elite that held disproportionate political power; indigenous Africans were excluded from birthright citizenship in their own land until 1904.
In 1980, political tensions from the rule of William R. Tolbert resulted in a military coup during which Tolbert was killed, marking the end of Americo-Liberian rule in the country and beginning decades of political instability. US Black soldiers are not necessarily seen as friends of African people. I was sent to Liberia for two weeks on a training mission during the 1980s it was a nightmare there and many of the more highly educated English speaking ancestors of US slaves have left the country.
I believe you when you say there is a disbalance in ethnicity when you compare the lower ranks with the higher. I also understand that it would be good to have a representative mix in all ranks for a more optimal functioning of the US military forces. And this better functioning is the goal of the letter as far as I can judge, not your idea that “our officer core has to reflect the composition of the US military itself”
Now writing that the universities are responsible for this disbalance is a bit simple.
I do not know how the procedure works in detail, but on the homepage of the ROTC program one can read that one should apply for this program at the army, which would make the army responsible for the first “modest use of race conscious policies”
https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/find-your-path/army-officers/rotc.html
Except in rarer circumstances you must have a BA degree to be an officer. There is a program called officer candidate school which is the fast program for becoming an officer. They do accept NCOs without BA degrees and some become 1st Lieutenants. But advancing much beyond that rank is hard unless you have completed college level math classes and physics.
Since WW2 what are called “field commissions have become very rare. It is not against military rules to move up someone from the enlisted ranks to the officer corp without additional training. But it really does not happen any more.
From the ROTC homepage:
“High school students who apply for ROTC are eligible for scholarships covering up to the full cost of tuition, plus money for personal expenses and books.”
So, who selects for this program?
And is this program not for getting a BA degree and start a military career?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/03/michael-langley-first-black-four-star-marine-general/
And he will be active in Africa.
https://www.npr.org/2021/11/12/1054790980/marine-corps-david-berger-diversity-military?t=1659976765155
It’s not a matter of being politically correct or “woke,” he said.
The core of America’s strength lies in its diversity, Berger said, adding that the same is true for the military.
This commentary https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/07/vicktor-orban-republican-party-cpac-dallas-new-fascism/ is written by a leading journalist on international affairs who also wrote a brilliant book titled “The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam.” I met Lansdale during the Vietnam war and he was obviously a CIA agent acting as a US State Department official. How Max Boot got all of his classified information to write his book is really unknown to me.
Back to reality in Hungary.
My wife just got really angry when she read that a cancer hospital cannot finish the necessary restaurations and repairs because as a Government representative said: The EU doesn’t give us the money …
But she also read that O1G spent more than 30 million € on sports faviliies in Transsylvania/Erdely …
And maybe interesting for Istvan:
While shopping in our Lidl in Drostdorf (old German name of the little city of Dorog which used to be over 50% Germans …) near Esztergom we saw and heard a group of young Indians shopping, speaking an Indian language.
Seems that Suzuki already got more than 1500 workers from India because they cannot get enough Hungarians to work there – the competent people are all fleeing to DACH! There are agencies looking for qualified people all over the world.
For those who don’t know DACH is short for the car licence plates of Deutschland, Austria, Confederatio Helvetica.
Blaming the EU seems to be the new government strategy.
After recent significant raises for police, officers in the armed forces, and government appointees, the Hungarian teachers and nurses made demands for higher pay. The official answer was: “Ask the EU for more money”.
Blaming the EU seems to be the new government strategy … i “don’t know”, wasn’t the EU and IMF to blame 10 years+ not normal, yes it was.
Of course, Don!
The new part is government representatives (incl. PM) directly telling teachers and health workers, en bloc, that if they want a raise, they should turn to the EU, because the government finds they get enough as it is.
By the way, I like the observation of oversized ego-rubbing and The Viktor’s realistic international status of barking, but potentially contageous flea, in this ananlysis:
Reading Viktor Orban’s Mind: ‘Damn It, I Could’ve Been President!’ | Balkan Insight
I find Mr. Simonyi’s contribution pathetic in every respect. Orban is a racist Simonyi obviously believes it is a political game, how pathetic to warn of a danger in the future – the racists are already in power. Sleep on Mr. Simonyi … thanks for the link Michael.
I think every description in this story is probably accurate https://kyivindependent.com/national/torturing-people-is-fun-for-them-16-year-old-ukrainian-recalls-his-3-months-in-russian-captivity. In fact I heard screams of captured Viet Cong soldiers being tortured when I first arrived at an airbase in Vietnam.
I have no doubt some of the Russian torturers will become haunted by what they did and will have nightmares, others will never look back and hide what they did from even their own families.
This is an interview with Prof. Deneen from the University of Notre Dame du Lac. His book Especially how he describes the Viktor is very interesting.
https://mandiner.hu/cikk/20220803_kozelet_interju_patrick_deneen_usa
And he seems to be a regular guest in the Mandiner
https://mandiner.hu/cikk/20191125_patrick_deneen_interju
Jan in response to a post by you above, as was obvious from the story the commanding General of the US Africa command is now an African American who will be stationed in Stuttgart Germany. I am sure he will be in Africa regularly, Gen. Michael Langley like myself was an artillery officer. General Langley graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington and was commissioned in 1985 and his admission to the Univ of Texas was critical to his rising in the ranks, the primary issue of the amicus brief filed by the retired officers was about admissions standards that would allow for minority students some breaks (called preferential admissions) in even getting in the door of colleges. General Langley was promoted to four star Marine Corp General in the normal way and is as are all US Marines a warrior first with an extensive combat record.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jami Shawley assumed command of Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa just on May 14, 2022. She is a white woman and is on the ground in Djibouti which is the only permanent U.S. base in Africa. Like my own daughter who is a US Army reserve Lt Col, General Shawley
I am sure scored high on her ability to learn foreign languages and is a great leader. Like my own daughter she has seen combat.
Our US forces are not trying to put on a show of African Americans in that area of the world. We are trying to contain Islamic Jihadists and to be honest help kill them. There are now also Russian mercenaries known as the Wagner Group deployed in Mali. China is the most active of our global competitors in Africa and is intent on building a military air base and/or naval facility in Equatorial Guinea.. We have somewhere around 6,000 US soldiers in Africa. I have seen zero indication we are loading up on African American troops in Africa. In fact I just looked at some US Voice of America photos of US troops training African forces and in most of the photos the NCOs and officers doing the training were white.
President Trump wanted to withdraw all US forces on the ground in Africa, he was blocked from doing that by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. The reason we are seeing an increase in US troops in Africa is because President Biden has restored the troops Trump withdrew.
Back to Hungary and its news.
Here’s a Putin-loving site, I wonder who finances it.
https://hungary.postsen.com/tag/hungary
I can’t read the Hungarian articles but I find the articles often ridiculous and the translation sometimes funny or even grotesque. They don’t know the difference between she and he e g.
And now of course everybody there is whining about the bad, bad Ukraine which doesn’t allow the transfer of Russian oil to Putin’s friend Hungary.
And of course it’s the fault of the EUSSR!
Hungerexit now!
We Germans want back our cheap holidays at the Balaton!
The gender neutral nature of Hungarian is a huge problem for all translation programs google translate is especially problematic. This especially the situation where an article has both men and women named in it. The personal pronouns that are used to supply the names of persons. Are én, I; te, thou; ő, he or she; mi, we; ti, you; ők, they seem to baffle the translation programs sometimes.
As Eva once posted several years ago once a non-Hungarian reader accepts the problems with google it can be usable. I think a big problem also is the use of slang in some articles that google interprets very oddly.
I also found on my last visit to Esztergom that some English words taken from US African American slang commonly used in hip hop or rap were being used by adolescents that completely took me by surprise. For example Yo motherfucker I heard used by some young people as a greeting just as it might be on 79th street In Chicago’s Black community.
Istvan, the fun side is that there with he/she you immediately can recognize machine translation from Hungarian. My wife’s son used to make the same mistakes until I helped him and he told me that his English teacher had said: Don’t care, it’s too complicated for you anyway …
And there are more obvious mistakes, usually concerning grammar. But shouldn’t an internet news site like this have some human checks?
I’m still wondering about their selection of “international news” and who pays for this all …
Sanctions on bank transfers from Russia, slow down oil deliveries to Hungary via the old Comecon pipeline:
Hungarian Refiner Pays Russia’s Transit Fee to Restart Oil Flows (yahoo.com)
Hot news – or not?
The Polish PISsers are threatening to boycott the EU’s decision process by going veto all the time. They want to get rid of Mrs von der Leyen and all the other committee members unless they get those billions of €. Rule of law? Who cares …
Now let’s wait how this will work out …
Sorry, couldn’t yet find a source in English
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/zahn-um-zahn-im-streit-um-eu-gelder-polen-droht-ursula-von-der-leyen-zu-stuerzen/28590478.html
Now we have to wait how the Hun government will follow – or not.
We’re only in it for the money!
This Kyiv Independent article today https://kyivindependent.com/national/occupied-ukrainian-plant-becomes-epicenter-of-russias-nuclear-blackmail discusses the dangerous situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. In fact if there is combat at the plant itself, an explosion, Hungary could even be impacted by radiation.
The Kiev Independent correctly notes the Russians are “Anticipating a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the country’s south.” The fortification of the plant is only part of the preparations Russians are making. Numerous pre-made concrete pill boxes and trenches have been placed to prevent simple flanking maneuvers by the Ukrainians. The Russians are clearly planning on inflicting mass casualties on any advancing Ukrainian forces.
Really the Kyiv Independent avoids any discussion of anticipated Ukrainian Army casualties from a counter offensive, in fact writing such a story in the Ukraine would be illegal. Moreover, the Russians have moved additional forces into the area not to man the front lines, but to launch their own counter attack once the Ukrainian offensive slows due to mass casualties.
I have to wonder if the high commands of both the Ukrainians and the Russians are trying to reenact the slaughter of WWI or maybe the Battle of Stalingrad with high tech weapons. Neither Russia or Ukraine much wants to inform their countries of what could be coming.
Back on MAY 13, 2019, Eva our late host posted an article on the Hungarian Spectrum blog about a mysterious new Hungarian new agency V4NA https://hungarianspectrum.org/2019/05/13/v4na-hungarys-independent-news-agency-on-the-march/ of course as Eva sometimes did she was presaging what was to come from V4NA. She explained its links to Fidesz and Orban immediately in her post. Today Magyar Nemzet published this article authored by V4NA https://magyarnemzet.hu/gazdasag/2022/08/rengeteg-mulik-a-haboru-kimenetelen. In this article George Soros is seen more or less responsible for the current war in Ukraine, never mind that Putin sent troops across the border attempting to capture Kyiv and most likely kill the President of Ukraine. Here is what this article says in my translation:
“Petro Poroshenko (President of Ukraine) and George Soros had a good relationship. Poroshenko came to power just after Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian president of Ukraine, was overthrown with the effective cooperation of the Soros network. Yanukovych’s departure was led by the events on Majdan Square, which culminated in a bloody revolution, in which Soros’s Ukrainian foundation, the International Renaissance Foundation, also took an active part, and Soros’s trusted people easily infiltrated the new leadership of the country in order to enforce the interests of the American businessman. The head of the International Renaissance Foundation, Jehven Bistrickij, also spoke about this. In an interview, he told about the financial support provided to the protesters during the events on Majdan Square. In addition to the organization, they provided the demonstrators with clothes, tents, and food, thus contributing to so that the enthusiasm of the demonstrators does not subside. But they also supported a medical team to treat the wounded. The method was the usual one: foundations and organizations benefiting from the generous financial support of George Soros built up in Ukraine for decades, gaining more and more influence, and then they also took a role in the events on Maidan Square, which began as a peaceful student demonstration. The Reneszánsz Foundation also played a major role in the dialogue between the new government and civil organizations after the overthrow of the Yanukovych government.”
Really all V4NA now has to do is to show that this Soros operation in Ukraine presented a threat to Russian to actually repeat Putin’s claim Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was an act of self survival for Russia. Here is how V4NA does in the closing to the article: “This year, in 2015, Soros established the New Ukraine Fund together with Dragon Capital, one of Ukraine’s largest private equity investment companies. The purpose of the fund was to seek investments in several sectors of the Ukrainian economy and to provide capital and management support to companies to enhance performance and develop technologies. It cannot be a coincidence that in the same year the speculator invested 119 million dollars in the American multinational company Monsanto, which was also active in Ukraine in the field of agriculture. After the overthrow of the pro-Russian leadership, the IMF also put increasing pressure on Ukraine to cancel the moratorium on land sales.”
Putin’s justification for invasion is presented now in the article in the person of Soros. Maybe a Fidesz supporter reading Magyar Nemzet this morning will forget all about the idea that Putin started this war that has already kill thousands and thousands, and place the blame on Soros hogy az amerikaiak zsidó ügynöke.
Oh well …
In September 2016, German chemical company Bayer announced its intent to acquire Monsanto for US$66 billion in an all-cash deal. After gaining US and EU regulatory approval, the sale was completed on June 7, 2018.
Of course the main fault of Soros was that he paid for O1G’s holiday in England in 1989 (forgot whether it was Oxford or Cambridge …) – must have been a real shock for a tiszta Magyar to experience life in the capitalist West.
If ever the Hun. govt.’s extended recuiting, spending and grants for media propaganda purposes are leaked, the figures will be astronomic and probably far beyond most peoples worst expectations!
This article appeared this morning in the US Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/12/ukraine-kherson-battle/ the title of the article is “On the Kherson front lines, little sign of a Ukrainian offensive.”
As I have indicated the Russians have heavily fortified themselves and prepared for a mass slaughter of advancing Ukrainian forces. The Post article states repeatedly the Ukrainians are waiting for more US artillery and rocket systems before launching the great offensive.
As Wolfi and other knowledgeable readers can no doubt comment on the Russians in the Battle of Berlin overestimated radically how much damage they could do to the entrenched remaining German forces with artillery and arial bombing runs.
On 9 March, 1945 Germany established its defence plan for the city Berlin with Operation Clausewitz. The first defensive preparations at the outskirts of Berlin were made on 20 March, under the newly appointed commander of Army Group Vistula, General Gotthard Heinrici.
The Soviet offensive resumed on 16 April, two Soviet fronts (army groups) attacked Berlin from the east and south, while a third overran German forces positioned north of Berlin. Before the main battle in Berlin commenced, the Red Army encircled the city after successful battles. Before Berlin fell the combined Russian and Polish communist forces had according to the Russian archives 81,116 dead or missing with another 280,251 wounded or too sick to fight in this battle.
The losses for the German forces were even more with an estimated 20,000 additional German civilians killed in the battle. My own experience in the Battle of An Loc in 1972 where we fortified the town and had extensive air support our post battle estimate of the communist dead was about 10,000 with an additional 15,000 wounded over 66 days of combat. The combined South Vietnamese and US losses of advisers were around 4,400 with many wounded.
I do not think the TV actor Zelensky grasps what his Army could be embarking on with this offensive assuming it happens.
I found this MTI article https://magyarnemzet.hu/kulfold/2022/08/az-igazsagugyi-miniszter-engedelyezte-a-trumpnal-tartott-hazkutatast incredibly limited in its scope and totally not presenting a defense of Trump in the document search of his home by US FBI agents. Telex really is also very cautious about the Trump document warrant search too. There is now some evidence that the man who attacked the FBI offices in Ohio was a Trump supporter and was present at the Jan 6, attempted insurrection at the US Congress. There are many articles in the USA about comments being made on line by supporters of President Trump asking supporters to prepare for civil war. The Washington Post claimed it has information from confidential sources that President Trump removed top secret documents from the White House related to our nuclear defense and that the US Department of Justice did not receive cooperation from Trump to have them returned.
That Washington Post story set off an avalanche of comments on the story, as of an hour ago at least 35,000 posts. I have no doubt because of the complexity of this story the Hungarian largely Fidesz controlled media is at this point very conservative in its reporting.
The Russian media has reported on the Washington Post story that Trump took nuclear secret documents from the White House and they wee still hidden at his home in Florida. Amazingly the Russian media presented this story fairly objectively but presented claims by Trump supporters like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who said the administration of President Joe Biden is “weaponizing” federal agencies, turning the country into a “banana republic.” They also quoted Trump calling the search “political persecution.” against him by the Democrats.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/search-warrant-shows-trump-under-investigation-for-potential-obstruction-of-justice-espionage-act-violations-00051507
Does anyone remember Clinton’s emails. In the Trump-Foxnews era that was the biggest “disaster” while the excessive death rate from covid was hailed as a success by Trump.
In 2018 Trump signed a law that increased the penalty for unauthorized removal and retention of classified information from one year to five years and made it a felony. 😀
I hope Trump is convicted … would be funny if Orban was convicted under his own laws for once. Well funny is maybe not the right description.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/09/why-the-trump-search-warrant-is-nothing-like-hillarys-emails-00050691
It is clearly possible that Trump will be convicted of a crime in relationship to the top secret documents he removed from federal control illegally.
It is also very possible if Trump were arrested and convicted prior to the 2024 election some of his heavily armed supporters would go terrorist against elected Democrats, the FBI, and even more outspoken opponents of Trump in parts of rural America. Steve Bannon and many other extreme Trump supporters actually are advocating armed resistance to any attempt to arrest Trump. We already had an armed assault a few days ago by a retired US navy NCO who served aboard a nuclear armed submarine on an FBI office in Ohio.. He was eventually killed by the FBI and he failed to breach the bomb proof entrance. He was a very open supporter of Trump.
I would say most retired officers I have direct contact with are not among the crazies. But to be honest many of us are frightened of some of the right wing enlisted people we commanded who are among the Trump supporters with both guns and tactical skills.
Really I am praying we avoid civil unrest if Trump is arrested. There are likely close to 20 million semiautomatic assault rifles in private hands in the USA. I own one and keep it in a gun vault in our rural Wisconsin home, it is formally illegal to possess within the City limits of Chicago by municipal law. It is an old one called the SKS actually made in Hungary during the Cold War that ultimately led to the Soviet AK 47. It is a formidable old rifle using a 7.62 x 39mm cartridge capable of firing 35 rounds a minute. My rifle has a fixed ten round magazine, but they are easily modified to hold a 30 round removable magazine. It is very accurate out to about 183 meters.
We are a heavily armed society and
this is all pretty scary.
„Really I am praying we avoid civil unrest if Trump is arrested.“ … this sounds very crazy, although it is a real thought. Democrats should investigate the brutalization of society the Republicans cannot be trusted. It is almost like in Hungary the Republicans are the Fidesz.
Disclaimer: The imprisonment of a criminal can lead to inappropriateness the not imprisonment also.
The Fire Raisers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fire_Raisers_(play)
This article in the Kyiv Independent https://kyivindependent.com/national/why-ukraine-struggles-to-combat-russias-artillery-superiority contradicts claims made by UK and US military advisers that Russian artillery fire had been dramatically weakened due to counter strikes by Ukraine.
The article written by the Ukrainian war reporter Illia Ponomarenko makes this stunning admission: “Russian artillery continues to devastate Ukrainian lines, causing Ukrainian infantry to pay an inflating price in blood… Russia’s numerical superiority, and its endless munitions stock, the result of decades of Soviet production, have had a devastating effect on the course of the war. Russian tactics of rolling artillery barrage, simple but brutal and overwhelming, have paved the way for Russian infantry through charred Ukrainian ruins. It has left many cities in ashes. The disproportion between the number of Russian and Ukrainian pieces deployed to a particular front line area can go as far as 10 to 1. But the acquisition of Western artillery, which is technologically superior to older Soviet pieces used by Russia, has saved Ukraine’s defensive campaign.”
But what about the general offensive that is supposed to be coming any day? It is not discussed at all in this very good article, one that amazingly seems not to be censored at all. Possibly because it is effectively a Ukrainian appeal to to the USA to dramatically and rapidly increase it resources to Ukraine for counter battery fire. To allow the general offensive to take place, because Ukrainian ground forces are being slaughtered by artillery fire day in and day out.
The article cites Serhiy Gnezdilov, a squad leader with Ukraine’s 21st Motorized Infantry Battalion posts on Facebook that apparently are spread widely on social media in Ukraine. I suspect his posts are in fact illegal for a member of the Ukrainian military to put on line. Writing about combat in the town of Pisky: Within less than 24 hours, according to Gnezdilov, Russian artillery fired nearly 6,500 rounds upon Ukrainian defenses in the town. “It’s beyond one’s understanding how some of our infantry manages to survive under this burst of enemy fire,” he wrote. Russian artillery methodically destroyed Ukrainian concrete defenses without facing any resistance from the Ukrainian side. Ukrainian counter-battery was not working at all, according to the message. “It’s a f*cking slaughter in which the battalion personnel is just deterring the offensive with their bodies.”
The Russian media reports today this “As a result of the offensive by the allied forces [Russian troops and DPR militia] the settlement of Peski (Pesky) has been fully liberated” from the Ukrainian military, the ministry’s spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov announced during his daily briefing on Saturday.” I have as yet not seen a Ukrainian claim denying the town has fallen.
It is hard to imagine the Ukrainians launching an offensive in the face of such intense artillery fire, no matter Zelensky’s statements.
The Pentagon estimates Russian casualties in the Ukraine war at 70,000 to 80,000 dead and wounded. This article claims a hemorrhaging of the Russian army. Men are allegedly being kidnapped in Chechnya to be forced into service in Ukraine under threat of torture or imprisonment. Prisoners have allegedly been recruited in Russian prisons for weeks. The government is trying to lure volunteers to the front by promising large sums of money. Russian state television tells the story of a fallen soldier whose death allowed his family to buy a car. Morale on the Russian side is poor and not getting any better. Even if Russia can occupy and hold southern Ukraine for now Russia is weakened. If anyone wants to leave the Russian alliance, now is the time. https://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/ukraine–so-zwingt-das-putin-regime-seine-soldaten-wieder-an-die-front-32621708.html
Well apparently the Ukrainians have not always been able to even pay their soldiers see https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/with-western-funds-slow-to-arrive-ukraine-scrapes-to-pay-its-soldiers/ar-AA10AiZD . My impression is that if the Ukrainian general offensive does not happen, that would be a relief to the Pentagon. They much would prefer Zelensky stay in a defensive posture and keep killing as many Russians as possible.
I have read that President Biden finds Zelensky most difficult to deal with. I have read similar references to members of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff who have indicated Zelensky has rejected US advice repeatedly based on good intelligence. But such disagreements I guess are normal in any war. One South Vietnamese officer during the Battle of An Loc told me đi đụ mình đi con trai (go F your self boy) when I repeatedly advocated for moving howitzers due to losses in gun crews. In a war really the stakes are life and death all the time. Emotional outbursts are pretty normal, it’s not like the movies.
Overall President Biden has shown great restraint in being publicly critical of Zelensky, given his age he has done well under the stress.
Biden has done well …
American Recovery Act
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
Chips and Science Act
Inflation Reduction Act
It’s a nearly $3.5 trillion agenda.
Zelensky he lives “save my country” all or nothing because he is forced to, the catholics still have their purgatory hope, – Biden wants improvements for his country. They both have common ground … what do you have against Zelensky? It just spills out from your texts. He’s not a politician but not like the Republicans who are in Trump’s best part.
I think Zelensky could be much more honest with his people and still not create demoralization.
The truth is no magic weapon system will bring victory. If Ukraine wins it could take years and massive death. If Ukraine loses it will be a sudden collapse based on overreaching. The horror Ukraines would face in a defeat is hard to comprehend.
I think Zelensky is much more honest than you.
A.
Russia is slowly taking territory in the Donietsk region.
(0.5 km/day on the average)
June 25: Severo-Donietsk was taken by Russia
August 12: the front line is pushed 20-25 km SW from Severo-Donietsk.
B.
Russia is successfully defending the occupied territories in the southern and southwestern front lines
(Zaporozhie and Kherson regions).
“On the Kherson front lines, little sign of a Ukrainian offensive”https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/12/ukraine-kherson-battle/
Yes tappanch I too posted the Washington Post article link on this blog, it undercut much of the earlier war reporting of both the Post and The NY Times.
In a horrible war of attrition the country that can send the largest number of their children to their deaths for the longest amount of time can become the winner of what is left of a country in a total war.
This Washington Post article
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/15/ukraine-survey-war-democracy-resilience/.
Indicates there is a lot of support for President Zelensky among the population. The article on the the July 2022 poll, about 80 percent of Ukrainians are fully confident in Ukraine’s military victory over Russia, and another 18 percent are mostly confident — the yardstick is pushing Russian forces back to the pre-February or even pre-2014 positions.
But what was fascinating was only 23 percent of those polled believe it will take more than a year to achieve military victory over Russia. Secretary-General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg just on June 16 stated “We must prepare for the fact that it could take years. (To achieve victory over Russia.) We must not let up in supporting Ukraine.”
I think Stotenberg’s long term vision of this war is consistent with the opinion of Western military analysts who believe a full military victory over the Russians is possible with continued NATO support. There are also a number of western military analysts who believe Ukraine can at best hope to get a long term cease fire in place by conceding about 25% of Ukraine.
Why are the Ukrainian people over all so much more optimistic about the possible length of the war than are most military people from the west? Television is the dominant news medium in Ukraine. Almost all Ukrainians (96.8%) watch TV for news at least weekly, less than half have full internet access beyond text messaging. In November 2016, a new rule came into force requiring Ukraine’s radio stations to play a quota of Ukrainian-language songs each day. The law also requires TV and radio broadcasters to ensure 60% of programs such as news and analysis are in Ukrainian.
Most war reporting on Ukrainian TV is controlled by the State Special Communications Service of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Zelensky – has taken to social networks like TikTok, Telegram, and Twitter.
Like his nightly TV reports his messaging is the Ukrainian armed forces are heroically inch by inch defeating the Russian invaders. The ultimate victory is within reach, but how long that could be is ambiguous at best. Zelensky is a TV star and powerful in the skills of messaging. Based on this new polling data it does not appear Ukrainians in mass are prepared for a long war of attrition. But then really who ever is, certainly not the Russian people either. The people in the USA were totally unprepared for our long wars in the Middle East and were not ready for the length and depth of our war in Vietnam either.
What alternatives does Ukraine have if it wants to continue to exist as a state? I think accepting a partial occupation of Ukraine by Russia would only be a short-term “peace”. Putin will perhaps keep quiet for a few years and then continue with the conquests. Putin has always waged war why should he stop. The motto is either a war of attrition or a war of attrition.
There is still the question, on which border Putin will stop?
I don’t disagree that Putin’s ultimate goal is to control all of Ukraine right up to the NATO borders.
The Polish people in September 1939, were faced with liquidation by the combined Russian and German forces.
They were completely crushed by the first week of October. The Poles actually put one million troops into combat and given what they were faced with made largely the correct tactical decisions including withdrawing to the southeast where they prepared for a long defence of the Romanian Bridgehead and awaited expected support and relief from France and the United Kingdom that never came.
So sometimes you do lose your nation completely, it can happen. The Ukrainians have held up to Putin’s initial onslaught and saved Kyiv. Really now they need to make the Russians pay in blood for any offensive actions and be prepared for it to go on for years.
The USA and NATO (minus Hungary) can support the slaughter of Russians for years at least in theory
Major offensive actions currently by the Ukrainian Army will increase their material and human losses and potentially lead to disaster. Putin is counting on the EU to break before the home front in Russia does. If Putin gets real lucky isolationist Republicans will take power in the US Congress and contain military aid to Ukraine. Putin could initiate tactical warfare nuclear against Ukraine too and force Ukraine to sign a peace agreement. Most Western military analysts do not think Putin would cross that line, I think he could and I do not see the USA and NATO countering with tactical nuclear attacks against Russian forces.
Zelensky sees taking back parts of occupied Ukraine as essential for the war effort no matter the cost. Up to now luckily that has not happened.
Fighting is still better than being kidnapped or shot. What do you imagine Zelensky should say: Beloved people, pack up everyone, we will leave Ukraine there and go abroad, but not to Hungary.
I have no recommendation on President Zelensky’s messaging. But he should as I have said before tell the truth that this war will go on for a long time. Among the few things Orban understands is that the war in Ukraine could go on and on. In that sense Orban is similar to the thinking in the Russian population. Putin stays tight lipped on that critical issue.
„I have no recommendation on President Zelensky’s messaging. But he should as I have said before tell the truth that this war will go on for a long time.“
I could never read something like that from you about Orban, never mind …
I’m almost sure that Putin won’t stop – if he does for a few months he’ll find a new reason to restart the war/invasion(whatever.
The only chance for a sure end to the war is Putin leaving office – several possible ways …
I just read on another site about a book;
WHAT CAN WE HOPE FOR?: ESSAYS ON POLITICS By Richard RortyThis appeared in 1998 and “predicted” a lot of the latest developments worldwide, horrible!