Well I don’t know if Kyiv is going to fall tomorrow, but it is obvious there is a lack of…
February 15th, 2023
Voila, the “Council of Judges” (OBT) has already submitted to Orban's "reorganization" by the afternoon. https://obt-jud.hu/sites/default/files/ulesek/Osszefoglalo_2024.11.20.pdf
Putin's spokesman, Peskov: "Freezing the conflict in Ukraine [along the existing frontlines] is UNACCEPTABLE for Russia, it is important for…
According to the 2015 contract, Russia would build the the Paks-2 atomic power plant for 12.5 billion euros, from start…
Current US situation: https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/commercial-backyard-flocks
So team Orban ran this story as it’s lead article in its flagship newspaper today https://magyarnemzet.hu/kulfold/2023/02/megrazo-felvetelek-terjednek-az-ukrajnai-haborurol-tomegek-tuntetnek-a-beke-mellett-video .
The reports of these peace demonstrations “demanding that no NATO member send more weapons to Ukraine, where the Russian-Ukrainian war has been going on for almost a year” is based on information collected by Fidesz’s own V4NA news agency. Which basically rewrites articles from RT news and Tass.
What is criminal about this article is that it never mentions once that peace groups staging such demonstrations in Western Europe formally also call for Russia to withdraw its armed forces from Ukraine.
Formally so does the nation state of Hungary which has called the invasion illegal and a violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine. All of that is jettisoned from this article today.
I share with these peace activists a growing horror over the slaughter of both Russian and Ukrainian soldiers they are witnessing on their TV screens every night. Putin has authorized a prolonged war of attrition against Ukraine that in my opinion could lead to Russia unleashing tactical nuclear weapons at least against the Ukrainian armored division being created right now.
As US General Milley at a press conference just the other day in Brussels put it “Ukraine today is fighting while training and evolving future operations. Ukraine will integrate recent commitments of armored vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles and tanks with fires to achieve the effect of synchronized ground maneuver.”
The General here is discussing what is called elsewhere the breakthrough force composed of amor, APCs, artillery, and mechanized infantry that in theory break the backs of the Russians. Putin doesn’t believe it will, but he has already made it clear if it does create a breakthrough he will not hesitate to use tactical nukes on that force. Are we then off to President Biden’s much discussed reference to Armageddon? I can’t answer that but being a less than perfect Catholic I still pray for it not to happen.
Since I have just admitted to being a Catholic in good enough standing to receive holy communion I have to note this article https://telex.hu/zacc/2023/02/15/nem-tudjuk-oruljunk-vagy-aggodjunk-de-rogzitsuk-a-tenyt-ordoguzot-fogadott-orban-viktor-a-karmelitaban
It’s about Orban meeting with an American Catholic priest who apparently practices exorcism. Indeed the practice is still allowed not just in some Catholic parishes in the USA but possibly in Hungary too.
It could be that Orban believes himself to be possessed and an exorcism frees him from himself … something like purgatory? Orban has, so to speak, the Holy Conception. May I be forgiven for my Catholicism.
Orbán cosying up to the American far-right Christian chapter, can hardly surprise anybody.
Now that he lost sympathy from the Polish side (and the Vatican), where madcap Catholic preachers practice exorcism as therapy on conditions considered “woke” or “diabolic”, in the psychiatric system.
Although he most probably would prefer an authorized Orthodox Rasputin figure, (which he knows wouldn’t go down well with the Hungarians) he chooses to go to the other available commercial sources of these religious malpractices.
It is really troubling for me that exorcism is still accepted and practiced in the Catholic church – starting in the Vatican and going down the hierarchy:
https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-churchs-views-on-exorcism-have-changed-a-religious-studies-scholar-explains-why-182212
This article describes several cases of young people dying during the exorcism – in the last years, not a century ago!
This kind of lunacy always reminds me of the last time my friends and I tried to have a discussion about torturing and burning witches and the young priest involved said:
Yes, their bodies were tortured but their souls were saved!
PS:
That was more than 60 years ago …
Inciting and upholding fear is too good a side-business for the Curch, to let it go.
Fideszniks are funny!
#Gergely Gyulás gave an interview to the “Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung”, an extreme right wing magazine, which claims to represent the East Prussians, the area which now belongs to Russia with Kaliningrad/Königsberg as its center.
Its topic was the ugly EU involving itself in Hungarian education and not giving all those billions of €s that Hungary wants/needs/is entitled to.
https://ungarnheute.hu/news/eu-mischt-sich-in-ungarisches-bildungssystem-ein-sagt-minister-53989/
He probably thought he was talking to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the prominent conservative newspaper.
I just hope that the EU will stay strong and not take the easy way out with Orbanistan.
The Polish PISsers btw are also screaming about wanting money.
An article in Magyar Nemzet follows this with:
EU is an inhuman tyranny, NATO is a threat to Hungary and Europe
https://dailynewshungary.com/hungarian-pro-government-daily-nato-is-a-threat-to-hungary/
So just f*ck off!
As to this point: “According to the author of the Magyar Nemzet article, Ukraine has become an open dictatorship, where opposition parties and critical media banned.”
Well to the extent that some of the Russian language media in Ukraine went over to Putin, that is not completely untrue. (See https://www.rferl.org/a/critics-blast-lviv-ban-on-russian-language-culture/29500756.html)
On the other hand media critical of Zelensky has been allowed to continue although there are censorship rules in place.
In 2020, the Ukrainian parliament passed a set of laws that allow the government, under certain conditions, to control telecommunications and restrict access to the internet. During a state of emergency, which Ukraine is currently in, the government can augment surveillance and intercept private communications..
Ukraine heavily censors Russian-affiliated online media. Any online publications that deny Russian aggression are prohibited. This effectively blocks all Russian media like RT or Tass. In 2021, President Zelenskyy signed an order to block three TV channels controlled by pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk. In previous years, many Russian media outlets were already outlawed by the Ukrainian authorities. Yandex, the most popular search engine for the Russian-speaking world, is also blocked.
When it comes to topics such as separatism, Russia, Europe, terrorism, and patriotism, many journalists and regular internet users in Ukraine have gotten into the habit of self-censorship. This is done out of fear for persecution and violence, both in government-controlled Ukraine, as well as in the Russian occupied areas.
On the other hand Orban’s pro-Fidesz Hungarian language newspapers published in Ukraine have not been closed down so https://kiszo.net can be read including some articles that are pro-Russian in my opinion.
Ukraine is at war with Russia and there is wartime censorship in place.
My understanding is proxy servers are used in Ukraine pretty commonly in order for some of the intelligentsia to avoid getting in trouble.
We can now rest assured that Putin has decided on pursuing a long war of attrition in Ukraine that could easily extend for several more years with countless deaths. Andrey Sushentsov who is the Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club and a very heavy hitter in the world of American studies (his resume of US universities he has lectured at or been a resident scholar at is extensive) has an article published today across Putin’s media and translated into the languages of the Earth.
In Russian it’s “Вот почему Зеленский хочет долгой войны с Россией” which translates in English using Yandex to: “This is why Zelenskiy wants a long war with Russia.”
In my opinion this essay is part of Russian psyops or psychological operations. It is Sushentsov opinion that Zelensky and Ukraine that wants a bloody war dragged out without compromise not Russia.
In his opinion the US and NATO plan on creating a permanently highly militarized Ukraine that will be similar to Israel and subsidized by the West basically into the future. That is envisioned as a permanent threat to the Russian Federation.
Actually the US military believes from statements made by US General Milley (chair of our Joint Chiefs) in particular that more than likely Ukraine will be defeated in a long protracted war and would have to seek a bad peace deal. Hence the current hope that a new Ukrainian armored division equipped with advanced German and US battle tanks, and modern APCs for mechanized infantry can breakthrough Russian defenses returning additional parts of Ukraine to government control forcing Russia into a stalemate ceasefire that could evolve into a defacto peace.
Elements of this Russian psyops are already being promoted by Fidesz in Hungary. But of course the Israeli component is jettisoned because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an ally of Orban.
Honestly, I don’t see the logic why Selensky should supposedly plan a long war. How do you plan a long war … just attack once in a while and then wait until the enemy comes closer again? For that Selensky’s resources of people are not inexhaustible. On the other hand, Putin could get an advantage by the number of Russian population alone. The USA or Biden will also have no interest in a long war because the financial support of Ukraine could disappear already in 2024 by the Republicans. Sushentsov fantasies are not comprehensible unless he is a Republican populist.
Well its psychops aimed at the Russian population to prepare them for a much longer war and to blame the longer war on Ukraine.
Neither Zelensky nor NATO/USA want a longer war. Which is why NATO/USA are gambling on a breakthrough operation using massed armor. Wolfi and other Germans no doubt have historical memory of Hitler’s Ardennes Offensive that lasted for five weeks from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945.
I see this breakthrough operation by the Ukrainians as very similar to the German strategy. Antony Beevor wrote a very readable book about it that is now banned in Russia, as are all of his military history books.
The German offensive was kept brilliantly covert and sprung on US, and allied forces. Initially it was very effective but ended in a German bloodbath. This breakthrough operation by the Ukrainians is being broadcast to the Russians and will not be a surprise to them. The presumption seems to be the Russians are in such a poor state it just might push a lot of the Russians out of Ukraine. Even if that happened Putin could still fight on from behind Russia’s internationally accepted borders.
My commanding General while I was in Vietnam was a young combat officer for the US Army during the Ardennes Offensive. His name was General Abrams who the US high tech battle tank is now named after. Abrams would appear in the field really unannounced and talk to US officers advising the South Vietnamese Army, he actually talked to me individually and gave me a pep talk on my work with the South Vietnamese forces trapped in An Loc in 1972 as being similar to what happened to him during WWII in the Battle of Ardennes. I found it to be sincere and a moral booster seeing him helicopter into an active combat zone surrounded US Army Ranger body guards who I am sure we’re very worried about his safety.
General Abrams by the way never even flinched from incoming fire coming in around our bunker while was with him. I tried desperately not to do so myself and hope to this day I did not. He just glanced at South Vietnamese officers diving for the ground as if to say to them suck it up.
I don’t know what you were replying to but not to my comment on your post by Sushentsov.
I looked up Sushentsov on google and found this new article:
https://thepressunited.com/updates/andrey-sushentsov-heres-eight-reasons-why-the-us-has-no-interest-in-pushing-for-peace-in-ukraine/
Kind of funny:
This “Pressunited” is from Delhi, probably financed by Russia and today has an article on … drum roll …
George Soros!
https://thepressunited.com/updates/india-slams-meddling-by-george-soros/
The foreign minister described Soros as “old, rich, opinionated and dangerous” because he’s willing to invest his money in “shaping narratives.”
And there’s more nonsense like that – seems India in the long run wants to be a power similar to Russia and China …
Russian forces have now been confirmed to have entered into northeastern part of Bakhmut based on geolocated satellite photos of combat taking place.
The Ukrainians at the apparent urging of NATO have prepared what is called a defense in depth to retreat from Bakhmut. (See https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/16/ukraine-defenses-russia-bakhmut-war/)
Zelensky made the defense of Bakhmut a highly symbolic media issue though his nightly broadcasts, and apparently even had disagreements with the US CIA director William Burns over the importance Ukraine was placing on holding Bakhmut.
The weekly speech – unbelievable!
https://dailynewshungary.com/orbans-state-of-the-nation-speech-the-nato-should-have-accepted-russias-territorial-gains/
Is this all for real? Does he really believe all this? Then Hungary should leave the bloody EU, n’est ce pas?
Back to reality:
My wife’s sister just told her a few things about the state of the health system in the town where she grew up:
There’s no more dentist, no more doctor for eyes. the hospital is a kind of ruin – for a chemotherapy you have to travel around 50 km to the next larger town and soon maybe even farther because that hospital might also close down partially. Not enough docs and nurses …
Hungary, the chronic ghost driver in the EU, perfected the art of ignoring the immediate reality several generations ago.
What else could be expected of the popular one-man ruler in Orbánistan?
Hungary produces weapons and ammunition for the German arms industry Rheinmetall. His friend Putin will not like that …
„Europe’s Rebel Leader Woos Germany to Profit From Arms Race
Rheinmetall is building tank and ammunition plants in Hungary
Orban is eying the defense industry as a boost to the economy“
they’re only in it for
peace[correction] money…OV’s “peace camp”? No no just money box
Looking forward for a new HU version of
piggy bank = Meszaros L. / hand = OV’s*
*but currently empty handed because of
EU’s suspension of funds to HU…
PS: could it be that, next to indoctrination of and influence on next generations, behind OV’s University Reforms is actually some sort of earnings model [e.g.sertous parts of EU Erasmus funds planned to end in OV’s piggy bank?]
„is actually some sort of earnings model“ the deeper I bend down the more money I get? If so, the professors have earned their money “honestly”. Even if they only get breadcrumbs … 😀
Bingo! 🙂
(Plus service tenders and administration of prime real estate)
I watched a recording of Viktor Orbán’s 24th annual review and have to say I was glad I was able to stop the video and go back to watch parts of it several times.
For example this passage: “A magyar Frank, a mi Ferink épp most próbálja meg összefogdosni a gazdátlanul maradt lovakat” perplexed me and took a while for my brain to grasp. I mean who F is the magyar Frank, apparently Ferenc Gyurcsány based on the analysis of Telex.
Too many clever-paraszti frázisok for this American born boy. The Russians got to the quick of it in their state media quoting this passage from Orban repeatedly: “Europe is getting immersed in war, in reality they’re already indirectly at war with Russia.” Orban got high marks for the speech from the Russians and they did not bother with Orban’s Hungarian witticisms either.
In German we would say:
Umgekehrt wird ein Schuh draus”
Russia is at war with Europe!
The Baltic states, Finland and Poland too know what Putin wants, control over all of Russia’s neighbours.
The EU was too friendly with Russia (just consider Mrs Merkel) as well as Hungary (remember how long it took for the EPP to think about throwing out Fidesz?), we were naive probably expecting a development to more democracy in the former Socialist states.
But right now it seems that the whole world is going back in time to autocratic and intolerant policies – just look at the was women and especially LGBT people are treated – even in the USA.
And we students were so happy at the end of the 60s and sure democracy would continue to develop and take over the whole world …
PS:
George Soros right now at the conference in Munich warned that it might already be too late to avoid the climate catastrophe – good bye humanity!
Maybe you remember the joke I already told:
Two planets have a conversation. How are you asks one and the other says:
Not too good – I have humans.
And the first answers:
Don’t worry, that sickness will be gone in less than amillion years!
The Hungarian language is coded for those who want to understand it. Not that I knew it before, I listened to a doctor’s assistant – as she explained to the youngster of doctor from Budapest some codes in use in the country. Either they thought I know it so why or I understand nothing anyway. Orban and other Nazis take advantage of this, of course …
Hungarian national debt grew by 15%, in forint terms, in a single year in 2022.
(published today, February 20, 2023)
In 10^12 forints:
2021.12.31: 41.0966
2022.12.31: 47.2961
Source:
https://statisztika.mnb.hu/timeseries/ahtadatok_en.xlsx
President Biden visited Kyiv secretly leaving the USA at 4am. While Biden was in the air the Russians were in fact according to all news reports in the USA notified he was coming.
Effectively Putin could have killed Biden if he wanted to using missiles opening the door to WWIII. Really it shows Putin has not lost complete contact with reality and for all his vicious attacks on Ukraine he is not willing to fire the first shot of World War III.
I think Biden has hidden it not only for his own safety but primarily that not the Republican Trump-ist with a Republic-an delegation visit Putin in Moscow in the same time. … Putin has dismantled himself in the long run and is already fighting more in “Russia” than in Ukraine … Putin would love to nuke us … but his dreams from big Hungary is in … ? Who told you that Putin could have killed Biden.
The Washington Post and The NY Times both reported today that the Russian military was notified that President Biden was entering Ukraine either by train or air which has not disclosed to the US public. As Politico put it today “ Hours in advance of the trip, U.S. officials notified their Russian counterparts that the president would be going for the purposes of “deconfliction.” They did not detail how the Russians responded.” Politico also stated “This was a risk that Joe Biden wanted to take,” said Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director.
It is obvious that if Putin didn’t already know Biden was on the way to Kyiv there were only so many ways to get their from NATO territory.
Currently the Russian hypersonic missiles have not been intercepted so it’s clear Biden could have been taken out if Putin wanted it done, but obviously he did not.
The NY Times this morning admitted that Biden took a train from Poland to Kyiv and the trip took 10 hours. (https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/02/20/world/russia-ukraine-war/heres-how-bidens-visit-to-kyiv-unfolded?smid=url-share) clearly Putin had plenty of time to attack Biden’s express train.
Dmitry Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of the Security Council, claimed not long ago via his Telegram channel that Biden had received “safety guarantees” from Russia for his visit. I personally doubt that is true, but obviously they did not want to kick off nuclear war.
Today there was an uptick in pretty ignorant attacks among Biden supporters in the USA on the Hungarian people over Orban’s position on military aid from the EU nations and NATO members to Ukraine. These cheap shots were aimed at Republicans who visit the Russian boot lickers in Hungary while the heroic Biden risks his life to show solidarity with Ukraine. Really there is an element in the USA that wants full regime change in Russia. President Biden when a US Senator initially completely supported full occupation of Iraq and regime change until it started to fall apart and casualties of US forces added up. There is clearly a level of imperial arrogance on this side of the Atlantic.
Overall people in the USA including Democrats especially are unaware that Peter Marki-Zay made it very clear that the invasion of Ukraine by Russia had to be opposed by providing military aid to Ukraine. That while he and the opposition were soundly defeated by Fidesz still about 35% of the electorate in Hungary voted for the opposition bloc. Hungary is now being seen by many strong US supporters of Ukraine as being fully in the Russian camp.
Honestly many of these attackers have no understanding of the role of nationalism in Hungary on Ukraine and how Orban uses the history of the Treaty of Trianon in everyday politics. Really these pro-Ukrainian Democrats simply don’t care about these more nuanced issues because they operate in a world where only the great nuclear powers are of importance.
Perhaps a nuanced and realistic interpretation of the role of nationalism in Hungary, let alone the Balkan states, is too much to ask of Western media and their political coverage. Even in the EU, where recent history is very present and reflected by the demography of all countries, the long-term consequences of Trianon are rarely given the the status they really have. In the case of Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Romania it’s easily done, but when the subject is Hungary and the Balkans, the paradoxes mount.
Most Western readers simply can’t make any sense of short-circuiting democracy and hating neighbors as something a majority in a country would actively support with pride and passion, while visibly, it’s not doing them any good. That amounts to a paradox beyond immediate comprehension.
Imperial arrogance (a good name for it!) seems to be high fashion among states who consider themselves superpowers or belonging to such. Remember Trump’s “I’ll just buy Greenland”?
We see it more frequently now, as when Britain and a small group of EU countries sent govt. officials and ministers to Rwanda (Rwanda!) in order to negociate deals with the government there, for the purpose of renting old prison facilities and refugee camps and paying Rwanda for administrating them, in which refugees from the Mid East and Africa should be confined and legally processed, more or less indefinitely, before being allowed to move on.
Most Americans won’t even know where Hungary is, whether Democrats or Republicans. To claim that there is a real opposition in Hungary also shows ignorance. The opposition has no arguments that are not already occupied by Fidesz. The consequences of Trianon were also a liberation from Austrian and Hungarian tutelage of the minorities. Moreover, it was the consequence of the Hungarian policy. Just to look for something nuanced.
Yes Don that was proven by asking samples of US residents to find Hungary on a map of Europe with only the outlines of nations on it. My experience in the US Army with enlisted personnel without college educations when assigned to NATO in the 1970s indicated very little understanding about where the “west” was in terms of NATO vs the Soviet bloc. Elvis Presley when in the US Army in Germany was of course kept away from the German media because of his profound cultural ignorance.
Yet the US Army assigned him to the 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32d Armor, 3d Armored Division, at Ray Barracks, in Friedberg, Germany where he served as an “armor intelligence specialist.” Now really it is questionable if he could really tell a Russian tank from a US tank based on old officers stories still floating around in the 1970s.
A Cadillac Gage Commando with big pink fins would have made Elvis feel right at home in Germany!
But Elvis learned the famous Schwab song:
Muss I denn zom Städtele hinaus …
At least the melody and the first lines of the text.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muss_i_denn
I know it’s rather OT …
Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9W6m_PhXq4
Putin‘s speech today included a more extensive form of historical revisionism than usual that was not touched on by news reports in the USA. In fact his attack on the West goes back to a critique of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 19th century. But the US media starts Putin’s historical narrative only post WWII.
Putin according to the Tass translation called this the anti-Russian project of the west. He stated: “The project, in fact, is not new. People who know even the least bit of history know perfectly well, this project goes back to the 19th century. It was nurtured in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, [it was nurtured] by Poland and other countries with one goal: to tear away from our country these historical territories, which today are called Ukraine. This is what this goal is all about, there is nothing new here, no novelty, everyone repeats things.”
Really Putin here goes back to Klemens von Metternich who was the Foreign Minister of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that was critical in putting together a coalition to defeat Napoleon. Henry Kissinger wrote his doctoral dissertation about Metternich.
In today’s world Putin’s reference still has relevance to the Ukrainian province of Zakarpattia Oblast that has a significant Hungarian speaking minority to this day and borders modern Hungary. There are also rumors in Hungary promoted by nationalists who are generally supporters of Victor Orban that Putin would award Hungary that province if he won his war against Ukraine.
This province of modern Ukraine incorporates territory granted originally following WWI to the newly formed Czechoslovakia and taken from Hungary.
Obviously this reference by Putin indicates some double dealing with Putin’s friend Orban who has been really the most pro-Russian element in NATO and probably in the EU too. I actually enjoy seeing Putin kést tenni a hátába of Orban he deserves it.
It is notable that the report on Putin’s speech today in Magyar Nemzet also never mentioned his reference to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all how many Hungarian Orban supporters will ever read the Tass transcript of Putin’s speech.
Of course Telex picked up on Putin’s reference to Austro-Hungary in his speech. See https://telex.hu/kulfold/2023/02/21/putyin-evertekelo-beszed-osztrak-magyar-monarchia
Putin also said that the West started the war. Typical perpetrator victim reversal of dictators was a comment on German television and what surprised me … no more nuclear bomb threat from Putin. I conclude that his staff went through a hypothetical nuclear bomb attack and the result was not “successful”. Putin has “put on hold” an agreement with the U.S. to limit nuclear weapons not canceled! and spoke at a renewal would have to involve England and France. Hear hear …
I doubt that Russia is ready for a renewed nuclear arms race, which could be the result of the decision to cancel the agreement.
I think both parties USSR/USA saw in the treaty their advantages which were in the end economic interests. What you don’t put into weapons you can put into the economy. Apart from that, Putin cannot be trusted … “show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are”.
We, speaking of the USA, are in a full blown nuclear arms race relating to delivery systems with both China and Russia.
Including the nuclear armed torpedo capable of destroying New York City and the hypersonic missiles. The US Research and Development budget for hypersonic missile currently is about 3.8 billion USD and likely more hidden. Russia has a functioning hypersonic missile and has used it with conventional warheads in Ukraine several times where it has worked.
Most of the thermal nuclear war heads today are dial a yield systems that will have many times the power of the bombs used on Japan as their maximum power.
Yes and the answer would be in the worst case a nuclear winter … so is a, 1, tactical nuclear bomb realistic at all? I don’t think so. So it won’t stop at a tactical nuke … how could it …. only a few survive the nuclear winter. If Putin has good sled dogs he can meet with Biden in Alaska. Putin: “i warned you!”
“Hungary’s Viktor Orbán is again threatening to veto the extension of EU sanctions — which have to be renewed every six months — because he wants four individuals removed from the list, three diplomats told Playbook.
Hungary is also opposing a proposal — backed by all other countries — to prolong the extension period from six to 12 months, which would give Budapest fewer opportunities to torpedo the sanctions and derail EU decisions.”
“EU and U.S. leaders have been speaking out about countries that have failed to back Western sanctions, such as India and China — while ignoring that within their own circle of allies, Hungary has effectively become Putin’s saboteur.”
February 22, 2023
https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/putins-eu-saboteur-grab-em-by-the-porsche-2-putins-real-problem/
Tappanch, thanks!
Some highlights from the Politico article:
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni said:
“A defeat of Ukraine would be the prelude to the possible invasion of other European states — this is what some in Europe pretend not to understand,”
Hungary gets more and more isolated in the EU, everybody considers it Putin’s friend. So if there will be anything where Hungary wants/needs support from the others – what will happen then?
It doesn’t look good.
In European news Hungary is more and more exotic – the health system is falling apart, it has the highest number of cancer patients and so on.
And we shouldn’t forget the fight of East European (sh*thole?) countries against the Istanbul convention which is supposed to protect women:
https://www.politico.eu/article/istanbul-convention-europe-violence-against-women/
But of course for those loonies women are just the slaves of their father/husband/priest – take your pick.
Back to the glorious Horthy times – or even to the 17/18th centuries when witches were still tortured and burnt.
It is true that the USA dances around Hungary being an ally of Russia. My suspicion is Sec of State Blinken has been informed that Orban may have on occasion been double dealing Putin.
For example allowing US transport planes loaded with weapons bound for Ukraine to land at Pápa Air Base before going on to Poland. Or allowing combat medical supples to cross the border.
As my grandfather used to say – minden magyar üzletet akar kötni, az ár a baj – Orban is a crook and sometimes crooks are of use.
At today’s Nato meeting in Warsaw, Biden had a chance to meet Szijjártó eye to eye.
Hungary signed the declaration and allegedly backed off on the resistance against certain EU sanctions (perhaps the 12-month ratification period?).
Biden reassures eastern Nato allies on security after Putin’s nuclear warning | The Straits Times
Of course Hungary could have been excluded from the meeting based on the official position on not allowing weapons and ammo to cross the border with Ukraine. The US chose not to do so, because Orban is a gypsy horse trader even in relationship to the Ukrainian war.
Maybe he can be of some use for the CIA and the German BND at some point so why blow things up.
Almost funny:
Hungary Today (in German also available – Ungarn heute) goes crazy because the Slovak foreign minister Rastislav Kácer tells off the Fidesz government’s relationship to Ukraine etc.
https://hungarytoday.hu/slovak-foreign-minister-in-spectacular-meltdown/
Krisztián Ungváry in this essay (https://telex.hu/velemeny/2023/02/22/ungvary-krisztian-putyin-nyugat-ukrajna-oroszorszag-sztalin-hitler-osztrak-magyar-monarchia) takes on Putin’s history on two issues from his speech yesterday, the Nazis seizure of power in Germany, and Putin’s discussion about Austro-Hungary taking historically Russian lands.
I am not sure I agree with Ungváry on either historical issue, but without question he knows a whole lot more about this than I do. Clearly more than Putin too.
Krisztián Ungváry ähh who? Putin Nazi Germany Astro-Hungary that suits him? There are cheap story scoops online. 😀
Michael thanks for the link to the Straits Times. Honestly President Biden can provide no assurances to the front line NATO nations that Putin will not use nuclear weapons.
Our only defense currently is mutually assured destruction. It is totally unknown how many hypersonic missiles Putin has staged with nuclear warheads. Some analysts think only a handful.
The US based Defense News has published articles on our program to create a interception strategy for hypersonic missiles. It is based on the need for the hypersonic missiles to drop from hypersonic speed just prior to hitting the target due to the inability of gps based guidance to work at those speeds.
But the truth is the window for interception will be so small really only very specific US and NATO military installations could possibly be defended. So that returns us to mutually assured destruction going forward with a US developed hypersonic missile system.
We also can’t detect before explosion if a Russian hypersonic missile is armed with a nuclear or conventional warhead. This is a huge problem for strategic defense because to have any real assurance of deterrence NATO nuclear missiles have to be launched based on attacking Russia while their nukes are in route to likely targets including our ICBM based in the USA and air launched nukes from the US strategic bomber bases. Really it all pretty frightening.
MAD is what its name means but I’m sure that more people in the West would have a chance to survive but Russia would be ended, except for a few Siberians etc.
Is Putin really so crazy that he would enjoy the total destruction of Moscow, St Petersburg etc?
I’m still hoping that a few of his people might work against it.
On Eva’s HS we already discussed the scenarios of Dr Strangelove, At the Beach and other Science Fiction and I know more SF stories with bitter endings.
So, assuming Putin isn’t ready to walk the nuclear plank, massive retaliatory high altitude air-strikes with smart bombs and guided missiles launched near the tagets, from all sides, would perhaps put out the Russian candles for long enough to communicate a message of caution before the heavy nukes come in?
And before that, hitting the eastern industrial centers in Russia would hurt more than hitting the frontline.
Hello István I greet you. Https does not work for me anymore but http. The links on the page all lead to https “Page was not found”. For that comes “Verifying that you are not a robot” mark the fields with bicycles. Are you tinkering with “the” homepage? I hope you are doing well.
Kyle Rittenhouse tells Don Trump Jr that George Soros was behind him being prosecuted. That Gyuri Bácsi is a busy fella!
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1628901239130845186?s=20
The conspiracy theorists have their say in the US.
Freedom of speech has gone a long way there.
Freedom of speech in the USA?
In Florida aka deSantistan eg there are lists of hundreds of banned books for young ones …
Now we know however that these lists make some people curious and so they try to get the books somehow.
Reminds me of my youth when we still had the Catholic Index ie list of books you were not allowed to read.
The forbidden fruit is often tastier …
My wife and I own a home and extensive property in the US state of Wisconsin where the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings took place and for which he was found innocent of murder of an a likely anarchist opponent of a police killing in a Wisconsin town.
The idea that Mr. Soros was instrumental in anti police rioting is propagated by far right wing radio programs in northern Wisconsin constantly. Some of the crazier religious fundamentalists see Soros as being associated with the anti-Christ from the Book of Revelation.
My wife and I will be up there in early March for several weeks. My wife is a Native American Seneca Iroquois tribal member as is her family and all native people are also under attack from the far right Trump supporters up there in Clark and Jackson counties of Wisconsin. We are generally armed when on our remote forrest lands which border a Ho-Chunk tribal reservation. Even though my wife is not a member of the Ho-Chunk tribe she has many friends who are. The Ho-Chunk tribe has its own police department whose authority legally ends at the treaty line of the reservation.
Rittenhouse and his mother are rumored to have moved from northern Illinois to Florida. Apparently he fears being murdered by Black bloc anarchists in Illinois. So all of this far right stuff goes well beyond just rhetoric in the USA.
The fascists are going crazy – Indian Hundu right wingers claim that Soros is behind attacks on them too. Well he talked about India in his two minute speech at the last Munich Security Conference …
Google “Soros India” and you’ll find lots of loonie aricles …
A short video (30 seconds) of Putin and Orbán happily laughing together:
https://www.facebook.com/pusztastranger/videos/660972640779242
Does anybody know when this happened and what it’s all about?
“3:45 p.m. – Hungary’s decision on whether to approve Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO will be delayed until the second half of March, according to government sources. Parliament’s deliberations are expected to take about four weeks, says Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas. A vote is likely to be possible no earlier than March 21, he said. In light of Russia’s war in Ukraine, almost all NATO members have approved the membership applications of Finland and Sweden. Only Hungary and Turkey are attaching conditions. While Turkey accuses both countries of supporting political criminals, Orban accuses both countries of spreading falsehoods about the state of democracy and the rule of law in Hungary.” Which democracy and rule of law?
“Remarkable” is the argumentation at second glance, which does not seem to make sense to the Fidesz Intelligentia, quite obviously arbitrary.
This article https://telex.hu/zacc/2023/02/23/orban-rakosi-beketabor indicates that team Orban could be regurgitating old propaganda going back to Mátyás Rákosi times in support of promoting “peace” in Ukraine.
Zacc blablabla bablaba we were on the spot this side and beyond! The Bild/”Blikk” 1970 “Death on the main street” Bild/”Blikk” first spoke to the dead.
At this stage of the complete failure of Orbán’s french clown act on the European scene, there is an acute need for a time-out.
Threading waters at home probably comes first (and easily). But aligning with top far-right people in the US and elsewhere must be an existential prioriety as well.
Let’s see what kind of “spring offensive” they can cook up.
I read that as “… they can c*ck-up, but then you were referencing the American far-right.
Frankly, Telex sounds more and more like Fidesz propaganda. The pathetic conclusion of the Hungarians about the Ukraine war is always the distant history in which the Hungarians present themselves innocent … like today. All very pathetic, cowardly, at best greatest intellectual achievement. Not a word about their own failure as an example Telex “Putin Nazi Germany Astro-Hungary” is the reason not Trianon hatred and revision. This is downright ridiculous as a journalistic or intellectual achievement to still present themselves as victims today.
Speaker of Parliament László Kövér talked at length about the dangers of communism and “the new poisoned ideas” – did he mean LGBT or the freedom from religion or whatever?
However he didn’t mention fascism which was a big success in Hungary (half a million people killed …) nor the big friendship between Putin and Orbán.
dailynewshungary.com https://dailynewshungary.com/speaker-new-poisoned-ideas-and-new-dictators-approaching/
These guys are really crazy!
Just look at Hungarian reality:
The abominable education system
the catastrophes in the health system
the way the ecology is handled, especially the garbage and the stinking cars on Hungarian streets.
We just had a walk through the village and found piles/mountains of garbage – especially beer cans and those little pálinka bottles.
I asked my wife:
Are Hungarians really that kind of pigs and she answered:
No, you can’t say that, it is an insult – to the pigs!
László Kövér – in the best case, you don’t know him at all, but if you do, you know him as a friend of Zsolt Bayer “suffers from scabies”. What poisonous ideas could still come from foreigners is questionable.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev (now deputy chair of the Russian Security Council) seems to be getting more and more unhinged every day. In Izvestia today he wrote “…the issue of the very existence of Russia is raised seriously, it won’t be decided on the Ukrainian front. [It’ll be decided] together with the issue of the further existence of the entire human civilization…[the US and NATO] refuse to understand that their goals are bound to lead to a total fiasco; the defeat for everyone; a collapse. An apocalypse when the former life would have to be forgotten for centuries, until the smoky debris ceases to emit radiation.”
Now there is a positive vision for the future. But I am sure team Orban believes Hungary will be spared from this apocalyptic fate because of the neutrality stance taken on weapons shipments to Ukraine.
🙂 besides, Medvedev threat let’s conquer what we want or we destroy the world for all, really is not scary. Jump down the cliffs or I’ll blow up the mountain we’re standing on. Hasn’t Medvedev been saying that for several months?
He is getting crazier by the day Don. It’s not just the threats so much as how much he is almost looking forward to the end times.
He is reminding me of a TV preacher these days. Here are the signs form God that the end is near says the preacher. When I had to read the Book of Revelation as part of my study to be Confirmed Catholic at age 15 which honestly I found scary because our priest taught it as an allegory to nuclear war. Once I was confirmed I was also declared to be a soldier of Christ, in those days the ceremony was still in Latin. Medvedev takes his conversion to Russian Orthodoxy seriously including the end times.
Yes, there have been human sacrifices in Mexico I heard and that already roughly five hundred years ago. But honestly, I am not impressed by any church [that has nothing to do with ancient texts] even if you are addicted to one. Why should I let myself be blackmailed by a madman?
Being a sworn member of the Church and taking individual standpoints amount to a breech of fundamental personal integity.
You don’t want to go there.
For each person, there is a truth.
Sounds like delusional vodka-talk.
Back to Hungarian reality:
My wife and our neighbour who also gets a pension were extremely angry this morning when they read the “letter” they got from O1G – including a coloured photo of him!
Since this was sent to every pensioner (without any personal details …) hundreds of millions of Forints were wasted.
And combining info on the thirteenth payment with whining about ugly “Brussels” (the EU is never mentioned …) is so crazy it’s almost funny.
The icing on the cake is that also Gyurcsany’s name appears.
Maybe someone has the complete text for printing here?
The letter also has some blablabla about inflation – but of course doesn’t mention the fact that Hungary of course has the highest inflation of all EU countries by far!
PS:
That picture is really funny – it makes one think of a ***expletive deleted***, you have to look at it!
Orban’s Investment Bank is, as usual, a resounding success.
I noted the other day a Telex article by Krisztián Ungváry
looking at a speech by Putin https://telex.hu/velemeny/2023/02/22/ungvary-krisztian-putyin-nyugat-ukrajna-oroszorszag-sztalin-hitler-osztrak-magyar-monarchia. I indicated that I had some reservations about Krisztián Ungváry’s discussion about the responsibility for the Nazis coming to power in Germany. Apparently it wasn’t just myself that had such reservations because Telex ran a response article https://telex.hu/velemeny/2023/02/25/karsai-laszlo-sztalin-hitler-putyin-es-a-tortenelmi-tenyek and Krisztián Ungváry responded to that article today in Telex. I thought I should note this debate for readers of this news blog.
Krisztián Ungváry takes up the propaganda of Putin to put it seriously in a political-historical context. Unfortunately, it is not enough to more than that but now still come the roosters I know better Karsai László responds to it. Perhaps so much in addition the largest problem of the population was their authority faith. With it they were hardly able to differentiate, a circumstance in which Ungváry is obviously also. That Karzai feels called upon to smooth out history in the Hungarian light is nothing short of a laughing stock. But with Telex it is a serious problem 😀 . Where had Ungváry stopped … yes Putin said …
Orban is in Egypt and has been meeting with its military dictator (on his rise to power see https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-19256730) President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi who Orban is claiming supports a cease fire peace deal in Ukraine. But it’s Orban that does all the talking on this issue and al-Sisi says very little because the USA provides military aid to Egypt of around 300 million dollars a year (see https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/us/politics/egypt-military-aid-biden.html).
Orban is quoted today in the Fidesz controlled media as saying “Like Hungary, Egypt is on the side of peace and calls for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. The more of us who represent this position, the greater the chance that the war will end as soon as possible!” But unlike Hungary there is no evidence Egypt would support a cease fire in place as the starting point for discussions. Al-Sisi gets military materials from both Russia and the USA and he really does not care at all about Ukraine, so he will be no help to Orban really.
Egypt has been shopping for multibillion-dollar, cutting-edge weapons from Russia but its unclear if they can provide any weapons to the market given their own problems in Ukraine. Egypt has been ignoring repeated US threats of punitive actions under a law that prohibits Washington’s allies from buying Russian and Chinese weapons. My guess is that Orban’s whole peace talk with al Sisi is for domestic Hungarian consumption to make it look like he is leading some big movement for a peace agreement in Ukraine. The war will grind on with many more dead to come.
For Orban it is important that Ukraine remains in an unstable position in order to pursue his revisionist plans of Greater Hungary. Anyone with a brain knows that Orban’s plans are nonesence.
I think any plans for a greater Hungary are nonsense too because even if Putin took total control over Ukraine he would not just give away Transcarpathia to Hungary. Putin owes Orban nothing really from the perspective of Russian nationalism.
That’s an argument!
Well, if throwing in cheap comments while sitting on the fence, under the Nato umbrella is the best Orbán can do, the only growth will be in the hollowing-out of the country.
“the only growth” means there is also shrinkage?
Negative growth.