September 1st, 2023

  • September 1, 2023
  • István
  • 85 Comments
85 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
tappanch
tappanch
September 1, 2023 14:29

The 30th anniversary of Horthy’s reburial will be celebrated on September 3.

Orban’s minister, J Lazar will give a laudatory speech.

https://24.hu/belfold/2023/09/01/horthy-miklos-ujratemetes-lazar-janos-kenderes-mav-riport/

wolf
wolf
September 2, 2023 07:41
Reply to  tappanch

Will they also show some of those nice pictures of Horthy and his best friend Adolf?
But surely they will continue their whining about “Brussels” aka the big bad EU which doesn’t give them enough money for festivities like that and the villas and castles of the Fidesz honchos all over Europe …

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 3, 2023 01:02
Reply to  wolf

Or perhaps this 1938 shot from Berlin?

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-2005-1017-526,_Berlin,_Reichskanzlei.jpg
tappanch
tappanch
September 3, 2023 20:59
Reply to  tappanch
tappanch
tappanch
September 4, 2023 18:07
Reply to  tappanch

While minister of development Lazar paid tribute to unindicted war criminal Horthy, the defense minister Szalay-Bobrovniczky placed a wreath on the grave of a horse.

“We are a proud nation of horsemen”, he said.

This is not a joke. Hungary is now governed by thieves and robbers pretending to be crazy.

https://hvg.hu/itthon/20230902_SzalayBobrovniczky_Kristof_buszke_magyar_lovas_nemzet_vagyunk

Misi bacsi
Misi bacsi
September 7, 2023 00:52
Reply to  tappanch

Thanks for post (and thanks also to Wolf and Michael D.). Just tragic that my family has to live in a Hungary where this regime celebrates the “un-indicted war criminal”.

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 1, 2023 15:23

Viktor Orbán’s words threaten in the corridor of the renovated high school in Csepel.

The quote, also known as “Hungary’s seven laws”, was uttered by the Prime Minister in 2020. It lists the following seven “laws”:

   1. A country is only as long as there is someone to love it!
   2. Every Hungarian child is another place of refuge!
   3. Justice without strength is worth little!
   4. Only what we can defend is ours!
   5. Every match lasts until we win it!
   6. The only limit is the country, the nation has none!
   7. No Hungarian is alone!

To one – there is no one who loves his home, Great Hungary in the former borders, more than Orban. 😀

To two – every Hungarian child is trained to defend this if necessary with psychological violence.

To three You do not need to demonstrate because I have the power Orban. 😀

To four What we can not protect does not belong to us. 😀

To five We have never lost, we just have to wait long enough. 😀

To six Everywhere where Hungarians live is Hungary – we will change the borders at the next opportunity.

To seven All people who are discriminated by laws are not Hungarians. 😀

Orbans seven laws of Hungary are a round dance of degenerated nonsense.

tappanch
tappanch
September 4, 2023 18:12
Reply to  Don Kichote

The brave director Benő Bese of the said high school first asked the opinion of the Interior Ministry what to do with the Orban quotations on the wall of his school.

Because he did not receive any answer from above, he had the slogans removed.

https://hvg.hu/itthon/20230904_Jedlik_Anyos_Gimnazium_Csepel_Orban_Viktor_idezetek_lekerultek_iskolaogazgato_dontott_megszunt_az_ombudsmani_vizsgalat

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 4, 2023 19:19
Reply to  tappanch

What a wonderful message! but …

Then Orban’s outpourings are covered with paint? I found it quite funny to read how primitive Orban is.

Istvan. (Chicago)
Istvan. (Chicago)
September 1, 2023 17:53

As noted the other day Orban’s interview with Tucker Carlson was aired on Musk’s X site. The EU may go after that site for spreading Russian propaganda see https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/09/01/musk-twitter-x-russia-propaganda/.

I read the Russian media regularly and it is indeed loaded with propaganda, but to be honest we get plenty of pro-Ukrainian propaganda over here in the USA.

The Kyiv Independent overall even with being pro-Ukrainian has done more objective reporting on the war than I see in the big two U.S. newspapers the Washington Post and NY Times.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 2, 2023 03:08

The EU allows long leashes on Russian-leaning voices. Hungary is the most obvious source of Moscow misinformation, but, perhaps surprising, Italy is next in line.
The official story is that as long as a state of war hasn’t been declared, the definition of an official enemy can’t clearly be met. But nothing in the information war goes unnoticed in Brussels and intelligence services work together.
For instance, the Danes just decided to end a long diplomatic tug of war with Russia, over constant Russian attempts to qualify intelligence officers as diplomats in unrealistic numbers, by imposing parity, meaning equal representation, and thus expelled 15 alleged Russian diplomats. The Danish foreign minister cut it out in cardboard by saying, “we don’t want professional spies as diplomats, that has to stop now”. The Baltic region is a hot-spot of Russian hybrid interference and Nato countries are at a very high state of alert, there.

tappanch
tappanch
September 4, 2023 14:01

Hungarian National Bank.

In the years when it had profits, the public profits were privatized (for free) into “foundations”.

Now it has deficits:
(in 10^9 forints)

2021: 51
2022: 402
2023: 2300

What about replenishing the assets of the National Bank from the gifted public “foundations”?

Nope. The European Central Bank just agreed that the Hungarian government does not have to transfer money to the National Bank in deficit.

This decision helps the Orban government a great deal.

https://24.hu/fn/gazdasag/2023/09/04/jegybank-2000-milliard-veszteseg-varga-mihaly-az-ekb-jegybanktorveny-modositas/

https://24.hu/fn/gazdasag/2023/07/06/mnb-magyar-nemzeti-bank-jegybank-inflacio-nhp-ekb-suranyi-gyorgy-rona-peter-veszteseg-monetaris-politika/

tappanch
tappanch
September 4, 2023 14:22
Reply to  tappanch

results of the Hungarian National Bank:

2014: + 27
2015: + 94
2016: + 54
2017: + 38
2018: + 48
2019: +255
2020: +255

Together (2014-2020): +771 *10^9 profit

2021: – 57
2022: – 402
2023: -2300 (estimated)

Source:
https://www.mnb.hu/kiadvanyok/jelentesek/eves-jelentesek

tappanch
tappanch
September 4, 2023 15:15
Reply to  tappanch

M:= “Mérleg szerinti eredmény”
T:= TÁRGYÉVI EREDMÉNY

Chairman: Suranyi

1998: T= +20, M= 0
1999: T= +35, M= 0
2000: T= +14, M= 0, signed by Suranyi

Chairman: Jarai

2001: T= + 4, M=0
2002: T= M= – 5, signed by Jarai
2003: T= M= +78, signed by Jarai
2004: T= M= -43, signed by Jarai
2005: T= M= -21, signed by Jarai
2006: T= M= +15, signed by Simor

Chairman: Simor

2007: T= M= -17, signed by Simor
2008: T= M= – 5, signed by Simor
2009: T= M= +66, signed by Simor
2010: T= M= -42, signed by Simor
2011: T= M= +14, signed by Simor
2012: T= M= -40, signed by Simor

Chairman: Matolcsy

2013: T= M= +26, signed by Matolcsy

https://www.mnb.hu/kiadvanyok/jelentesek/eves-jelentesek/eves-jelentesek-1998-tol-2013-ig

tappanch
tappanch
September 5, 2023 14:40
Reply to  tappanch

Opinion of the Eurioean Central Bank, signed by Mme LaGarde

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52023AB0001

tappanch
tappanch
September 4, 2023 18:02

(Digi.hu and Vodafone.hu) are in the hands of Orban’s proxy now.

For an hour, between 5 PM and 6 PM local time, only Hungarian websites (.hu) were available on the internet.

I think they were testing how to detach the Hungarian part of the internet from the world, in the fashion of China, Russia and Iran.

wolf
wolf
September 5, 2023 13:47

Is this just a show or does Fidesz really expect the right wing to win the next EP elections?
https://hungarytoday.hu/no-clear-support-for-ursula-von-der-leyen-from-hungary/
Its crazy (at least for me) that they consider the EPP (consisting of the CDU and others) to which they once belonged as part of the horrible “liberal leftist mainstream”.
I can’t believe that they really expect this:
In France, the right will win. In Italy, the right will win, in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, the right is going to win, and those are the biggest countries. In Spain, it will be close. In all major countries some kind of right is going to win.

Istvan. (Chicago)
Istvan. (Chicago)
September 5, 2023 18:25
Reply to  wolf

The current Fidesz standard for being part of the liberal mainstream is providing armaments to Ukraine. Even the Italian leader Meloni has opposed Putin’s invasion and support sending weapon to Ukraine (see https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/meloni-reiterates-italys-military-support-to-ukraine-at-nato-summit/).

Orban is obsessed with regaining Transcarpathia or at least having Ukraine make the border area a self governing autonomous province over which Hungary would exert massive influence.

Unlike Italian fascists, Orban is the enemy of the Ukrainian far right nationalists who do indeed want to purge the country of Hungarians. On this see the history of Andriy Biletsky who founded the Azov Battalion.

When I try to discuss Hungarian nationalism with Americans of non-eastern European heritage they are baffled after all don’t the neo-nazis in Ukraine and Orban share the same basic anti-democratic ideology based on The NY Times simple understanding of Orban?

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 5, 2023 23:12

To the EU, Orbán is a sly, cheating copycat, referring to long bygone standards and stealing attention because of EU observance of legal democratic procedures. He has a few (probably paid) lobbyists in the EP, but beyond that he is a side-show – Except among Hungarians.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 6, 2023 03:14

The obsession you refer to is the reason why only Hungarian and xp-regions bother reporting about it.
The US far -right being the exception, probably for a lack of real-world matter to write about (the amounts of re-printed Nazi stuff is a testament to that).
It’s fairly obvious that Orbán tries to establish the same KoolAid-effect as the Trump movement benefits from.
There is only one problem – The Europeans are not nearly as easily convinced by lies and conspiracy theories.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 5, 2023 18:36
Reply to  wolf

Could well be a Trojan effort to indirectly influence the Slovaks, for the purpose of Hungarian media access to the closely Orbán-alligned Fico’s campaign, in EU disguise.

tappanch
tappanch
September 5, 2023 18:41

Orban and the Qatari emir are buying the Budapest Airport from the Germans and Canadian Pension Fund.

Orban prefers Qatar to the Canadians.

Hungary had to issue a 1.75 billion euro bond today.

https://www.portfolio.hu/uzlet/20230905/breking-a-magyar-allam-tobbsegi-tulajdonreszt-szerezhet-a-budapest-airportban-637927

tappanch
tappanch
September 5, 2023 18:47
Reply to  tappanch

The Hungarian taxpayers will pay 5.52% yearly interest for the 10-year bond, 2.35% above then the “midswap”,

https://www.portfolio.hu/gazdasag/20230905/megvannak-a-vegso-szamok-maris-elvittek-a-magyar-eurokotvenyt-637929

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 5, 2023 19:45
Reply to  tappanch

Quatar launders Russian money and oil, so no surprise!

wolf
wolf
September 6, 2023 08:21

The mayor of Tübingen (ex) Green Boris Palmer (his grandfather was Jewish, his father kbown as the Rebel) was invited to talk at MCC and other discussions this week.
Like many I thought wtf – does he want to join Tucker Carlson?
Now our local newspaper reports on his very critical remarks on Hungarys politics:
https://www.tagblatt.de/Nachrichten/Bei-aller-Hoeflichkeit-Palmer-kritisiert-auch-ungarische-Politik-601369.html

I wonder if, when, and how the Fidesz media will report on this –
it probably will be funny!
They might have expected something different.
Thanks, Boris!

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 6, 2023 11:21
Reply to  wolf

According to Palmer, the Hungarian border fence is nothing but the pushbacks of the Greeks and therefore legitimate.

He asks “Does Hungary
really be a state that provides no help at all for people who are entitled to asylum for political persecution or war after a procedure based on the rule of law?” That the Hungarians have no health system and no education system that is worth the name he obviously does not know. 😀 That Palmer once said old people die anyway as a defense of his Covid strategy fits well with the Orbanian attitude here. He says “that the incumbent Hungarian government undoubtedly has a genuine democratic mandate”. Then he lists what he has accomplished in Tübingen. I think he doesn’t know anything about Hungary at all, he scraped together a bit and still found Maria Theresa and the Swabians. A real Palmer – transcribed his lecture here.

wolf
wolf
September 6, 2023 15:50
Reply to  Don Kichote

Don, come on!
I dont always agree with Boris but if you readwhat he wrote about Tucker Carlson Orban and Trump eg.
The kast paragraoh about the Hungarians letting in Protestants who might been killed by the Catholics 250 years ago is a ood example imho of times when Hungary was “liberal” unlike now.
Have you read about Bartholomäus Night – some Protestants also fled to Prussia then.

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 6, 2023 16:45
Reply to  wolf

Maria Theresa Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia took in Austrian Protestants from Tauplitz to Hungary and that is supposed to be evidence for Palmer for what?

wolf
wolf
September 6, 2023 20:34
Reply to  Don Kichote

Don, sotty, you got it wrong!
Maria Theresa forced those protestant people to leave Austria and/or have their children sent to catholic schools.
Count Raday accepted them in Iklad and now after many years there is a city partnership between Iklad and Unterjesingen, ein Stadtteil von Tübingen.

wolf
wolf
September 6, 2023 20:36
Reply to  wolf

Of cpurse that should have been sorry – wordpress makes it almost impossible for me to correct mistakes.

Ambator
September 6, 2023 12:51

Hello Friends and Comrades!

I see with some pleasure that you also had the same impetus to preserve somehow the accomplishments of the Hungarian Spectrum and develop it further.
You were not alone. We, here in Budapest, also contemplated the same for some time and decided to create the ”son of” Hungarian Spectrum, only this time we call it Hungarian Perspective. (hungarianperspective.com) We just launched it this Monday, the 3d of September.
I must emphasize that I had no idea about your presence and your work here (I only found your website by happenstance), and therefore, please do not regard our effort as some kind of a competing entity. I am sure, there is plenty of room for both of us and ”thanks” to our great prime minister and his lovely government there is plenty of raw material to work with too.
So, welcome to you and don’t be a stranger! Or as the eternal words of the Diva put it: ”Come up and see me some time!”

Jan
Jan
September 7, 2023 18:03
Reply to  Ambator

can1t find you

wolf
wolf
September 7, 2023 20:52
Reply to  Ambator

Here you go!
https://hungarianperspective.com/what-kind-of-city-is-this
And now we are waiting (not …) for the first trolls to appear …

wolf
wolf
September 7, 2023 21:04
Reply to  wolf

Btw I found a new definition for Hungary’s leader:
Trumputin …
Its interesting that Fidesz hopes that Trump will be president again, all the governmet media are full of it.

Luis
Luis
September 7, 2023 22:41

A great summary of the current Hungarian predicament by Stefano Bottoni:

https://revdem.ceu.edu/2023/09/06/bloodless-murder-stefano-bottoni/

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 8, 2023 09:21
Reply to  Luis

A good summary, yes indeed.
I noticed how he (Bottoni) excused the voters for being responsible. That is a central point about the complex domestic legal situation, about which the Hungarian parliarment never took responsibility.
Yes, there was no real opposition after Orbán gained an
absolute parliamentary majority – but it went uncontested by normal civic action.
The obvious conclusion (which Bottoni acknowledges) is that the present dictatorship is in accordance with a majority of the people, not because they might want a change of leadership.

tappanch
tappanch
September 8, 2023 13:42

2-year inflation in Hungary (2023 August vs 2021 August)

Food: 56.43%
Basket for retired people: 35.60%
Basket for all people: 34.56%

https://www.ksh.hu/stadat_files/ara/hu/ara0040.html

Another official statistical page:

Food: 57.03%
of which bread: 74.82%

https://www.ksh.hu/stadat_files/ara/hu/ara0043.html

tappanch
tappanch
September 9, 2023 22:40

The head of the Hungarian Calvinist Church Z Balogh, who is a former minister [i.e. fomer secretary] of Orban and the head of the Hungarian Catholic church, bishop P Erdő both arrived at the closed meeting of Orban-appointed ruling class in Kötcse.

Orban will give them a secret speech.

https://444.hu/kepek/2023/09/09/delejezo-fotokon-ahogy-a-fideszes-elit-megerkezik-orban-kotcsei-eligazitasara

tappanch
tappanch
September 9, 2023 22:44
Reply to  tappanch

Orban was caught on video at an Adriatic resort on August 11.

He was a guest of one of his oligarchs, who bought the resort from a Russian oligarch in December 2022.

(Sanctions, anyone?)

https://hvg.hu/itthon/20230909_Ungar_villa_Orban_nyaralas_Horvatorszag_Opatija_Abbazia

Phil S. Stine
Phil S. Stine
September 10, 2023 04:16

Vlad & Viktor …

comment image

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 10, 2023 10:46
Reply to  Phil S. Stine

From peacock dance to lap dance – Where will he move, from that position?

Luis
Luis
September 10, 2023 14:56

I can recommend the “Fake Orbán” parody account on (former) Twitter: it sometimes posts quite profound takes on the regime:

Captura_o.JPG
tappanch
tappanch
September 10, 2023 17:02

Orban in Kötcse:

#1 He wants to rule at least until 2034.

#2 He wants to develop a strong army

#3 he wants to give some role for the French in the Russian Paks-2 atomic power plant to be built (obviously to lessen the resistance for breaching the embargo against Russia)

https://telex.hu/belfold/2023/09/10/orban-kotcsei-piknik-2034

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 10, 2023 19:10
Reply to  tappanch

That sounds like a threat.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 11, 2023 00:45
Reply to  Don Kichote

Ok, and very funny by the way – But I don’t quite understand the defeatist attitude.
Is there an official surrender to Populism (as it is known in Hungary) or is it fatigue from (stupid) propaganda?

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 11, 2023 12:10

“But I don’t quite understand the defeatist attitude.” Who or what are you talking about?

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 11, 2023 01:54

About the Ukrainian war,
It seems that European tactics face a crucial fase in countering the traditional mud season.
Recent experience shows that troops, bearing light weapons, with some aerial backup, advancing on foot with scant air support, have a man-to man advantage over traditional artillary units. They can get behind the enemy lines before the enemy can withdraw.
Adding to that, bogged down long range artillary, will mellow Russian defense lines considerably.
A further Eastward movement of the Russian front should be expected.

Istvan. (Chicago)
Istvan. (Chicago)
September 11, 2023 20:47

Yes General Milley (chair of the joint chiefs) discussed this on Sunday during an interview. He described them as “ small 10- or 12-man hunter-killer teams armed with anti-tank munitions.”

But apparently some of those teams are destroyed by Russian artillery and rocket fire once located by Russian surveillance drones.

But the major advantages are not in saving lives, but in saving armored personnel carriers which were being hit at a high rate by the Russians. There are massive casualties being taken by the Ukrainians due to the Russians walking their artillery fire up and down the kill zones. They use massive amounts of shells and the North Koreans are happily selling them to the Russians.

I and every artillery officer from every nation is taught to use massed sustained artillery fire aimed at a series of points along a line. In addition to attacking any enemy in the kill zone, a barrage intends to suppress enemy movements and deny access across that line of barrage. The impact points along the line may be 20–30 meters apart, with the total line length of the barrage zone anything from a few hundred to several thousand yards/meters long. Barrages can consist of multiple such lines, usually about 100 yards/meters apart, with the barrage shifting from one line to the next over time, or several lines may be targeted simultaneously.

Not many of those attacking Ukrainians are likely to survive without serious injuries.

In Vietnam at the Battle of An Loc the South Vietnamese artillery under my command after the South Vietnamese commander was killed by North Vietnamese counter battery fire and I took over.

We killed and severely wounded hundreds of North Vietnamese attacking commandos by estimating their positions. Now with drones you get exact gps locations to fire on, its very deadly.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 12, 2023 20:10

Quite an interesting development.
The technogically advanced commando-tactics, combined with guerilla protection could probably make a difference during the vehicle-unfriendly, bad weather season.

Jan
Jan
September 11, 2023 06:12

Italy will leave the “new Silk Road”, the Viktor probably not.
Hungary is not mentioned, but I guess in the group of countries where the following took place:
” The opacity worked just as designed, allowing domestic governments to agree to outrageous terms or solicit bribes without any oversight — or awareness — from their own citizens. 
Opaque negotiations and agreements, therefore, became cover for disadvantageous loans, massive corruption, and vanity projects that provided little value to citizens or economies.”
Italy is about to say to Beijing, ‘Hit the road, Xi’ | Euronews

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 11, 2023 14:08

Orbán thinks that the EU has been going downhill for 5 years (Fidesz leaving?). The way out is that the conservatives cuddle up to the right-wing nationalists. National-socialist lying and cheating will become policy, for that the leftists that are all others who do not cheer along, must be put “quietly”. Kövér still meant, they left the EPP voluntarily because of Manfred Weber. 😀 The Weber is more powerful than Hungary. 😀

Hungary is in the comparison of the EU 27 in almost all matters on the last places, only in the frequency of fraud cases with EU funds – in the first place.

wolf
wolf
September 11, 2023 14:28
Reply to  Don Kichote

Fideszniks claim that only a strong right wing force after the next elections (2024) in the European Parliament will save the EU – and they seem to hope that they and LePen, Meloni, PIS etc can manage it and get the EPP (CDU etc) to cooperate with them against the bad, bad leftist liberal green communists (add swear words here …) who have been ruling the EU for so long.
I dont get it:
Do they really believe the extreme right wing will get so strong?
They cant even decide on which of the right wing groups is best.
Of course the “success” of the AfD gives them some hope – but around 20% of the votes is not enough …

wolf
wolf
September 11, 2023 19:27
Reply to  Don Kichote

My wife already told me about this – unbelievable!

tappanch
tappanch
September 11, 2023 15:28

Dictator Xi has invited dictator Orban for an October visit in China.

The Hungarian official who made announcement added:

“We would like to become the European bridgehead for China”

https://privatbankar.hu/cikkek/makro/nagy-bejelentes-orban-viktor-kinaba-latogat-.html

tappanch
tappanch
September 11, 2023 15:30
Reply to  tappanch

“A new world order is about to be created, with a strong Chinese position”

wolf
wolf
September 11, 2023 19:28
Reply to  tappanch

My wife says that Putin might even join them …

tappanch
tappanch
September 11, 2023 22:14
Reply to  wolf

When Russia is weak enough, China will take the sparsely populated Siberia

wolf
wolf
September 11, 2023 21:18

A young American Hungarian reports on how MCC tried to turn him into a real Fidesznik:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/11/viktor-orban-university-propaganda-london

tappanch
tappanch
September 11, 2023 22:18
Reply to  wolf

“I didn’t take the fellowship to write state-sponsored flattery, so I continued researching the topics I was interested in, primarily political corruption and ethnic tensions in eastern Europe. Once, when discussing my article ideas with an MCC administrator, she warned me repeatedly to “be careful”.

After going back and forth with MCC about their politically motivated edits to my work, I took to publishing my writing independently. I focused my articles on issues outside Hungary in hopes of protecting myself from any trouble. A friend at MCC told me that my work was being monitored. I lived with a constant fear that became debilitating at times. Twice I had panic attacks after publishing articles.”

“When it was all over, several other fellows in the same programme as me were offered lucrative positions at MCC-affiliated institutions. These fellows had furthered MCC’s cause and were rewarded for it.”

tappanch
tappanch
September 11, 2023 23:07

The new, ruling party dean has fired teachers at the journalism school of the “Metropolitan University” for political reasons.

Ten other teachers now do not feel that their “autonomy” is guaranteed and are not willing to teach.

https://media1.hu/2023/09/11/fokozodik-a-balhe-egyszerre-mondott-fel-10-tanar-a-budapesti-metropolitan-egyetemen/

tappanch
tappanch
September 12, 2023 10:28

The US is about to release $6 billlion to Iran for the release 5 detained American citizens.

Have Biden and Blinken gone completely stupid?

Iranian leaders are now friends with Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, so they are not pressed not to be hostile towards the US. But they are happy to get the money.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 13, 2023 04:22
Reply to  tappanch

That’s excercising the financial muscle.
I think the US still has some PTSD about physical confrontations with Iran.

tappanch
tappanch
September 12, 2023 19:19

Refer back to September 10, 2023 17:02

Orban “wants to give some role for the French in the Russian Paks-2 atomic power plant to be built (obviously to lessen the resistance for breaching the embargo against Russia)”

The French state owns “Électricité de France” (EDF).
EDF is the 3/4 owner of Framatome.

Today (Spetember 12), Orban’s minister signed an agreement with Framatome.

https://24.hu/belfold/2023/09/12/magyar-francia-nuklearis-bovites-orban-viktor-kotcse-lantos-csaba/

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 12, 2023 20:43
Reply to  tappanch

Ajánlott videó … the chatter I can do nothing the dictator … they steal … ect. ect. that is underground. Why not – “we pay 27% VAT to finance the rich who can pay that out of petty cash”.

The health expenditure still hold a few doctors earn but only private. Who has money survives who not they not there are people who say old die so how so! Oh yes, they could suddenly be poor if Orban wants them to be.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 13, 2023 03:35
Reply to  tappanch

The news just never stops!

News.jpg
Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 13, 2023 15:13

Viktor Has Giorgia on His Mind
Political heavyweight 😀 Meloni visits Orban’s breeding project event, which runs through a law deliberately tailored to not benefit child-rich Roma families. Other unworthy lives like poor, uneducated, albeit child-rich Hungarians also get nothing from Orban’s pet project. After all, one could not write into the law that Roma as unworthy lives must not be supported. But supporting Roma families would have caused an uproar, because traditional racism has been nurtured in Hungary since the end of the war?. The fertility rate has risen from 1.2 in 2010 to 1.51 in 2022, supposedly it will be 2.1 … and that’s only if they are white and Catholic. I think without an education system and without a health care system, there are no conditions for “success”. Orban is a loser.

Meloni is like Orban, she doesn’t give press conferences on domestic policy and when a reporter comes through with a question about current policy, she stammers like Orban. Because her policies are just as unsuccessful as Orban’s.

wolf
wolf
September 13, 2023 16:11
Reply to  Don Kichote

But it seems that Meloni has learned something. She distanced herself and Italy from the Silk Road (belt and Road) initiative while Szijarto still praises it as the best of the best:
https://dailynewshungary.com/szijjarto-hungary-a-success-story-eu-competitiveness-deteriorating/

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 13, 2023 16:18
Reply to  wolf

No – USA and EU now have their own Silk Road program with India, no joke.

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 13, 2023 16:24
Reply to  Don Kichote

Wirklich seltsam wolfi mit einer De ip kann ich gerade dailynewshungary nicht empfangen mit Hu ip schon.

wolf
wolf
September 13, 2023 19:11
Reply to  Don Kichote

Strange …
I am in Hungary right now but I never had any problem with Hun sites while in Germany.
OK, well see when I return to Good Old Germany for some holiday.

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 13, 2023 16:14

Putin said “… “It was a mistake,” Putin said in response to the moderator’s question about Moscow’s decision to send tanks to Budapest in 1956 and to Prague in 1968 during the Cold War. … We recognized long ago that this part of Soviet policy was wrong and only led to tensions in relations. One must not do anything in foreign policy that is in direct contradiction to the interests of other peoples.” said Putin … it doesn’t have to be logical or fit together but what about Ukraine?

Magyar Nemzet writes that “a Russian history textbook written by Vladimir Medinsky, an adviser to the Russian president, for 11th grade students contains two paragraphs on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution claiming that “the Hungarian crisis was triggered by the actions of Western intelligence services and the internal opposition they supported. The Soviet Union sent troops to Hungary and assisted the Hungarian authorities in suppressing the protests.”

A pro-regime smear sheet founded by Russian money writes In the draft of a new 11th grade textbook, under a photo of the toppled statue of Stalin in Budapest, it read, “The insurgent radicals, not a few of them former fighters in the armed forces of fascist Hungary, made themselves punishable during the uprising not only by vandalizing Soviet monuments and symbols, but also by murdering numerous representatives of the Hungarian Workers’ Party.”

Istvan. (Chicago)
Istvan. (Chicago)
September 13, 2023 17:58
Reply to  Don Kichote

Of course Eva’s old friend Charles Gati proved the USA had no effective CIA operation in Hungary prior to the 1956 revolt. He and other scholars have gotten access to many declassified records that show almost to an embarrassing degree a very weak covert operation by the CIA in Hungary back then. See Gati’s book Failed Illusions but also this newer source of declassified CIA documents https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/openness-russia-eastern-europe/2017-05-10/hungary-1956-reviving-debate-over-us also proves Professor Gati correct..

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 13, 2023 18:30

Good Istvan that you write it again – the point for me was how inventively some “friends” explain why they were not friends. It reminds me of the friendship of Hitler and Horthy. Honestly nothing that makes you sleep well.

wolf
wolf
September 13, 2023 19:17

Funny:
György Szöllösi, sports reporter, wanted to go to the USA for some … but they wouldnt give him ESTA (what we as tourists got without problems) but told him he needs to ask for a A1 visa …
My wife found this on 444

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 14, 2023 04:26
Reply to  wolf

The US takes great care to treat countries individually, regarding admission.
The Schengen-EU could learn a lot from that approach.
Ironically, the greatest opponent of border control in EU is Germany.

wolf
wolf
September 14, 2023 10:27

Well 15 years ago Hungary was admitted to the Visa Waiver Program. So I askd my “girlfriend” whether she would be interested – and of course she was!
We made ESTA for her, it was valid from November 17th I think.
So I searched and last minute found a cheap flight to Miami on the 19th and a week in a nice hotel on the beach for a very good price.
Off we went!
She of course had no routine at all wiith those flights and the questions that were asked at immigration (knowing no English at all except yes and thank you) but we were allowed to go to the immigration officer together and I explained to her what he wanted from her – no problem at all!
Of course nowadays it might be more difficult for people from Orbanistan …

Last edited 7 months ago by wolf
Istvan. (Chicago)
Istvan. (Chicago)
September 14, 2023 14:45
Reply to  wolf

Hungarian s getting easily into the USA is not a big problem here. Really only handfuls of Hungarian s visiting here attempt to work illegally without what is called a green card.

That is not the case for Poles and Romanians. They are all over small construction projects. As are skilled undocumented Mexican workers like bricklayers, plumbers, etc.

Unionized construction workers are really only on very big projects and government contracts. They make big money and work under extreme pressure for high productivity resulting in many accidents including deaths here.

Istvan. (Chicago)
Istvan. (Chicago)
September 14, 2023 14:31

Of course our control over our southern border with Mexico and the USA is very problematic. Currently Chicago where I live has its own migrant crisis.

The Republican Governor of the State of Texas is shipping thousands of border crossers living on the streets of Texas cities to Chicago, New York and other big cities controlled by elected Democrats.

There have been endless stories about Chicago’s problems in housing the thousands of migrants coming to Chicago from Texas.

See https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/9/13/23871639/migrant-tent-city-might-land-on-far-south-side, https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/9/9/23864476/mayor-johnson-tents-migrants-asylum-seekers-crisis-immigration-editorial, the stories go on and on.

This is a profound crisis in the USA and it will increase due to global warming in Central America and out of control criminal gangs forcing families to flee to protect their children from being enrolled in arm drug gangs or turned into prostitutes. Trump and his supporters would based on his own statements if elected would invade Mexico to create a militarized buffer zone.

I think the EU will soon face a huge new migrant crisis on top of the existing problem due to the disasters in Libya and Morocco. All more economically advanced northern nations are facing these challenges.

Michael Detreköy
Michael Detreköy
September 14, 2023 18:27

Mass-migration is a force of nature.

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 14, 2023 12:00

There is no money for teachers, but there is for the suppression of opinion.

“… As recently as late August, the IPI published a report on attacks on at least 40 different websites of anti-government media in Hungary, including Telex, HVG, 444.hu, Magyar Hang and Népszava. According to IPI, no media outlet supporting the ruling Fidesz party was affected, suggesting a political or ideological motive. The IPI spoke of an “unprecedented wave of cyberattacks” in Hungary that posed a “serious and growing threat to the free flow of information in the country where press freedom is already the worst in the European Union.”

Then, two days after the report was published, the attacks also started on IPI’s website in Vienna. Scott Griffin, deputy director of IPI, told the taz: “We know this was a targeted attack, not a random one. It was a response to our reporting. The attack was persistent, the attackers came back day after day, trying to get past the defenses we put in place. …”

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 14, 2023 15:00

Balázs Orbán not related and no better than Orban has noted anti-Hungarian rhetoric in Sweden. Surely a reason for childish Hungarian politicians to refuse to join NATO. 😀

The Hungarian regime embezzles our funds and lies about it. It arbitrarily suppresses a significant part of the population with the help of especially Proud Hungary. This is not rhetoric but also the result of Fidesz policy.

Istvan. (Chicago)
Istvan. (Chicago)
September 14, 2023 15:10

“We are not investigating any Ukrainian refugees to determine if they have been called up for military service. Hungary will not extradite them to Ukraine,” Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén told ATV on Wednesday. “All refugees from Ukraine are safe in Hungary.”

I am totally not surprised by a more or less formal admission that Hungary is supporting Magyar speaking Ukrainian draft evaders.

Don Kichote
Don Kichote
September 14, 2023 16:43

Is there an extradition request from Ukraine? I don’t think that Ukraine will make an extradition request to Hungary. Hungary has been known for its hostile policy towards Ukraine for years.

tappanch
tappanch
September 15, 2023 01:49

Re: Istvan (Chicago) – unauthorized immigration in US vs EU.

The EU numbers (excluding Ukraine) are much smaller now.

US                EU
Fiscal year            Calendar year

2023: 1,973,092    165,669 through August, 2023
2022: 2,378,944         159,410
2021: 1,734.686         123,318

2020:   458,088         95,774
2019:   977,509         123,663
2018:   521,090         141,472
2017:   415,517         185,139

2016:   553,378         373,652
2015:   444,859      1,032,408