‘The values forged in Europe have deep Christian roots. And yet, how many cases could we enumerate where crucifixes have been removed to ‘avoid offending’ others? How many campaigns have we seen against Christmas? How many instances of public ridiculing of the images of Christ or the Virgin Mary? Complicit in this surrender of faith is the silent and anaesthetized majority that does not react, that does not defend its own. It seems as if they are ashamed to be Christians.’

At the 16 February demonstration organized by influencers and other celebrities, which rallied tens of thousands of people, the speakers essentially echoed the expectation of the majority of Hungarians that the government come up with adequate responses to the clemency scandal.

‘Fiducia Supplicans, which calls for the blessing of homosexual couples—keeping in mind that nowhere in this document does it call for conversion—the door has been opened to LGTBQ+ protagonists to promote their agenda. This has divided the Church into two Churches, as many, such as the Hungarian and African bishops, have rejected the directive.’

‘The notion of ‘Judeo-Christian’, putting aside its religious connotation, as the foundation of Western civility is rather arbitrary, if not ambiguous. Various Christian fundamentalists and self-proclaimed traditional Catholics have employed the ‘Judeo-Christian’ discourse to justify their backing of Israel, despite the term being neither eschatological nor doctrinal. ’

‘This scandal is a self-inflicted catastrophe for Fidesz. The prime minister plainly understands this, and is taking concrete steps to reform. Yet the idea that the political and cultural Left in Hungary is trying to capitalize on this crisis to sell itself to the Hungarian people as the real protectors of children is a farce—and a dangerous one.’

How should we Hungarians relate to our heroic dead who perished in the two world wars? Some thoughts and proposals by our Sopron-based contributor Botond Szabó.

‘While Hungary and Poland ensure their reactionary abilities remain strong through their respective memberships in NATO, the rapidly developing world of cyber affairs and the dangers they come with require a proactive approach to avoid potential vulnerabilities in national infrastructure. Budapest has already begun to implement such an approach.’

‘Only the West killed God, and they did it twice for good measure: once on the cross, and more recently via the Enlightenment project to transform the world through progress, secularism, and science, rendering religion either rational or irrelevant.’

‘Allowing a diversity of opinion to inform one’s judgment really can be a source of strength. And, to paraphrase Cicero, taking history seriously is necessary if you wish to be a grown-up on the world stage, not a child, stomping around looking for somewhere to bomb, and somewhere else to bully.’

Our editor-in-chief’s take on the resignations of Katalin Novák and Judit Varga, and what they entail for Hungarian conservatives.

US foreign policy is set ‘to remain volatile and subject to disruption with changes of government and the whims of the political class. For a country like Hungary—arguably lacking the same geopolitical leverage vis-à-vis Washington—the Salvadoran reality might not offer a blueprint, but it does present a lesson’, our contributor Michael O’Shea argues.

While South Africa alleges that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, it failed to condemn some of the most severe human rights abuses of our times in the past. Pretoria’s assertion that its engagement to prevent grave human rights violations, fulfilling its responsibilities ‘under a treaty obligation to prevent genocide from occurring’ is a political stunt and a blatant attempt to exploit the international legal system.

‘How are Europeans supposed to afford the welfare state and support migrants and pay for higher energy prices and pursue remilitarization and revive their economies on the same income without taking on any more undue debt, which is already considerably high?’

According to recent studies, family stability is a more relevant factor for socioeconomic advancement than factors such as inequality, government spending, race and school quality.

‘We don’t want a world run according to Russian or Chinese or Hamas or Iranian values. But unfortunately, we cannot be sure that these forces can be held at bay unless we’re willing to defend what we have.’

‘In this country, the left accused the Orbán government of being alarmist and bigoted on LGBT questions, and of holding back progress. But in America, we have seen that almost every warning that social conservatives gave about where the LGBT movement was going—in particular, that it would target kids—was mocked at the time, but eventually came true.’

Generation Z women and men are becoming increasingly different in terms of political preferences. The continuation of this global trend, in which LGBTQ and gender ideology plays a significant role, could have serious consequences.

Despite climate and clean energy transition targets, the current energy crisis has forced many countries to increase coal-based power generation. The question is: can we expect a turn in coal use in the shorter or longer term, and closely related to this, is there any other reason for the rise in coal use for energy than the energy crisis itself?

‘In the end, what for Hamas is a military defeat and a humanitarian disaster has become a resounding political victory. Bringing the Palestinian cause back into the forefront of world attention will for years to come to be the ultimate legacy of the atrocities committed by Hamas on 7 October.’

Tensions are escalating between the political and military leadership in Ukraine, as press reports indicate that Volodymyr Zelenskyy attempted to dismiss Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny. The Ukrainian president’s room for manoeuvre seems to be diminishing, and he needs his European allies now more than ever to survive.

Ilaria Salis is one of the 20 radical left-wing, apparently anti-fascist activists, who arrived in Budapest last February with the explicit purpose of attacking ‘neo-Nazis’ and/or ‘neo-Nazi sympathizers’ ahead of the so-called Day of Honour events organized by Hungarian extreme-right groups. The randomly chosen victims suffered grave injuries including shattered bones and stab wounds.

May all penmen remember when they write their next article that the precise use of terms is the alpha and omega of all communication. And those who allow their words to be hijacked will fare ill—and they can only blame themselves.

With Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressing a desire to negotiate with two pro-peace leaders on the right, Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán, it appears that the Ukrainian president is anticipating a potentially unfavourable scenario for Ukraine: a right-wing shift in both Europe and overseas.

A brief review of the European policy of the Hungarian Government and of that of the domestic opposition.

The scandal surrounding the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is intensifying, with growing calls to ban the right-wing party. The left-wing media’s demonizing smear campaign has played a significant role in the events.

‘My message to the Hungarian people is this: The spirit of the Jewish people has taken a lot of hits over the years but we always come together to fight for our future and that is exactly what we will do again. We will all dance again, and I know the Hungarian people will dance with us. Thank you for your unwavering support.’

‘We are concerned, then, not only with education, but to also with helping people clarify their thoughts and reach the proper conclusions, and also with embodying and institutionalizing a set of fundamental values and a view of the world. We are convinced that, unless our values prevail and rule, unless it is our worldview which determines the shape of the future by setting men’s priorities and guiding them in their decisions, then there will be no future…’

When arguing against stricter immigration laws, some on the left like to appeal to the significance of migration in American history. However, the truth is that there has never been a popular demand for lack of immigration control in the United States.

Reflecting on the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting this week, the left-leaning news portal decided to make an explicit statement about their perceived—and desired—reality by creating a ranking of the ‘do-gooders’ and the ‘dirty dozen’ of the world leaders gathered in Davos—and, of course, a Hungarian politician just had to be included in the selection.

Europe is a civilization; its heritage is a reality that lives on among us. But the cooperation of its countries is just a legal construct: its future depends on whether it is willing and capable of expressing the voice of that civilization.