Hungary’s complex Ukraine policy is influenced by its desire to protect ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia. Can Ukraine’s compliance with Hungarian demands lead to more support and cooperation, especially given Hungary’s historical experience with Russian aggression?
‘Thanks to their huge user base, the largest social media sites have become unavoidable power factors, having enormous potential to influence public thinking. They can determine who, how and what can say, although this is done mostly indirectly, through business-interests- driven algorithms. Yielding to the pressure of progressive and woke ideologues, most service providers also develop principles of behaviour expected on their platform, and those who allegedly do not conform can be cancelled.’
‘Nation-states will be reduced in their functionality, becoming of secondary importance as entities, and the principle of territorial existence will slowly dissolve into a new, boundless uniformity. To use a rather un-English term, we are going to witness the deterritorialization of the world—a world deprived of the territories of its constituents, at least if we are to believe the new utopians.’
We have heard time and again the phrase ‘trust the science’ during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is time for pro-life people to prove what science really means. It is indispensable that we who want to see an end to the carnage arm ourselves with the toolkit of science and logic, but without using manipulative techniques.
According to the Annual Persecution Report of ChinaAid, a non-governmental Christian non-profit that focuses on human rights abuses and religious freedom in China, government pressure on Christian churches and faithful to yield to political ideology has only increased since the signing of the 2018 agreement between the Holy See and Beijing.
‘The American left is seeking what they call ‘Social democracy’ and claim it is not ‘democratic socialism’, but everyone knows it is indeed the same ideology. This socialist ideology reflects that of Rousseau’s, who had an abstract idea of society’s restoration towards man’s ‘natural equality,’ but this idea is fundamentally flawed. As Edmund Burke, the prominent British political thinker, wrote in response: “their abstract perfection is their practical defect”.’
‘Hungary’s support for Georgia makes sense in a number of ways. With both nations having brutal histories of Russian domination, Hungary understands the struggles Georgia has had in coming out of Moscow’s shadow after so many years behind the Iron Curtain. While Hungary offers support to a fellow former communist satellite state to realise a future better than its past, Georgia offers Hungary and Europe the resources needed to maintain that future.’
It could be rightly expected that the interpretation of law in the EU be guided by the foundations of European civilisation, namely morality embedded in Judeo-Christian culture. This morality is summed up in the Cain–Abel paradigm, which can inform the understanding of European justice systems when deciding how European laws should be applied or modified in the interest of Europe.
‘Tusványos advertises itself saying “the participant coexists peacefully with the organiser, the politician with the politician, the speaker with the singer, the cotton candy with the anklet, the loudspeaker with the bright lights, the bear with the forest…” And this is precisely what I saw as I talked with locals, ranging from the elderly to young mothers with children, all enjoying this festival, some happy to attend the lectures while others openly opposing the the politics of Fidesz, but none unfriendly.’
‘By compromising its freedoms of speech and expression as a means by which to satisfy its international partners, Sweden and Denmark are revealing themselves to be far more ruthlessly utilitarian, and far less naïvely socialistic, than most observers might think.’
‘In fairness, to say that Washington, Brussels, and Budapest have some pre-existing policy disagreements is a laughable understatement. Nonetheless, the question remains: Why is Hungary growing closer to China as the West grows further away? The short answer is: it’s complicated.’
It is quite clear that the Ukrainians would have never survived this long against the Russian aggression without the financial and military assistance of the US. Yet the Biden administration has thus far offered no strategic argument on behalf of the costs and risks, let alone what is the overall end objective of the war.
‘Whatever form it takes, whatever its emphasis, American exceptionalism does exist, and it is definitely reflected in the attitudes of both ordinary Americans and American politics. It is what American sociologist and political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset simply called ‘Americanism’. This whole sense of exceptionalism is part of the American identity.’
Unlike ‘unitary’ bombs, cluster munitions are not single shells; instead, they consist of a dispersive mechanism that releases numerous grenade-like bomblets mid-air, designed to explode upon impact. However, many of these smaller submunitions fail to detonate upon landing, remaining in the ground for extended periods, posing a threat to the civilian populations be they farmers, children playing or any passers-by.
This new generation renewed Hungarian politics not only in the use of language but also in the nature of governance. It was open about its value choices and did not accept that politics was merely the dispassionate administration of affairs. After decades of humiliation, it wanted to once again raise the Hungarian nation to the heights that its thousand-year history destined it for.
‘Supporting the institution of marriage and families promotes social stability. Families provide the foundation for the social fabric of a society; when families are healthy and well-functioning, they provide a sense of belonging, instil values of respect, responsibility, and empathy, as well as provide basic education for children.
‘There was something about the past that could only be conveyed by being where it took place. Although I had already studied the horrors of the Holocaust and the Second World War, being in the actual face of such evil, in the literal place of it, shook me to my core.’
Uncertainty about a ‘Huxit’ scenario is not fuelled by the Hungarian Prime Minister but rather by EU bureaucrats using a one-sided interpretation of the rule of law. The Hungarian government possesses a clear mandate for EU reform, distinct from the binary narratives of full Eurofederalism or immediate exit.
The nation celebrated at Tusványos, the Hungarian one, drapes over various states in the Carpathian Basin and consists of a plurality of ethnic and religious groups, fully including not just Christian Magyars but also Jews, Ungarndeutschen, and Roma with roots in the region. Foreign guests like me, who come from outside the Hungarian nation or family of nations, could also feel welcome, because, if devoid of chauvinism, nationhood offers fertile ground for inter-national solidarities and sympathies.
While Hungary has been declared to be the rule of law black sheep not only of the Carpathian Basin, but of the whole of Europe, Brussels has in fact found plenty of issues with other Members States as well in its annual report — only those are never highlighted by the EU bureaucracy or the mainstream media.
‘Could Biden’s token [of shaking hands only with Orbán when arriving for the NATO group photo in Vilnius], as some experts suspect, have been an invitation to the Hungarian government to hop on board the US geopolitical bandwagon and forget the Chinese and Russian ones?’
After the victorious election, the prime minister made it clear that the Russian aggression against Ukraine was forcing us to partially revise our strategy in foreign affairs, adjusting it to the changed circumstances. It is hardly surprising, then, that proposals and ideas of a strategic nature have increasingly claimed centre stage at in-camera government sessions and in public forums alike.
Since its inception, the left has seen the school as an important means of ‘enlightening’ people and creating a new world. The anti-school, anti-knowledge, and anti-teacher sentiments of former Chairman of the Communist Party of China Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution and of its Western importers, the ‘68ers have spread everywhere before our eyes over the last two decades.
The sincerity of the concerns of Belgian politicians about Hungary’s Child Protection Act is cast into doubt by the fact that, according to statistics published by the Belgian police, forced marriages involving minors and illegal child marriages have been an unresolved problem for more than a decade in Belgium.
Reflections on how the European Commission selectively applies the rule of law conditionality procedure and manipulates public perception in this regard.
While many had hoped for a more balanced portrayal of Hungary’s legal system and reforms, the report still appears to maintain a negative image of the country.
‘There is also a way to deal with the world’s largest economy, for the US Dollar (USD) is not going to decline anytime soon. Those who claim that the USD is in decline often argue that for centuries, reserve currencies have risen and fallen in tandem with their home economies. As the US’ share of the global economy diminishes, economists argue, so too will the USD and its global hegemony. A fascinating yet hardly conclusive argument since there has never been a dominant global reserve currency prior to the USD. Quite the contrary, the USD is the only currency ever to have played such a pivotal role in international commerce.’
The reputation of Hungarian football continues to soar: Szoboszlai could mean to Hungary what Messi means to Argentina or Modrić to Croatia.
Although some celebrated Prigozhin’s mutiny as the weakening of Putin’s Russia, it is important to remember that Prigozhin would not have brought about a ‘better or more democratic Russia’, only an even bloodier war.
It can’t be doubted that gays and lesbians have been badly treated. It is real and welcome progress that gay men and women can walk the streets of Budapest holding hands and face no harm. In a liberal society, people have a right to be wrong. But that right is not unlimited…Only a few years ago, if one had said, ‘They’re coming for our children!’, one would have been denounced as a bigot and an alarmist. Now, in 2023, a gay rights march chants the same thing, proudly, in America’s cultural capital.