In this piece, I, the author, argue that UEFA should do away with the new Swiss system league phase for the Champions League. Instead, they should replace it with four groups of nine teams, which would play each other once in the group stage, with four advancing from each group to the Round of 16 in the end.
‘Given the loss of security and economic credibility of the Western powers in 2008–2009 from a Central European perspective, and the serious economic and energy security challenges Hungary was facing at the time, it was an understandable and legitimate step to begin building pragmatic relations with Moscow 15 years ago and to set the stage for an eastward opening…’
‘Over time…scientific knowledge, combined with an emerging class of industrial capitalists, proved capable of improving material conditions for many as well as profits for the few. This lent scientific knowledge an aura of being a superior form of knowledge, one capable of providing organizing principles for all manner of human endeavours beyond its immediate remit, including education itself.’
‘After 20 years of left–liberal rule, Fidesz’s goal was to stimulate the creation of a much more balanced and pluralistic environment in all segments of society and a country less dependent on any form of foreign influence. In the eyes of ordinary Hungarians, none of the experiences described above called into question the benefits of EU and NATO membership or the conviction that Hungary’s place is in the West.’
‘Students have moved from being political change agents to being themselves the object of political change. Rather than imposing their ideas on the world, they are to obey edicts from radical lecturers and diversity officers. To accommodate these developments, objective measures of what students know are replaced by more subjective measures of their own personal and psychological development.’
‘One is constantly reminded of Hallstein’s [Stresa] speech when analysing the turbulences of the recent years in Europe’s fields and countryside towns, occasionally bringing the distinct view of columns of tractors and piles of hay to the polished streets and thoroughfares of European capitals. And, out of the several farmers’ movements that have swept the EU since 2022, few dialogue so much with Hallstein as the Polish one.’
‘Across various European nations conservative and right-wing parties have capitalized on issues like immigration, national identity, and dissatisfaction with traditional political establishments to gain substantial electoral support…without the epochal change on 6 November 2016 in the United States, these shifts in Europe would have taken much longer.’
By voicing his support for AfD on his platform and challenging the taboo of German national guilt, Elon Musk has emerged as a key figure in the right-wing party’s gradual dismantling the ‘firewall’ that mainstream parties have upheld against it for years.
Elon Musk’s gesture at one of President Trump’s inaugural balls is getting a lot of mainstream media coverage, with many comparing it to a Nazi salute. However, such associations tend to not stick with the public at all by now, as proven by the events leading up to the 2024 US presidential election.
‘As the assisted dying question turns once again into a contestation of intolerable pains and grotesque moral outrages, we should take a moment to think of a bigger picture. To recall that it is a man-made instrument. It is not designed to bring us harmony, closure, peace on earth, or salvation.’
U.S.-led Western society has been tainted by the LGTBQ+ policies to the point of redefining the institution the family. It was, thus, reassuring to hear the president say: ‘As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.’
‘Hamas may leverage the prisoner releases to come to power. It has hammered out, to its own liking, a deal to take place over many months so as to build up enough strength to take control of the West Bank. This is similar to the deal the U.S. made with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, infamously known as the Taliban on 29 February 2020, in Doha, Qatar, by the first Trump administration.’
The protagonist of the 2024 film The Brutalist is brilliant architect László Toth, who leaves Hungary in the aftermath of the Holocaust to rebuild his life in the United States. While Toth never existed, his character is based on two great Jewish Hungarian pioneer architects: Marcel Breuer and Ernő Goldfinger.
‘By maintaining a flexible and multi-vector foreign policy, Hungary can remain a keystone state, mediating between various global powers while safeguarding its economic and strategic interests against the uncertainties of a shifting global order.’
‘When Brussels’ antagonism was previously limited to Hungary and Poland, it was easier to frame Budapest and Warsaw as isolated cases. However, this narrative is rapidly collapsing. It won’t be long before Brussels finds itself in opposition to the majority of member states and the will of their electorates.’
‘The more this happens, the more Europeans will realize that they do not live in truly free countries, and that what they have been sold is a falsehood. Those responsible for the economic stagnation in Europe, the insecurity, the loss of identity, the demographic decline, and the extreme polarization of societies have a name and a surname: the European Establishment.’
‘People are challenging the pressure that comes from the media and the unrepresentative elites and are pushing for the return of proper conservative policies. This would not have happened without the victory of Donald Trump in 2024, the resistance of leaders such as PM Orbán, as well as the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk and the rise of alternative media.’
‘If Javier Milei can sack ten thousand bureaucrats, if Nayib Bukele can imprison ten thousand MS-13s, if Trump can buy Greenland and take back the Panama Canal—well, what else is on the menu?’
‘As we step into 2025, the world stands at a crossroads and on the brink of major breakthroughs in many aspects. The world order is in transition. Artificial Intelligence is poised to reach new milestones, unimaginable only a few years ago. Many crises, natural or manufactured, have reshaped the geopolitical landscape, and tested our societies’ resilience.’
‘While North Carolina Democrats enjoy some critical demographic tailwinds, recent election results suggest demographic destiny is likely an overrated idea in American politics.’
‘Like most U.S. presidents, Nixon had controversial policies, as with the secret bombing of Laos and Cambodia, which coerced the North Vietnamese to the aforementioned peace accords. All things being equal, perhaps history will one day remember him as the man who paved the way, if not fomented, for nations to consider speaking with each other, as opposed to shooting at each other.’
‘A Hungarian grand strategy for the 21st century must be based on principles that go beyond the question of Eastern or Western orientation.’
‘Elon Musk is dismantling one of the most powerful weapons progressives have wielded: the deliberate silencing of opposing voices. Musk is countering this strategy by simply allowing right-wing forces to voice their opinions. In other words, he is upholding their most fundamental democratic right: the right to freedom of expression.’
‘While the world is justly concerned about the acts of jihadist violence, it has been led by neoconservative and progressive politicians and the mainstream media to believe that the acts of terror carried out by Muslims are sparse and provincial. Consequential to this has been the denial of the jihadist doctrine as a juridical development of Islamic sacred texts.’
‘Prime Minister Orbán has already demonstrated that strong leadership can make a difference. By uniting in an emergency Coalition of the Willing to Save Europe, championing economic freedom and cultural conservatism, European conservatives can chart a path toward a freer, more prosperous, and more cohesive future. The time to act is now. With Orbán’s leadership, 2025 could mark the beginning of Europe’s renewal.’
‘The Danubian Compact could serve as a modern, flexible framework for cooperation, focusing on shared economic interests, energy security, infrastructure development, and more. What if the real future of Central Europe does not lie in resurrecting the past, but in reimagining it for a new era? The pieces are there, the question is whether the leaders of these nations are willing to make that leap.’
‘The failed revolutionary upheavals in 1848 would see thousands of Central Europeans go into exile in Britain. One of the most famous of these was Hungarian national hero Lajos Kossuth, who travelled extensively in the United States before moving to London, to live there for most of the 1850s. In America, Kossuth was received at the White House twice by President Millard Fillmore, and was generally feted and celebrated everywhere he went.’
‘In few countries was the period of 19th century national revival more productive than post-Compromise Hungary, where the national-cultural revival was accompanied by a period of economic prosperity and renewed political prominence. And, within Hungary, no other building complex captures the spirit of this era, and its intertwining of the aesthetic, the historical, and the political, as the Buda Castle.’
‘It remains evident that the main actors of the architectures, systems, and organizations of the old world order are stubbornly clinging to their positions, unwilling to acknowledge the need for change. However, Hungary stands ready to take the lead in building a new Europe that prioritizes a more decentralized cooperation among nation-states.’
‘Lucifer certainly did not want to be God, for he was intelligent enough to know that he was not of the same substance of our Creator, but he wanted to be or rule like God. Envious of God, he thus submitted to his pride and rebelled against the Almighty—a temptation that at times can be appealing during our worst moments.’