Western civilization is at risk of repeating Rome’s fate, argues Iain McGilchrist. Speaking to Hungarian Conservative at Brain Bar 2025, the renowned psychiatrist warned that dominance of the left hemisphere produces power obsession, woke intolerance, and technological servitude. Only a revival of wisdom, culture, and community can restore balance.
In its ‘Beyond the Óperencia’ series, Magyar Krónika is looking at the meeting points of America and Hungary, and at Hungarians in America, from penniless peasants to political emigrants and soldiers of fortune. In this part, let us continue the story of Joseph Pulitzer, who published a series of exposés on dubious transactions surrounding the Panama Canal, for which the federal government sued him.
Balázs Orbán and Carl Bildt clashed at Budapest’s Brain Bar festival, offering starkly different visions for Europe’s future. While Bildt urged deeper EU integration to confront crises from migration to war, Orbán accused Brussels of centralizing power and undermining sovereignty—echoing Hungary’s longstanding call for new leadership.
Global trade was in focus for the first panel discussion at Day 2 of the Danube Institute’s Geopolitical Summit. Whether or not these times are ‘the end of globalization’ sparked a fierce debate even among the distinguished speakers. The list of speakers featured Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia, Former Prime Minister and President Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic, Managing Director for the Janus Forum Darren Spinck, and more.
‘Without Christianity, there are no human rights, nor any democracy. Therefore, Fukuyama’s “Last Man” is not the triumph of human history at all, but quite the opposite: as he puts, that will indeed be the “End of History” for humanity. So, will Fukuyama be proved right in terms of humanism and the fallible fate of the “Last Man”? He has always been right.’
‘The Kuomintang (KMT)—sole ruling party of the country during its rule from 1927 to 1949—and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had been engaged in armed conflict since 1927. The warring parties had to halt the hostilities and temporarily unite with each other against Japan’s invasion of China in the Second Sino–Japanese War (1937–1945).’
At the SCO summit in Tianjin, leaders from Russia, China, India and beyond gathered to deepen trade ties, challenge Western influence, and promote a new Eurasian vision. With Europe largely absent, and figures like Modi, Putin and Xi taking centre stage, the summit signalled a significant shift in global power dynamics.
‘Pope Pius X, for us Catholics, is perhaps best remembered for his battle against modernism within the Church when he promulgated his Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907). He is also considered the “Pope of the Eucharist”…Yet, less well known is his crusade for peace and his remarkable political insight, through which he foresaw the outbreak of World War I…years before it erupted.’
‘Through Japan’s growing business and cultural ties with Hungary, the Hungarian–Japanese relationship is poised to grow at an exponential rate in the coming years. Japan’s use of Hungary as a central manufacturing hub for vehicles and electronics equipment is only going to grow as a result of increased defense industry cooperation between NATO and Tokyo.’
‘No Western country has found a lasting way out of demographic winter. France, once considered the European model for its family-friendly cultural and social policies, has nonetheless seen a decline from 2.0 children per woman in 2010 to around 1.7 in 2023. Sweden and the Nordic countries, long heralded as champions of work–life balance and gender equality, are following the same path…’