General view taken on 4 April 1949 in Washington of the official signing ceremony creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Congressional Foreign Policy in the Era of Renewed Geopolitical Competition: US Commitment to NATO

‘The four camps of congressional foreign policy suggest different readings on the transatlantic alliance. From a liberal universalist perspective, NATO is not just a political and military alliance focusing on collective defence, but rather a collective security cooperation based on shared values. A pragmatic liberal argument views NATO as an institution where allies’ interests and values can be aligned, whereas a prudential realist understanding highlights the alliance’s role in pursuing US interests in accordance with US values. Lastly, from a strict realist perspective, NATO is the contemporary embodiment of an American sphere of interest in Europe.’

Illustrations of János Arany’s ballads by painter Mihály Zichy (1898)

King Sigismund and the Heroes of the Siege of Golubac

Galambóc (Golubac in today’s Serbia), still an imposing fortress on the banks of the lower Danube section, first appears in the annals of history when Turkish invasions approached and even reached the former borders of Hungary. King Sigismund, however, is not usually praised in military historical literature for the siege of Galambóc, although he acted with great foresight and care.

Balázs Hidvéghi: We are Fed Up with the Centralizing European Institutions

‘I am convinced that the current leadership in Brussels does not take into account the opinion or expectations of the majority of European people, and we even see that they represent non-European interests in Brussels on key issues, such as illegal migration, the war in Ukraine or the EU’s competitiveness,’ Hungarian Member of the European Parliament Balázs Hidvéghi stated in an interview with Hungarian Conservative.

Officials try to assess the damage following a Russian missile attack on residential area in Dnipro, Ukraine on 4 June 2024.

Ukraine Is in Trouble Despite Extensive Western Support

Despite the significant support Ukraine receives from its Western allies, the Russian military industry seems to be still superior in terms of quantities. According to reports, five Russian responses are received for every shot fired by Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine’s Western allies produce artillery ammunition not only more expensively but at a much slower rate than Russia. According to predictions, in 2024, Russia will be able to produce 4.5 million artillery shells, while the EU and the US together only about 1.3 million.

Two New Leopard Tanks Acquired by Hungarian Defence Forces

Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky announced the purchase of two new German Leopard 2A7HU tanks on his Facebook page. The vehicles will be added to the fleet of the 1st György Klapka Armoured Brigade of the Hungarian Defence Forces.

A Tour of the Impressive Polish History Museum in Warsaw

The Polish History Museum in Warsaw, Poland, the venue for the 12th European Remembrance Symposium last month, has an impressive array of items on display, ranging from 17th-century sunken treasure recovered from the Vistula River to items related to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, such as a ball with which the Polish National Team scored against Russia at Euro 2012.

Gyula Cserényi (L), Bertalan Farkas (C) and Tibor Kapu at a ceremony in honour of the selected astronauts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on 28 May 2024

Second Hungarian Astronaut to Travel into Outer Space Announced on Anniversary of Hungary’s First Space Flight

Albeit on Monday the public was informed that only Tibor Kapu and Gyula Cserényi have been selected as the astronauts for the programme, the other two candidates who had been included in the final round of selection, clinical orthopaedic surgeon Ádám Schlégl and aerospace design engineer András Szakály, will nonetheless assist with the work of the HUNOR mission in leading positions on the staff of the mission’s ground-based control centre. As for Kapu and Cserényi, they will soon be sent to the United States, where they will undergo the final phase of their training, supervised and assisted by the US space agency NASA and the private company Axiom Space, Hungary’s international space exploration partners.

IDF Staff Sergeant Nicki, Shirel Liberman and Or Yissachar at the Danube Institute on 21 May 2024

No Matter How Hard They Try, the Truth About Hamas Sexual Violence Won’t Be Silenced in Hungary  

On 21 May, pro-Palestinian individuals aggressively disrupted an even at the Danube Institute. However, they failed to silence the Israeli representatives who came to Hungary to bear witness to the brutality of Hamas on 7 October. What they managed to do, however, was to illustrate a crucial difference between the two sides: while Israeli advocates presented their arguments intelligently and peacefully, related their painful experiences, and even when they were shouted at answered questions, the Palestinian protesters had no substantive arguments; instead, they shouted antisemitic slogans full of hatred, and in a deeply disrespectful manner, tried to do everything to silence the Israelis and those who support them.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa meet at the annual BRICS Summit. New Delhi, India, 29 March 2012

The Rise of BRICS, De-Dollarization, and the Global Economy

In the short term, the process of de-dollarization is exploiting the current state of the business cycle in the US and EU. Just a small decrease in the number of transactions in which the dollar is denominated will cause a devaluation of the dollar and a prolonged state of higher interest rates in the US, together with quantitative tightening—all leading to a weakening of the economic position of the US, the EU, and the other G7 countries.