Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado credited Donald Trump as a key ally in Venezuela’s struggle for democracy, dedicating her award to both the Venezuelan people and the US president. The opposition leader said Venezuela was ‘on the threshold of victory’, thanks to Trump’s decisive backing and global leadership.
What could be Europe’s future: a decline, or a new golden age? How imminent is the Russian threat to Europe? How does Sweden view Hungary’s fight for sovereignty? We asked former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt about Europe’s bright or dark future at Brain Bar 2025 in Budapest.
At Ludovika University, experts including former Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi and former US Assistant Secretary Philip T Reeker discussed the present and future of US–Hungary relations. Topics included strong historical ties, NATO cooperation, economic partnerships, and shared values. Panels also addressed investment, the war in Ukraine, and cultural exchange programmes.
‘With the raging war in Ukraine, Russia’s recent incursions into NATO airspace in Poland, Estonia, and Denmark, and the rising worries of war in the Pacific, one would probably imagine that the tone of the conference would be somber and serious. However, it was anything but.’
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel dismissed claims that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a Russian ‘Trojan horse’ in the EU, calling the accusations ‘nonsense’ and ‘absurd’ in an interview with opposition channel Partizán. She stressed Orbán has always pursued Hungary’s interests, often clashing with Brussels but also seeking compromise.
‘The central allegation is that Pegasus was acquired illegally…In 2017 Deputy Minister of Justice Michał Woś transferred funds from the Justice Fund to the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA). The opposition and the Supreme Audit Office deemed this unlawful, claiming that the CBA may only receive money from the state budget. However, there is no legal basis for such exclusivity…’
What tools of pressure does Trump have to deploy against Russia if diplomacy fails? Is the United States’ support for Israel infinite? Could Hungary switch from Russian energy to American? What is the future of Europe? We asked former United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie about Trump’s three unresolved geopolitical games.
Is India capable of disconnecting from Russian resources? Is India giving up its neutrality to side with China and Russia instead of the US? Is India competing with or complementing China? We asked a prominent Indian economics researcher about the perspectives of their giant economy.
Scientists have created the largest virtual universe to date, containing 3.4 billion simulated galaxies. The model, built for ESA’s Euclid mission, will help unravel the mysteries of dark matter, dark energy, and the large-scale structure of the cosmos.
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.