Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the European Council for nothing less than nuclear weapons or a NATO membership. The Ukrainian president presented his five-point ‘victory plan’ to EU leaders on Thursday, which is more of a wish list than an actual plan. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called it a ‘lose-lose situation’ and firmly stated that Hungary will not participate in it.
‘In this temple of political spectacle and exaggerated posturing, he [Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary] demonstrated, over the course of three hours, that among the spoiled children, there was only one adult in the room,’ Rodrigo Ballester writes in an opinion piece published by Brussels Signal on Viktor Orbán’s ‘debate’ at the European Parliament last week.
‘Donald Trump’s ‘‘peace through strength’’ strategy had given the impression that he was stronger than his opponent in foreign policy, especially since no new wars were initiated under his presidential term. Harris, on the other hand, has been desperately attempting to prove that she can offer the kind of muscular leadership expected by Americans from their commander in chief.’
Kamala Harris, known for struggling in unscripted appearances, recently labelled Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping as dictators and murderers on a late-night show. This extreme rhetoric is unfortunately common among Democrats, with Joe Biden previously making similar remarks about the Hungarian Prime Minister.
‘Disillusionment in the West with Ukraine’s performance and ability to win the war has been rising for over a year. While a lot was expected from last year’s Ukrainian counter offensive, it ended up recapturing less than half the land Russia took in 2023. This year’s balance is not much better. Albeit it is true that Ukraine made an extravagant capture of lands in Kursk, on its own sovereign lands it claimed few to no successes.’
‘Ukraine is losing this war, indeed has likely lost it, and Washington is looking for a scapegoat for its colossal strategic failure. Viktor Orbán, who was right about this war from the beginning, is that scapegoat. If Harris wins in November, we can expect a narrative coming out of Washington saying that Ukraine and its allies would have prevailed if it had not been for Hungary stabbing Ukraine in the back.’
In a recent podcast, Balázs Orbán drew a comparison between the 1956 Revolution and the war in Ukraine. His remarks, taken out of context and misinterpreted, were swiftly exploited to smear the government of Hungary. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán responded by stressing that the war in Ukraine must not be allowed to overshadow the memory of the heroes of 1956, and that Hungary’s position must always be articulated accurately and unambiguously.
A key factor in the European Union’s courting of new partners will be how it balances its ideological inclinations and the necessity of compromise for meeting its needs. The break from Russian sources has been seen by some as an opportunity to accelerate the conversion of the continent into a green energy-powered utopia.
‘The gradual diminishing of Europe’s importance in the eyes of the successive US administrations in the twenty-first century has been arrested by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and weakened the “pivot” or “rebalance” to Asia for the time being: emergencies have cropped up elsewhere. As Joseph Stalin may be said to have been one of the “founding fathers” of NATO, so may Vladimir Putin be seen in a similar role with regard to the revival of NATO, and closer US–EU cooperation.’
‘You [in Hungary] imbue your young people in primary and secondary school with a sense of Hungary’s place in history…I mean, this was the country that turned back the invasions from Turkey and the Muslim lands and saved European civilization hundreds of years ago…We need to teach history in our schools, teach our young people that their country is something to be proud of.’