Foreign individuals who are affiliated with various organizations can be prevented from entering the US. The FAM 302.7 directive from the US State Department lists groups considered to be “criminal organizations” as defined by the international Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Several Hungarian organizations are on the list, although most do not exist anymore. These are WWII organizations, like the Arrow […]
If it were not for lavish government subsidies transferred to pro-Orbán propaganda news outlets, not a single Hungarian right-wing newspaper or publication would survive beyond a couple of weeks. Publications like the main government daily, Magyar Idők, would almost certainly go out of business in a matter of days were it not for transfers from public coffers, mostly in the […]
Now that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has successfully made a mockery of Central European University, convincing its rector, Michael Ignatieff, to spend twenty months jumping through hoops for the government in the naive hope of good faith negotiations, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) is next in line for some penance. In an emergency assembly of the Academy on Thursday, […]
On Monday, Central European University announced that new students enrolling starting in September 2019 would begin their studies in Vienna, rather than Budapest, after Hungary’s highest ranked university was forced out of the country by the regime of Viktor Orbán. “CEU has been forced out. This is unprecedented. A U.S. institution has been driven out of a country that is a NATO […]
In an unusual move the US State Department issued the following press statement on November 27, 2018: Heather Nauert Department Spokesperson Washington, DC The United States requested the extradition of two suspected Russian arms dealers, Vladimir Lyubishin Sr. and Vladimir Lyubishin Jr., pursuant to the U.S.-Hungary Extradition Treaty. Hungary denied the U.S. request and instead extradited the suspects to Russia, […]
On Tuesday, Hungary formally granted asylum to convicted felon and former Prime Minister of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski. Hungarian Foreign Ministry officials actively aided the disgraced former politician in escaping from Macedonia without a valid passport prior to the start of a two year prison sentence for corruption. The Hungarian Immigration and Asylum Office, according to a report in the pro-government Magyar […]
U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has travelled to Budapest to warn Prime Minister Orbán. The US won’t tolerate Orbán’s cozy relationship with Russian President Mr. Putin and won’t allow NATO member Hungary to slip over to the Russian sphere of influence. Secretary Perry, a fifth-generation Texan understands energy and knows that Russia keeps Orbán on a short leash. Hungary gets […]
Former Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski fled his home country ahead of his two year prison sentence on a corruption-related conviction and has claimed political asylum in Hungary. Mr. Gruevski ignored the order to surrender to authorities on 9 November, in order to begin his prison sentence and instead escaped to Budapest. He claimed that he had no choice but to flee […]
In Hungary, it’s not actually the police that are tasked with brutality, but rather private security firms hired by local governments or national institutes and ministries. I witnessed this first hand in 2016 (and I reported on this phenomenon in HFP at the time). This week we learned that the practice of outsourcing police brutality to the private sector is […]
US federal law enforcement officials have identified the suspect who sent explosive packages to more than a dozen Trump critics, including Hungarian-American George Soros. Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr. is 56 years old and lives in Aventura, just north of Miami. Sayoc also posted hateful Facebook and Twitter messages targeting Soros under various aliases. He is currently being held at a […]
