Politics

Hungary is a hydroxychloroquine world power

Hungary is a hydroxychloroquine world power

President Trump is advocating the use of a malaria drug called hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus.  Scientifically there is no conclusive evidence that the treatment is effective and there are reported cases when it has harmed patients.   Yet the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized emergency use of the medicine for severely ill coronavirus patients who are already in […]

by · April 11, 2020 · Politics
Mr. Zsolt Németh (left) and Viktor Orbán.  Németh has lost influence in his Fidesz party.

Hungarian politician attacks Republican Senator James Risch of Idaho

Mr. Zsolt Németh, a politician in Hungary’s Fidesz party and leader of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has launched a bizarre attack against Republican Senator James Risch of Idaho. Senator Risch recently criticized the erosion of democratic institutions in Hungary: “I am very concerned by today’s news that Hungary will be indefinitely ruled by executive fiat. The Hungarian Parliament, controlled […]

by · April 6, 2020 · Politics
Transgender rights demonstration in Budapest. Photo: Gábor Bankó.

As COVID-19 ravages Europe, Hungary’s government focuses on stripping trans people of rights

As of Thursday, there were 585 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Hungary and 21 deaths, so the Orbán government is preparing to have parliament pass legislation attacking the recognition of transgender people and their rights. Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, the leader of the Christian Democratic People’s Party, a phantom party which survives at the pleasure of Prime […]

by · April 2, 2020 · Politics
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (left) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger’s statement on the situation in Hungary.

The Hungarian Parliament recently passed the Enabling Act to extend the Prime Minister’s power.  Viktor Orbán is using the coronavirus crisis to grab nearly unlimited power for an indefinite period. The Enabling Act brings up painful memories in Germany.  In 1933 the German Reichstag (Diet) passed a similar Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz) which enabled Hitler’s government to issue decrees independently of the […]

by · April 2, 2020 · Politics
The Hungarian parliament on 30 March 2020.

Viktor Orbán uses coronavirus pandemic to complete his dictatorship

The party state’s two-thirds majority in parliament meant that with 138 voting for and just 53 against, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has secured the right to rule by decree for an unlimited period of time, and to unilaterally suspend existing laws, ostensibly in an effort to better address the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary. On Monday, the number of Hungarians confirmed […]

by · March 30, 2020 · Politics
Iranian students protest in 2018 in front of the Iranian Embassy in Budapest against Teheran's Human Rights abuses.

Coronavirus, Iranian students and the Orbán regime’s friendship with the Islamic Republic

According to the Hungarian media currently there are 19 individuals infected with the coronavirus in Hungary. Nine of them are Iranians.  (Read more here in Hungarian.) How did the Iranian coronavirus arrive to Hungary?  The answer will lie in Hungary’s foreign policy and its blossoming friendship with the Islamic Republic of Iran. PM Orbán frequently talks in disparaging terms about […]

by · March 13, 2020 · Politics
Hungary mourns victims of the Holocaust and countersues Jewish survivors in the US

Hungary mourns victims of the Holocaust and countersues Jewish survivors in the US

Hungary’s young and photogenic Justice Minister Judit Varga recently visited Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp and declared her “zero tolerance for antisemitism.”   Hungary has “taken several steps to prevent our country’s Jews from being exposed to any kind of antisemitism that has become more and more widespread in the world.” What Varga did not mention is her government’s institutionalized efforts to rewrite […]

by · January 29, 2020 · Politics
Sir Roger Scruton

Trump basher, racist Sir Roger Scruton is awarded by Viktor Orbán

Sir Roger Scruton does not mince words. In a 2017 Hungary Today interview Scruton attacked President Trump’s intelligence: “He doesn’t have any thoughts that are longer than 140 characters.” (Read here) In another interview he talked disparagingly about the Chinese people and declared that they were “robots” and “each Chinese person is a replica of the next one and that […]

by · December 12, 2019 · Politics
Left: Ms. Novák. Right: Ms. Rácz.

Hungary — Where a 22 year old Fidesz operative is appointed Deputy Minister of State

In most countries, it would be difficult to imagine a 22 year old who has yet to complete a university education and having no relevant professional experience being appointed Deputy Minister of State. Hungary, it would appear, is the land of such possibilities, provided one is a demonstrably faithful to Fidesz, the ruling party. This week, we learned that Katalin […]

by · December 4, 2019 · Politics
Far-right State Secretary Árpád János Potápi manages the Petőfi Sándor Program.  He admires pro-Hitler Miklós Horthy and keeps his painting in his government office.

Ukraine declares eight Hungarian activists “persona non grata”

Eight Orbán-paid activists have been abruptly recalled from Ukraine. They are part of the so called Petőfi Sándor Program. The Hungarian Government did not release their names. As part of an über-nationalist lobbying program, Hungary sends paid activists to western Ukraine to improve the national identity of the Hungarian minority by teaching Hungarian language, folk music and leading dance groups. […]

by · November 23, 2019 · Politics