Hungary’s diplomats in the US generally don’t respond to criticism coming from the Hungarian-American community. They expect that Americans of Hungarian origin will hold back their critique of Prime Minister Orbán’s policies. Now, Mr. Ferenc Kumin Consul General in New York has gone one step further, he has insulted those who offer differing views. In a recent interview with Inforadio […]
David Cameron is a true democrat and a wise politician. He believes in liberal democracy and free market economy, and refuses an ever more integrated European Union. Mr. Cameron looks for allies on these grounds. And his greatest challenge is that most of his anti-EU allies are xenophobes and extreme populists. Will statesman Cameron be ready to tame or handle […]
Chrismukkah (in Hungarian Hanukarácsony) is the merging of two holidays – Christmas and Hanukkah. It was popularized by the TV drama The O.C. where the main character Seth Cohen created an imaginary holiday in an interfaith household with a Jewish father and Protestant mother. The television series was created by producer wunderkind Josh Schwartz and aired on cable TV from […]
For the first time a Hungarian diplomat, László Kálmán, Hungarian Consul General in Los Angeles, paid respect at the Pearl Harbor Memorial that is built over the sunken wreckage of the USS Arizona. This is a welcome gesture. The dramatic attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, resulted in the US entry into World War II and changed […]
One of the tensions in the European Union is between those who seek an ever deeper, more integrated union of member states, and those who prefer a larger, continually expanding EU, but one where fewer areas of national sovereignty are pooled. The two tracks need not be inherently at odds with each, but it is difficult to imagine a deeply […]
Csaba Latorcai, the Orbán government’s deputy state secretary in charge of religious groups, minorities and affairs relating to the Jewish community, just wrapped up what was likely a very successful trip to Canada. Hungary’s state news agency (MTI) published quite a gushing report of the unbridled successes of the week-long Canada-wide tour, where Mr. Latorcai was accompanied, for most of […]
On Monday, the European Commission registered what in the EU is called a European Citizens Initiative (ECI), which is calling for the Union to invoke the dreaded Article 7 against the Orbán government, in response to systemic rule of law violations, xenophobia and the disregard for the values of liberal parliamentary democracy. An ECI is actually a new mechanism in […]
On November 18, 2015, the US Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration, Anne Richard, met Hungarian Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi at the State Department in Washington DC. There was no Hungarian press coverage, Ms. Szemerkényi didn’t brag about a “turning point” in US-Hungarian relations, she remained quiet. I have a feeling that Ms. Richard had some unkind words about Hungary’s […]
If Gov. George Pataki bows out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, one day he might make good money as a lobbyist. At least this is what the Cleveland based Bocskai Radio’s interview with Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s young foreign minister suggests. (Hear the radio interview here.) The reporter asked Mr. Szijjártó why Connie Mack got the well-paying lobbying […]
On October 31st, a Russian plane crashed in the Sinai-peninsula and all 224 people on board were killed. It is suspected that terrorism had something to do with the crash: officials say it was likely caused by a bomb. The disaster has escalated fears over the capabilities of Islamist terrorists. Russia has already suspended flights to Egypt, Germany has warned […]
