East

Blue represents counties that supporter Mr. Johannis, while those in red voted for Mr. Ponta. The two Hungarian-majority counties of Székelyföld, or Szeklerland, voted for Mr. Kelemen, of RMDSZ. Illustration produced by Transindex.ro and based on 98% of the votes.

Romanian presidential election: Transylvanian German to take on Ponta in second round

The main Hungarian candidate in the first round of voting in Romania’s presidential election – Hunor Kelemen of the centrist Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) – received only 3.50% of the vote on Sunday, but came out on top in the country’s two Hungarian majority counties, namely: Hargita (Harghita) and Kovászna (Covasna). The right-wing Transylvanian Hungarian People’s Party […]

by · November 4, 2014 · East
Pro-Russian rebels in Donbass. Photo: Andrew Butko.

Ukraine needs Western military intervention

Ukraine has been invaded by Russia. Ukraine is being dismembered. What is happening is not an intervention or an incursion. The Kremlin’s black deeds are not a “stealth war,” nor is this any kind of Cold War. It’s bloodthirsty hot. Ukraine’s Crimea has been under Russian military occupation since March. Heavy weapons fired from inside the Russian Federation are killing […]

by · September 4, 2014 · East
Solidarity with Ukraine protest in Budapest on August 30th, 2014. Photo: Együtt-PM

Pro-Moscow government silent while Hungarian opposition organizes Ukraine solidarity protest

While the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ parliamentary secretary, Péter Szijjártó, tries to discourage any further European Union sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the Együtt-PM liberal-green opposition party took to the streets of Budapest, in order to protest the second Russian invasion of Ukraine this year. Demonstrators marched to Russia’s embassy in the Hungarian capital and the protest included key […]

by · August 30, 2014 · East
Photo: Paula Slier

Hungarian Foreign Affairs offers milquetoast words on Ukraine

Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to issue milquetoast statements on the deepening crisis in Ukraine, following confirmation by NATO that Russian forces were operating in the Donetsk region of the country, and had helped pro-Russian rebels open up a second front in the southeast (along the coast of the Sea of Azov) against Ukrainian forces. “We are closely monitoring […]

by · August 29, 2014 · East
The Leninplatz statue before 1992.

Lenin’s head goes missing in Berlin

A statue of Vladimir I. Lenin that stood in East Berlin for over two decades and which was dismantled and removed in 1991 was thought to have been buried in pieces in the Köpenick Forest, located to the southeast of the German capital. The monument’s 3.5 ton granite head was believed to have been buried there as well, but when a […]

by · August 23, 2014 · East
Spanish volunteers in Eastern Ukraine fight alongside rebels. Photo: RT.

Spanish volunteers fight alongside rebels in Ukraine

The satellite news channel RT (previously known as Russia Today)  is not best known for its balanced, dispassionate journalism. It was once referred to by US Secretary of State John Kerry as a “propaganda bullhorn” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. (The State Department seemed especially vexed by RT’s continued assertion following the ousting of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, that the revolt had […]

by · August 10, 2014 · East
Photo: Mr. Orban (left) with Mr. Saakashvili (right)  and "boychik" Péter Szíjjártó  Hungarian foreign minister-designate in the middle.

Did Saakashvili ask for asylum from Orbán?

Last week Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili showed up at Viktor Orbán’s doorstep in Budapest. He came with a video crew. Mr. Saakashvili is in a peculiar situation, he is on the run. He left Georgia in mid-November 2013, two days before his presidential term officially expired. Georgian authorities recently brought charges against him under part three of article 333 of […]

by · August 4, 2014 · East