Andrew Brunson, a 50-year old American pastor who lived in Turkey since the mid-1990s was jailed by local authorities for his alleged participation in a coup against Turkish strongman Tayyip Erdogan. Brunson and his wife, Norine were arrested in October 2016 along with other Americans. Norine was released after two weeks but her husband was held for two years, facing […]
Hungarians who will soon receive a mailed letter from Viktor Orbán attacking Brussels, or who have seen the new anti-Soros and anti-Brussels billboards, which smear fellow Christian Democrat Jean-Claude Juncker, may think that Fidesz is engaged in a clear-cut and “noble” battle with a malevolent foreign power. What Fidesz supporters won’t know is that the ruling regime’s resolve is only […]
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently invited representatives from 79 countries to an all-day meeting on defeating Islamic State and other enemies of the US-led coalition in the Middle East. President Trump and State Secretary Pompeo spoke to the guests. Pompeo called the withdrawal of US troops from Syria as a “tactical change” that does not change the US […]
A couple of days ago Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hinted that preparations were underway for a visit to Budapest by US Secretary State Mike Pompeo. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjartó was more specific; he told the media that Pompeo’s visit will take place in mid-February. Newspaper headlines appeared praising the “excellent relations” between the two countries and celebrating the after eight […]
In a highly unusual move Hungary has named István Pásztor to the post of Consul General in New York. In the past Pásztor led Hungary’s civilian intelligence services in the rank of general. It is puzzling that the Orbán government has appointed a professional soldier, who started his career in Hungary’s military intelligence before moving to civilian spying, to this […]
For the first time in the Visegrád Group’s history, the leaders of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia will hold a summit outside of Europe, notably in Jerusalem. It is known that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán maintains a close working relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that Fidesz has borrowed some elements of its political strategy […]
On December 1 Romania held a military parade to celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Great Union, the foundation of modern-day Romania. On this day in 1918 the National Assembly was held in Alba Julia (Gyulafehérvár in Hungarian), where 1,228 elected delegates adopted the union resolution. The declaration promised “full national freedom” to all minorities and was read at a […]
Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, told Romanian President Klaus Iohannis that he considers the Romanian national holiday commemorating the unification with Transylvania to also be a European celebration. Juncker said: “Romania will celebrate on December 1 of the current year its centenary, the centenary of the great union, as our Romanian friends say. I wanted to say to […]
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 […]
On July 27 Deputy State Secretary Tristan Azbej tweeted his smiling photo with Jared Kushner. “Privilege to meet @jaredkushner, advisor (& son-in-law) to @realDonaldTrump and to receive acknowledgment for our program dedicated to aid the persecuted Christian communities. Mr. Kushner was supportive of the idea of joint US-Hungarian humanitarian action. #IRFMinisterial” Joint US-Hungarian humanitarian action? The White House has not […]
