Hungary Parroting Kremlin Rhetoric Challenges Ukraine's Right to Exist
Has the time come for a forced HEXIT?
Let’s call it the “Hexit,” Hungary exits — gets kicked out — from the European Union. Does Europe need Hungary? I get that the country of Prime Minister Viktor Orban is located in the middle of Europe, but that does not mean it deserves to be a part of Europe’s legal and economic union. It does not mean that an American-sponsored NATO should protect it.
Viktor Orbán said he considered Ukraine’s accession to the EU unrealistic while the war is ongoing because “it is unclear what its territory and population are” and sees this as a problem even for the decision to start accession talks (Orban Stands Alone with His Remarks).
How can it be unclear what Ukraine’s territory is? If I am a Putinist, I understand where Orban comes from. Suppose I am a supporter of a modern Russia with its imperial ambitions, ever searching for the next colony in which it will help crush human rights. In that case, Orban’s rhetoric is understandable. Viktor Orban is a Putininist, and so he deserves what Putinists deserve.
“The entire world can see that our brand of Christian democratic, conservative, patriotic politics has won,” a smiling, swaggering Orbán — with members of his cabinet behind him — told the crowd, standing in frigid temperatures. “We are sending Europe a message that this is not the past — this is the future (Viktor Orban Wins).”
Orban, however, has been taunting Europe with Putinism for 12 years already. Last year, when he won his fourth term as Hungary’s prime minister, just a week after Russia invaded Ukraine, this was his warning to the liberal democracies pulling together to oppose the invasion. He speaks about “Europe” as if he wasn’t a part of it — as if he isn’t a member of Europe.
Hungary, along with the autocracy currently ruling in Turkey, refuses to ratify Sweden’s entry into NATO. Hungary does all it can to slow or mitigate the severity of sanctions against Russia while, as we saw last week, bends over for Putin at every chance it gets. The less tolerant part of me says, “F*** Hungary!” The tolerant part of me says, “Screw Hungary.”
If you have been paying attention, you may have noticed that the effects of the Soviet Union’s 45-year occupation of Eastern Europe stunted the intellectual development of these nations. Not all of them play the spoiler each time traditional Europe, along with the U.S., tries to solve a problem. Still, there is a consistent and very foul smell that floats above most of Eastern Europe and fuels neo-fascist fires in the hearts of many of the workers in this part of the world.
“I am sure that he stands alone with these claims and remarks. And I’m really disappointed not only with Viktor Orbán but with all Hungarians who follow these ideas,” she said.
“It’s unbelievable that Hungarians, who have a harrowing experience with the Soviet Union in their history, now support such sentiments,” the speaker added.
Markéta Pekarová Adamová, Speaker of the Lower Chamber of the Czech Parliament, had this to say:
Meanwhile, the official expressed confidence that Russia’s enormous influence in Hungary is behind this. “Certainly, this is a concern for all of us. And we are working on a common stance of the EU and NATO countries. And, after all, Hungary is still with us when it comes to sanctions and so on. But I certainly do not agree with Orbán’s position,” the speaker said (Orban Stands Alone with His Remarks).
It’s time to show Hungarians that there are repercussions for their choice of the fascist Orban. Why should the United States taxpayer be forced to pay for the security of people who support our greatest enemy? Let Hungarians, who have lived for 35 years with the freedoms they obviously take for granted, know what it is like when the freedom to travel, study, and work wherever they like is denied them because their leader supports a war criminal like Putin.
He has also refused to allow the supply of weapons to Ukraine or permit military aid to pass through Hungarian territory, angering Nato allies and Zelenskiy, who has branded him Putin’s sole European supporter (Viktor Orban Wins).”
I used to be tolerant of shitheads. I used to try to find common ground with them. Those days are over, and I no longer support the bullshit of Davos, the United Nations, or any other bodies that try to find common ground with Orbans and other Putinists of the world.
It’s time to make him — all of them — squeal a bit.
I understand your frustration at the gleeful vandalistic behaviour of Hungary's Victor Orban, and the stench of gangrenous mind-rot that 80 years of the Russian garrotte left on the political intelligence of many Eastern Europeans. Some have recovered the blood circulation in their brains. Romania and the three Baltic States are examples. Others, notably Hungary and now Slovakia, have not.
I understand but I urge teeth-gritting restraint. My ancestral land Ireland suffered from the aftermath of sectarian imperialism for many years under Eamonn De Valera and Basil Lord Brookeborough. The Republic emerged from that suffocating influence just in time when De Valera retired. Hungary may one day recover from its current intellectual trauma.
Let us look forward to Time's solution to the Orban problem.
EU: The current rules for the EU do not have any provisions for expulsion.
NATO: Expulsion requires unanimous support from all other member nations. Turkey is unlikely to vote for expulsion.
Hungary will remain a member of both EU and NATO. It's unfortunate, but at some point, Hungary voters either choose a liberal democracy or accept readmittance as an SSR, in which case, both EU and NATO would quickly figure out how to disengage. But we're nowhere close to that happening.