It has been a principle of your correspondent to avoid topics that might make the reader suspect a bias attributable to a birth defect". When someone deals with what relates to his origins it is easy to discount him as biased for it is natural for him to say that". Now then if a Norwegian discusses Norway or a Dutch the Netherlands this automatic dismissal is not likely to be invoked. However a Romanian about Hungary or a Magyar talking about Transylvania is regardless of the content exposed to the allegation of bias. This inclination can mean that those with insider knowledge become disqualified because they know too much.
Another bias makes in the West some countries newsworthy while others are ignored unless they start a world war. Yet before going global trends can have their beginnings in obscure" places. A Russian ideologue of a micro-party or a Chinese peasant organizing peons can even if it is inconvenient to acknowledge it change the world. Some forgotten countries and causes might deserve to be overlooked. Others could be forging the future. An important contributor to the fall of the Soviet Union had been the effort of peoples most folks in the West could not place on the map. The opposite is also gaining ground. If someone is western white hetero and a male then in the words of a liberal he is disgusting".
Indeed there are moments when events project ignored small and busted" countries in the front row of the marching column that normally important" states head. By reminding that small peoples can also produce great men we reach the point at which this introductory apology ends.
This report endeavors to call your attention to a person and country that left-liberal PR honors with the title of Public Enemy No.1". Since a good way to evaluate someone is through his enemies the compliment even if unintended awards the Soros Prize" to Hungary and to the moral tumor" Premier Victor Orbn.
After Moscow crushed the Magyars 1956 attempt to restore their independence so as not to provoke the Kremlin allowed Hungary to become the merriest barrack in the Eastern Camp". Hungarians could live above the low Soviet standard. For show a critical" but in exchange for hand-outs system-supporting intelligentsia was nurtured. Foreigners intent on experiencing the flavor of the East" could easily enter Hungary and meet there the outwardly liberal-minded agents of the system. Tidbits of handy insider" information could be had that was of use to all involved. This way in time a network grew out of the useful contacts. Through it the Westerner accessed filtered information and his local source developed a sense of importance.
The restoration of independence in 1989 ended the Socialist system. The old systems professional critical intellectuals lost their function and their significance. Having lost power they were ignored -and that hurt. That turned this downgraded element into a disappointed opposition. Equally enraging had been that the liberal party they founded -and the others they supported- failed in elections as the uncouth voted the wrong way. After some misgovernment in 2010 Mr. Orbns Young Democrats" (Fidesz) took power with a reconfirmed 2/3 majority.
Regardless of the repainted old hard-lefts and their allied left-liberal elites electoral failure the old contacts to western opinion-makers remained intact. The easiest access to local information is to rely on old links. The consequence is that since few people speak Hungarian most of the information that the MSN accesses is passed through the filter of a bitter disloyal opposition". This crowd knows what the customer wants to hear and how to package the message.
The strategy of Hungarys miniscule opposition is clear. What cannot be achieved internally through elections can be facilitated by scoring abroad. Once winning elections must be written off by mobilizing an international opinion the government might be isolated and rendered unsuccessful. To do that the idea had to be established that Hungary is a dictatorship. The approach is to create locally the impression that the world" condemns the country and its governors. Most Magyars happen to be eager to please the admired West. Recently this produced an interesting case. A commentator of an opposition publication (they are supposedly suppressed) published an article in a major liberal US daily. Without mentioning the original source the next day the journalists own paper republished the piece as an original to prove that even America thinks that we live in a dictatorship".
Projecting the image of a cleverly masked dictatorship is an endeavor with which the opposition -newly with the participation of a genuinely extreme right-wing party- is successful. Internationally in left-liberal circles it is now a dogma that Hungary -and Poland- is a failing corrupt fascistic dictatorship. (Actually the economy is strong the debt is being repaid there is full employment and much foreign investment.)
But you might ask why are the openly leftist and liberal forces bolstered by the Eurocracy" interested to certify the Hungarian lamb as a black sheep? The country has an opposition that harks back to the Soviet-era. It is more knowledgeable about the ways of the West than its equivalents in the rest of the old Eastern Block". These people are skilled in catering to western prejudices and produce good PR. A revealing scene comes to mind. Last year opposition celebs invaded the state TV. One of them is filmed laying on the floor surrounded by unarmed security that requests would you please get up?". Meanwhile with a gadget in his hands he complains -to a receiver outside- that he is being brutally beaten by goons.
Not only is the unelectable opposition good at selling an image Hungary appears to be a country that is easily isolated small and weak enough to be pushed into submission. Additionally her policies contain elements that rally the Wests left-liberal elites. Such is the 2015 blockage of the Balkan-route" of migration into Europe resisting the IMFs economic advice and especially the invention" of illiberal democracy". To save" Europe for those that are used to run it such a system led by a local Trump" cannot be allowed to prevail. An example is to be crafted: Resist us and be ruined".
According to the original concept of this piece of writing here the claims of a dictatorship were to be plucked bare. However the attack on Hungary -and those inclined to follow her example- has boldly separated itself from encumbering facts. The blow-by-blow live report of the aforementioned beating serves as a good example. If that would not suffice there is another good instance of how PC fiction is made to defy the dry facts. It comes through the efforts of CNN.
CNNs Amanpour interviewed P. Szijjrt who handles Hungarys foreign affairs. The opener listed his countrys abandonment of the norms of democracy and decency. Among them that Orbn gave himself unlimited powers and that parliament could not rescind them because it has been dismissed. Poker-faced the Minister listened. Once allowed to speak he noted that he wonders what he might have been doing last week for he had been under the impression that he had appeared before the legislature three times. The rules of a logic-driven discourse would have warranted an apology. What he got was a snort for having ruined a good narrative.
A few years back Hungary was given a new constitution. Internationally the outcry arose that it abolishes the republic. The title page of the obviously unread document calls it The Constitution of the Hungarian Republic".
Suppressed facts can serve as truncheons. In its April 23 issue the otherwise reputable Economist" devoted a major article to Hungarys coronavirus law". It is said to give the prime minister almost unlimited powers to rule by decree with no expiry date." Parliament can repeal Mr Orbans new powers but since his party has an impregnable majority it probably wont. Mr Orban has in effect become a dictator. He may relinquish some of his new powers after the pandemic just to prove his critics wrong but perhaps not all". Note here that the claimed no expiry date" does not quite exist. Still Orbn is a dictator by the power given to him if he keeps it. In case he "relinquishes" power he will do so only to harm his critics. No wonder that (on 18/04) as an outstanding example of bad history the same law which is limited to the duration of the pandemic is labeled to be an Ermchtigungsgesetz". That is the law that gave Hitler the right to govern by decree. To that the EUs Mr. Tusk could only add: He wants to convert the PP fraction of the EUs legislature into a national conservative authoritarian entity. We live in the age of Trump and Brexit the struggle for democracy is global. We must be alert.
Evidence of this recommended alertness is coming in as this is penned. Freedom House" has just lowered Hungarys rating as a democracy by two notches. Spiegel" Germany leading and leftist weekly has a long essay advocating: Not only is more solidarity required on the continent but more hardness is also needed. The EU must cease to make unconditional support payments to autocrats". Orbn is meant here who is investigating systems that are not necessarily liberal or western but that can help their people. So Spiegel speaking for the Globalizers" concludes: "The developments in Hungary and Poland reveal a … structural problem of the EU. The convincing instruments to protect the rule of law are missing". Instead of empty threats the language that all understand" needs to be spoken by withholding the funds allotted to ex-Soviet bloc states to facilitate their modernization.
What a disappointment that the same EUs legal experts have finally concluded that the controversial law is EU-conform and that no part of it violates EU rules. Jourov the Commissar of the relevant body even found that the legislation is compatible with the laws of other EU members". Does this save Hungary from serving as the Lefts punching bag? Hardly. Sophie Veld a liberal EU representative concluded that she is fed up with legalistic arguments: Hungary must be condemned.
Obviously we are encountering here two realities. One sounds good and conforms to political correctness. The other the prosaic one only fits the facts. We are free to choose the truth that pleases our mood and in that spirit even opt to annul gravity. However even that act will not keep the stumbling from falling on their behind.
It has been a principle of your correspondent to avoid topics that might make the reader suspect a bias attributable to a birth defect". When someone deals with what relates to his origins it is easy to discount him as biased for it is natural for him to say that". Now then if a Norwegian discusses Norway or a Dutch the Netherlands this automatic dismissal is not likely to be invoked. However a Romanian about Hungary or a Magyar talking about Transylvania is regardless of the content exposed to the allegation of bias. This inclination can mean that those with insider knowledge become disqualified because they know too much.
Another bias makes in the West some countries newsworthy while others are ignored unless they start a world war. Yet before going global trends can have their beginnings in obscure" places. A Russian ideologue of a micro-party or a Chinese peasant organizing peons can even if it is inconvenient to acknowledge it change the world. Some forgotten countries and causes might deserve to be overlooked. Others could be forging the future. An important contributor to the fall of the Soviet Union had been the effort of peoples most folks in the West could not place on the map. The opposite is also gaining ground. If someone is western white hetero and a male then in the words of a liberal he is disgusting".
Indeed there are moments when events project ignored small and busted" countries in the front row of the marching column that normally important" states head. By reminding that small peoples can also produce great men we reach the point at which this introductory apology ends.
This report endeavors to call your attention to a person and country that left-liberal PR honors with the title of Public Enemy No.1". Since a good way to evaluate someone is through his enemies the compliment even if unintended awards the Soros Prize" to Hungary and to the moral tumor" Premier Victor Orbn.
After Moscow crushed the Magyars 1956 attempt to restore their independence so as not to provoke the Kremlin allowed Hungary to become the merriest barrack in the Eastern Camp". Hungarians could live above the low Soviet standard. For show a critical" but in exchange for hand-outs system-supporting intelligentsia was nurtured. Foreigners intent on experiencing the flavor of the East" could easily enter Hungary and meet there the outwardly liberal-minded agents of the system. Tidbits of handy insider" information could be had that was of use to all involved. This way in time a network grew out of the useful contacts. Through it the Westerner accessed filtered information and his local source developed a sense of importance.
The restoration of independence in 1989 ended the Socialist system. The old systems professional critical intellectuals lost their function and their significance. Having lost power they were ignored -and that hurt. That turned this downgraded element into a disappointed opposition. Equally enraging had been that the liberal party they founded -and the others they supported- failed in elections as the uncouth voted the wrong way. After some misgovernment in 2010 Mr. Orbns Young Democrats" (Fidesz) took power with a reconfirmed 2/3 majority.
Regardless of the repainted old hard-lefts and their allied left-liberal elites electoral failure the old contacts to western opinion-makers remained intact. The easiest access to local information is to rely on old links. The consequence is that since few people speak Hungarian most of the information that the MSN accesses is passed through the filter of a bitter disloyal opposition". This crowd knows what the customer wants to hear and how to package the message.
The strategy of Hungarys miniscule opposition is clear. What cannot be achieved internally through elections can be facilitated by scoring abroad. Once winning elections must be written off by mobilizing an international opinion the government might be isolated and rendered unsuccessful. To do that the idea had to be established that Hungary is a dictatorship. The approach is to create locally the impression that the world" condemns the country and its governors. Most Magyars happen to be eager to please the admired West. Recently this produced an interesting case. A commentator of an opposition publication (they are supposedly suppressed) published an article in a major liberal US daily. Without mentioning the original source the next day the journalists own paper republished the piece as an original to prove that even America thinks that we live in a dictatorship".
Projecting the image of a cleverly masked dictatorship is an endeavor with which the opposition -newly with the participation of a genuinely extreme right-wing party- is successful. Internationally in left-liberal circles it is now a dogma that Hungary -and Poland- is a failing corrupt fascistic dictatorship. (Actually the economy is strong the debt is being repaid there is full employment and much foreign investment.)
But you might ask why are the openly leftist and liberal forces bolstered by the Eurocracy" interested to certify the Hungarian lamb as a black sheep? The country has an opposition that harks back to the Soviet-era. It is more knowledgeable about the ways of the West than its equivalents in the rest of the old Eastern Block". These people are skilled in catering to western prejudices and produce good PR. A revealing scene comes to mind. Last year opposition celebs invaded the state TV. One of them is filmed laying on the floor surrounded by unarmed security that requests would you please get up?". Meanwhile with a gadget in his hands he complains -to a receiver outside- that he is being brutally beaten by goons.
Not only is the unelectable opposition good at selling an image Hungary appears to be a country that is easily isolated small and weak enough to be pushed into submission. Additionally her policies contain elements that rally the Wests left-liberal elites. Such is the 2015 blockage of the Balkan-route" of migration into Europe resisting the IMFs economic advice and especially the invention" of illiberal democracy". To save" Europe for those that are used to run it such a system led by a local Trump" cannot be allowed to prevail. An example is to be crafted: Resist us and be ruined".
According to the original concept of this piece of writing here the claims of a dictatorship were to be plucked bare. However the attack on Hungary -and those inclined to follow her example- has boldly separated itself from encumbering facts. The blow-by-blow live report of the aforementioned beating serves as a good example. If that would not suffice there is another good instance of how PC fiction is made to defy the dry facts. It comes through the efforts of CNN.
CNNs Amanpour interviewed P. Szijjrt who handles Hungarys foreign affairs. The opener listed his countrys abandonment of the norms of democracy and decency. Among them that Orbn gave himself unlimited powers and that parliament could not rescind them because it has been dismissed. Poker-faced the Minister listened. Once allowed to speak he noted that he wonders what he might have been doing last week for he had been under the impression that he had appeared before the legislature three times. The rules of a logic-driven discourse would have warranted an apology. What he got was a snort for having ruined a good narrative.
A few years back Hungary was given a new constitution. Internationally the outcry arose that it abolishes the republic. The title page of the obviously unread document calls it The Constitution of the Hungarian Republic".
Suppressed facts can serve as truncheons. In its April 23 issue the otherwise reputable Economist" devoted a major article to Hungarys coronavirus law". It is said to give the prime minister almost unlimited powers to rule by decree with no expiry date." Parliament can repeal Mr Orbans new powers but since his party has an impregnable majority it probably wont. Mr Orban has in effect become a dictator. He may relinquish some of his new powers after the pandemic just to prove his critics wrong but perhaps not all". Note here that the claimed no expiry date" does not quite exist. Still Orbn is a dictator by the power given to him if he keeps it. In case he "relinquishes" power he will do so only to harm his critics. No wonder that (on 18/04) as an outstanding example of bad history the same law which is limited to the duration of the pandemic is labeled to be an Ermchtigungsgesetz". That is the law that gave Hitler the right to govern by decree. To that the EUs Mr. Tusk could only add: He wants to convert the PP fraction of the EUs legislature into a national conservative authoritarian entity. We live in the age of Trump and Brexit the struggle for democracy is global. We must be alert.
Evidence of this recommended alertness is coming in as this is penned. Freedom House" has just lowered Hungarys rating as a democracy by two notches. Spiegel" Germany leading and leftist weekly has a long essay advocating: Not only is more solidarity required on the continent but more hardness is also needed. The EU must cease to make unconditional support payments to autocrats". Orbn is meant here who is investigating systems that are not necessarily liberal or western but that can help their people. So Spiegel speaking for the Globalizers" concludes: "The developments in Hungary and Poland reveal a … structural problem of the EU. The convincing instruments to protect the rule of law are missing". Instead of empty threats the language that all understand" needs to be spoken by withholding the funds allotted to ex-Soviet bloc states to facilitate their modernization.
What a disappointment that the same EUs legal experts have finally concluded that the controversial law is EU-conform and that no part of it violates EU rules. Jourov the Commissar of the relevant body even found that the legislation is compatible with the laws of other EU members". Does this save Hungary from serving as the Lefts punching bag? Hardly. Sophie Veld a liberal EU representative concluded that she is fed up with legalistic arguments: Hungary must be condemned.
Obviously we are encountering here two realities. One sounds good and conforms to political correctness. The other the prosaic one only fits the facts. We are free to choose the truth that pleases our mood and in that spirit even opt to annul gravity. However even that act will not keep the stumbling from falling on their behind.