35 Burst results for "Viktor Orban"
Monocle 24: The Foreign Desk
"viktor orban" Discussed on Monocle 24: The Foreign Desk
"When Sweden and Finland submitted a joint application for membership of NATO following Russia's assault on Ukraine, it was a dramatic adjustment of strategic mindset for both. But nearly a year later, neither Sweden nor Finland have quite succeeded in joining. New members can only be admitted with the agreement of all existing members. 28 countries have ratified Sweden and Finland's applications to turkey and Hungary have not. Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban not for the first time is enjoying the leverage and spotlight available in such circumstances, though Orban's party fidesz has said Hungary will ratify Hungary's parliament this week delayed their vote again until March 20th. But it is hard to imagine Orban pushing his luck beyond the next NATO summit in July. With turkey, it is trickier. Turkey fields NATO's second largest military is the alliance's bulwark against the Middle East and the Caucasus and the gatekeeper of the Black Sea, and its president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is at least as volatile and opportunistic as Viktor Orban. In this special episode set in NATO's waiting room, we speak to three Scandinavian foreign ministers and one former Scandinavian prime minister. Is this going to happen? If so, when? And what happens if Sweden and Finland can't join together? This
AP News Radio
Benedict's admirers keep streaming to Vatican to honor him
"Mourners lined up for a second day to pay their respects to Pope emeritus Benedict the 16th, who has died at the age of 95. Security officers opened up the metal barriers outside St. Peter's Basilica in the early hours to allow the first stream of faithful to enter. Some such as Rome resident Alberto Natalie told the AP that he had been waiting in line from as early as 4 a.m. to say his final goodbyes to the Pope, about 65,000 people came to pay their respects on the first day alone, double what Italian security had predicted, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban was among those coming to the basilica viewing, like Benedict once did or Ben has pushed for a revival of what conservatives in Europe view as Europe's Christian roots, Pope Francis will lead the funeral mass at Saint Peter's square for his predecessor who retired in 2005. I'm Karen Chammas
WNYC 93.9 FM
"viktor orban" Discussed on WNYC 93.9 FM
"Russian energy The European Union would like to ban Russian oil imports after Russia's invasion of Ukraine The EU has one major obstacle and internal obstacle Hungary a country heavily reliant on Russian energy and whose prime minister Viktor Orban is an ally of president Putin So let's discuss this with andras Shimon Yi and non resident senior fellow at the Atlantic council global energy center He joins us from Brussels The head of the capital of the European Union welcome Well thank you What has the EU tried so far on what happened Well the European commission is trying to build a consensus around banning Russian oil imports which is the right thing to do We're in a middle of a war And one of the one of the ways we can push back on Russian aggression is to stop buying Russian Russian oil Now yes you're right Hungary is the outlier Hungary has so far blocked the decisions blocked to consensus And it is a major problem there have been negotiations the last couple of days The president of the commission misses von der leyen was in Budapest Victor Orban the prime minister of Hungary spoke to Emmanuel Macron the French president about this But so far no solution has been found Just so I understand the mechanics of this does every single nation have to agree in order for Europeans to do something like this Exactly it has to be adopted by consensus Is this purely a matter of interest I'm aware that Hungary gets most of its oil from Russia or is there a kind of ideological affinity that's a factor here because Orban seems to like Putin so much While you're spot on there are two aspects One is of course economic The Hungary is hungry Hungarian the Hungarian oil industry the Hungarian so called national oil company MOL is dependent on Russian oil imports for its production It would cost considerable amounts of money to change the technological process but I think that's doable On the other hand it is clearly political Yes Victor Orban has an affinity to Putin he does not support the president of Ukraine's zelensky And I think it is also because he has had he has his own problems unrelated to the Ukraine crisis with the European Commission related to the rule of law and the state of democracy in Hungary So definitely it is both economic political I'm trying to figure this out Why or bond would take this position this affinity for Putin Other Eastern European nations have looked at the invasion of Ukraine and it seems to me from a distance have remembered that they were dominated once upon a time by the Soviet Union Hungary itself has that kind of a story There was a crush to uprising in 1956 I would imagine there are Hungarians alive today who remember that And even though Orban is crushed a lot of democracy I assume he cares at some level about public opinion and public support How does it make sense for him to take the position that he does Well for Hungary it does not make sense for Viktor Orban It does make sense Victor Orban kind of likes all the kick kleptocratic regime that Vladimir Putin has built in Russia And a few years ago declared that he is in favor of what he calls an illiberal democracy which is of course an oxymoron And so it is he is he has subordinated the Hungarian press the 95% of the Hungarian media is controlled by Victor Orban And he has a two thirds majority in parliament which is because he has gerrymandered the country It's because he has pushed back on the possibilities of the opposition So there are many similarities between what Vladimir Putin is trying to do and what Victor Orban is trying to do except Victor Orban is a member of the North Atlantic or Hungary as member of NATO and Hungary is a member of the European Union through values do matter And these values these share values are supposed to be supportive of democracy Is there a large slice of the Hungarian population and for that matter a large slice of the population of Europe that would agree with Orban a democracy democracy We just we're just going to be authoritarian Well it's a good question I guess there are a number of countries that are simply hiding behind Viktor Orban and letting Orban fight their battle inside the European Union Even if at this moment it is actually Victor war ban who is blocking the consensus on the Hungarian population it's very difficult to tell Most people are not most people are not concerned about democracy on a daily basis They're concerned as basically financial There's a big divide between the big cities and the countryside And so I would say that and by the way it's a very very good question you raised why is a country that lost a battle against the Russians in 1956 which had tanks Russian tanks rolling into the country in 1956 Why is it supportive of Russia Well it is not the Hungarians It's mainly Victor Orban and he's interested in making as much money off Of his system as possible Andras shimoni of the Atlantic council thanks so much for your insights Thank you.
AP News Radio
Live updates | Hungary's Orban rejects EU ban on Russian oil
"Hungary's Hungary's Hungary's Hungary's prime prime prime prime minister minister minister minister has has has has said said said said his his his his government government government government would would would would not not not not supported supported supported supported new new new new wave wave wave wave of of of of European European European European Union Union Union Union sanctions sanctions sanctions sanctions on on on on Russia Russia Russia Russia if if if if they they they they include include include include a a a a ban ban ban ban on on on on Russian Russian Russian Russian we'll we'll we'll we'll speaking speaking speaking speaking on on on on state state state state radio radio radio radio Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian prime prime prime prime minister minister minister minister Viktor Viktor Viktor Viktor Orban Orban Orban Orban said said said said in in in in E. E. E. E. U. U. U. U. embargo embargo embargo embargo on on on on Russian Russian Russian Russian oil oil oil oil would would would would be be be be like like like like dropping dropping dropping dropping an an an an atomic atomic atomic atomic bomb bomb bomb bomb on on on on Hungary's Hungary's Hungary's Hungary's economy economy economy economy the the the the nationalist nationalist nationalist nationalist prime prime prime prime minister minister minister minister said said said said the the the the country's country's country's country's geography geography geography geography an an an an existing existing existing existing energy energy energy energy infrastructure infrastructure infrastructure infrastructure makers makers makers makers shots shots shots shots out out out out of of of of Russian Russian Russian Russian oil oil oil oil unfeasible unfeasible unfeasible unfeasible Hungary's Hungary's Hungary's Hungary's government government government government has has has has family family family family a a a a pasty pasty pasty pasty plans plans plans plans to to to to include include include include a a a a ban ban ban ban on on on on Russian Russian Russian Russian energy energy energy energy exports exports exports exports as as as as eighty eighty eighty eighty five five five five percent percent percent percent of of of of Hungary's Hungary's Hungary's Hungary's gas gas gas gas and and and and more more more more than than than than sixty sixty sixty sixty percent percent percent percent of of of of its its its its oil oil oil oil comes comes comes comes from from from from Russia Russia Russia Russia I'm I'm I'm I'm Karen Karen Karen Karen Thomas Thomas Thomas Thomas
The Argument
"viktor orban" Discussed on The Argument
"Control over media, campaign finance rules that are rigged for one side. So free and not fair. It's sort of the tagline for this kind of election. So Hungary is like the textbook example of this kind of system. And I've argued that increasingly, and I was like a unified ideological manner, but more sort of in practice, state Republican parties are showing to embrace this as a governing methodology. The best examples are Republican parties in Wisconsin and North Carolina that have embraced a variety of procedural tricks to make it extremely difficult for Democrats to participate in elections in the state. And we can run on down the list of the competitive authoritarian hallmarks that you see. So in Hungary, for instance, there's an attempt to control the nature of education. So that children are not exposed to narratives that they deem unpatriotic, that essentially to manufacture consent for their particular vision of what Hungary should be and can see versions of that in various different state laws that are proliferating right now, the quote unquote critical race theory bands that don't say gay law in Florida. And all of that suggests to me that we're, there are very, very strong affinities between feed as the party and power and Hungary, and the Republican Party as it currently exists. That does not mean they're the same or that the U.S. is like inevitably going down that trajectory. There are all sorts of differences, right? The federal system both enables this kind of political abuse and also puts a check on it, right? Because it makes it hard for them to be issued from a top down level. So I don't mean to be catastrophic here. But I do mean to say that there is a real parallel and the way the Republicans are approaching the electoral system in the United States and sort of the levers of democracy and the way they're getting implicated and pulled into culture war concepts. Those parallels are real and they really should worry us, especially if we don't want to just assume that the end of the Trump presidency is the end of our problems. Or even if Trump loses in 2024, because I just don't think that's the case. Yeah, I think we have to be careful with comparisons. I mean, one of the things that amazes me that I have no fan of Victor Orban. But in the coalition that was opposing him was the jobbik party, which is a neo Nazi Party. It's a profound difference with the United States. The other difference that this is, I think Zack puts his finger on this rightly. Orban just won his, I think, fourth election. Trump couldn't even win his first election. I don't mean it was stolen, but he certainly could win a majority of the popular vote, and he got decisively routed in the second one, and I think from my conversations with Republicans, there is real real misgiving about having him be the standard bearer the next time around. So we have to be, I think, somewhat careful with those comparisons. I would push back a little bit, Jade, that, you know, if you go back to the year 2000, all the way up to around 2010. The extent to which there was left wing enthusiasm for the Chavez government in Venezuela was astonishing. This has all been swept under the rug, but just look at the tweets that people like Jeremy Corbyn sent when Chavez died, the fact that the district attorney of San Francisco spent time with the Chavez government. I mean, it was not just something to blink at. So I am only saying that in that what's the line, don't point out the vote in someone else's eye when you have a beam in your own. I think is always pretty useful advice. I mean, I think that we risk doing that thing where we're just like, ah, my wide receiver is arrest is fine. Your wide receiver's arrest is a show of your ignominy and evil. But I do think that what gets me is like hungry and say terrible country comparison for the United States and almost every respect. But sex point is very important and I should stress this, so there's no misunderstanding. The rights fixation with Hungary is really dismay. Because they are seeing in it a kind of an example of this kind of illiberal democracy. Manage democracy that is sort of the high road to putinism. But the central point, which is this idea on the right that we can have a form of democracy in which we tilt the rules so hard against our ideological opponents that they're essentially shut out of power, has been the story of the Republican Party or largely the story of the Republican Party for the last several years. And in that sense, it is in fact a really a really big deal because sure enough there's going to be a Republican president, whether it's Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis or someone else, you know, sometime in the next few years. There's probably going to be a Republican Congress in 2023. And if Hungary is the country, they look to as a kind of a gold standard for what a well managed democracy should look like, then in fact, it's terrifying. So talking about Hungary is not at all a bad idea. We spent a lot of time talking about the challenges of our current politics and how what we're seeing are broad as influencing how we think about our own politics, too much so. I think. But I am curious to hear from both of you, how do we respond? What do we do about it? And is there a thing to be done? God. What is to be such a big question? Such a question. I was about to say we're ending on our pro democracy conversation here with a Lennon question. It's really certainly a choice. It's a good question. Well, I really feel like the most important thing that those of us who consider ourselves liberals, whether you're an old fashioned liberal or I should say a progressive liberal or a conservative liberal is to talk to your own side, fix your own problems. You know, it's very easy to lob bombs at the other guy. And much harder and I think much more courageous when you take up the work of saying to people where you have standing to say, hang on a second, we need to check this illiberalism among us. I mean, look, I tried to do that on the conservative side. Look where it got me. But I still think it's actually morally important and it's the only thing that has a real hope of success to re center the parties, even if you're of Zack's view that the problem on the democratic side is much smaller than the problem on the Republican side. We'll find, in that case, much easier to solve, right? So take up the work, as I know Zach has. And call this stuff out. We're not going to get very far if it's simply a matter of, as you put it, I think, so beautifully, Jane. Your wide receiver is worse than my wide receiver. It's just not a winning polemical strategy. I guess the other thing is I think it's a huge task for universities that we need to be educating particularly our elites for genuine democracy. I would be amazing if more university professors and presidents and deans and provosts and so on could say, you know, we've got a problem here. There is a lot of illiberalism, too much liberalism on college campuses. We can do something about it. And if they can do that, I think it would be a transformational shift in American culture with results we would know about in ten or 20 years. Zack, what is to be done? I've been thinking a lot about this, right? Because it is not easy. I think that there are a few things that one can look at. When it comes to the health of a democratic system itself, I think there are some encouraging signs that you can see, especially from activist groups that are focusing on pro democracy work at the very local level. As we've been stressing in this conversation, the U.S. federal system, it creates different kinds and points of vulnerability for democracy. Jim Crow demonstrated the way that you can have sub national authoritarianism in the United States. So when you have groups that are contesting local elections that are working against anti democratic ordinances at the state and even the granular county level, that kind of political organizing and thinking, which I think has been absent from a pro democracy perspective until very recently, you're starting to see it with groups like run for something, I think, is a really good example of this. On the idea logical side, it's a lot more complicated, right? But one thing I would like and this is almost directly a product of my disagreement with Brad about the significance of the sort of cancel culture, social media shaming stuff is like less focus on that and more focus on between people who believe in liberal principles to stop fighting about things like defunding the police or getting angry at each other about one person's bad tweet or something like that. And much more focus on developing a kind of shared liberal ideological front because I think a lot of the people who are on different sides of certain cultural disputes share a commitment to core liberal democratic values. Brett, Zach, thank you so much that was a great conversation. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you, Jane. Thanks, Zach. Rhett Stevens is a times opinion columnist. Zach beacham is senior correspondent at vox and hosted the miniseries the war in Ukraine explained. Airing on the podcast Fox conversations. You can read a lot more about liberalism and the Hungarian election. In Zack's pieces, Europe's other threat to democracy and the anti liberal moment, both published in vox. And don't sleep on Brett's column, America could use a Liberal Party. The argument is a production of New York Times opinion. It's produced by Phoebe, Eliza Guterres, and for Shaka derba. Edited by Alison burjak, an annabelle bacon. With original music by Isaac Jones and pat mccusker. Mixing by pat mccusker fact checking by Kate Sinclair and Mary marsh locker. Audience strategy by Shannon vesta, with editorial support from Christina Sami lisky. Our executive producer is Irene Noguchi..
The Argument
"viktor orban" Discussed on The Argument
"Now and self censorship then? Well, that's a great question. And I imagine just first pass answer to a really smart question. It's very hard to quantify because you can ever really get a grip just how many people are self censoring and what is the distinction between self censorship because you're just trying to find your way to saying something halfway intelligent and self censorship in the sense that you have something intelligent to say and just are terrified for reputational reasons or professional reasons. There's something of a difference in scale today simply because there were only so many people who could be hauled before the House un American activities committee and screamed at. These things are sort of seared into our minds because they're relatively rare examples. Now this is extraordinarily common. The other difference, obviously, is that that was in the 1950s. That was a government agency or a body of Congress that was doing this. Now it's not. Obviously there's always been a profound streak of illiberalism in any democratic culture. And we may find 30 years from now that we'll think, oh, you know, that was really just a blip. It wasn't so bad. It was hysteria about something that was a recurring feature of American life. That would be great if that's the case. I don't think it's going to be the case. I think we're going to remember this period is a uniquely dangerous period for liberal sensibilities in the American republic. So my money is on that second theory, Brad, if I had to bet on this particular thing, for a few reasons, first, social media does make it easier for us to identify instances of individuals being repressed or punished for their speech through social sanction. But that's an issue of identification, right? Not an issue of whether or not it was happening. So let's say you were a communist in a suburban neighborhood, let's say, outside of Chicago in the 1950s. Do you think that you would have been comfortable talking about your political beliefs? Do you think if you did, talk about them publicly? You wouldn't have suffered social sanction. You wouldn't have suffered, maybe even professional consequences at the height of the red scare. I think the answer to that is obviously, yes, you probably would have or at least would have been afraid of those things. So maybe not. I don't know. It depends on what neighborhood of the community of Brooklyn, you were living at at the time. But exactly, right? That depended on community then. It depended on where you were, depending on who your social circle was. And the same thing is true today. And that this is probably a feature of democratic politics basically everywhere. Social media allows us to make it more visible and what it does do that I think is unique. It can hold up random people to a much greater scale of social appropriate, but that, I don't think is the same thing as it being a whole new type of experience. I think the second thing is that there's just a difference in qualitative difference, really, between the two kinds of illiberalism, Brett and your framing that you were describing. On the one hand, you have sort of nebulous vague, sometimes popping up impulse to attack people viciously and even try to impose professional consequences for their opinion. And on the other hand, you have a political movement that is basically dedicated to imposing an Orban style Hungarian style political system on the United States and is doing it in a variety of different ways using the immensely powerful levers that are available particularly at the state level. So it strikes me as two different things that almost don't even belong in the same conversation with each other. One is a concern to be sure, but not a kind of existential extinction level event for American democracy, which the Trumpist movement is. Clearly, we could talk, I was going to say that we could free speech more. But this is a private platform. So I don't have to let you guys keep going. This is my plan. You can do whatever you want. You're the dictator. But that actually brings me to another challenge that Zach brought up in your tweet that a crisis facing liberalism is an unresponsive oligarchic class. And my first thought when I saw that was like, yeah, but every system has one, which is, I mean, I don't know if that's just how humans work. But the gang of foreign Maoist China was an unresponsive oligarchic class that made revolutionary ballets and killed people. The Soviet Union had the nomenclature. And I'm curious Zach, if this is a question of, is the problem the existence of the oligarchic class or is the problem what they're doing? In other words, if there's a version of Rupert Murdoch, where all he's doing with his money is just giving everyone a puppy. Is that okay? Depends on the puppy gin. It's true. I think that it's kind of tricky to do hypotheticals about what would people with extreme wealth do in a hypothetical world if they wanted to all be super generous because that's just not the case right over the course of modern American history and even the long arc of history generally speaking the people who do extraordinary amounts of philanthropy with highly concentrated wealth are the exception. And the rule is that when you get really, really, really like that level of rich, it's some combination of the incentives, the social circle that you live in, and really the kind of personality that impels one to pursue that kind of stratospheric wealth. Tends not to incline one towards public works. So it is more that the existence of extreme inequality creates structural conditions that make it likely for that power to be abused in a way that damages or threatens democracy because it creates people who, by virtue of their wealth, are difficult to impose accountability on. But I think the much more worrying stuff is, well, I mean, the obvious example is Rupert Murdoch's media empire. And that wealth creates a set of institutions that can encourage anti democratic trends inside societies that can't really be effectively controlled or corralled through the use of democratic politics. And in fact, maybe shouldn't be, but the other thing that I wanted to emphasize that I wrote in that tweet that we haven't picked up on as much is that these are features of a liberal democratic society that are being weaponized against itself. It is the case that in a society where there is private property rights, non public ownership of the means of production, that there's going to be a significant level of inequality. And part of that, I think I buy sort of conservative libertarian take that you need things like that as a bulwark against state power. You can't just have everything owned by the government without serious risks of autocracy. But that does create its own set of risks. And I don't think that's a reason to tear down or eliminate capitalism. I do think that is an argument to think more creatively about what one does when the rich people as I argue they almost inevitably do make choices that endanger a free political system. That, I think, is the difficult question. And I don't know what the answer to it is. Well, I'm going to be here and I'm going to stand up for capitalism as Winston Churchill put it that capitalism is the worst economic system except for all the other ones. Isn't that doesn't he say about democracy? That's a democracy quote. Repurpose.
The Argument
"viktor orban" Discussed on The Argument
"Populism is, again, not like a uniquely modern phenomenon, but one that has gained a particular amount of power since the Brexit referendum Trump's victory, the rise of Victor Orban and the law and justice party in Poland. And it sort of has a generally coherent ideology that leads to cross national connections, which makes it, I think, fair to describe as a kind of united international challenge to liberalism, even if they aren't always constantly coordinating. But there are mechanisms and organs of coordination. So I'd say yes, it's a very particular kind of crisis with a lot of political momentum behind it. An attempt to turn the clock back on certain liberal gains that we've seen recently, and even undermined institutions of democracy itself. I want to go back to Zack's original tweet and it's very weird to just keep referring to a tweet. It makes the sound like we are just having the most online conversation ever, but we aren't. Zach, you listed three features of liberals and that you see as both necessary and facing real challenges right now. Free speech, democracy, and free markets. All things, big fan, love it. Let's start with free speech because I think you and might have different opinions as to what the problem is. And one point you made in your tweet was talking about the rise of authoritarian propaganda. Can you explain what you mean by that? Yeah, it's interesting because typically we just think of that as being a top down phenomenon, you know, where a government is using state organs or state controlled media to issue propaganda dictates out to the public and then people learn that and other sources of information are repressed. That's how things work in Russia, how things work to a lesser and more subtle degree in Hungary. It's not really what's happening inside advanced democracies. Whereas he sort of a different kind of problem, which is that there are authoritarian political movements, primarily affiliated with the trend that I was just talking about that are using techniques of authoritarian governments. To dismantle the idea of a shared reality and to ensconce their followers in a separate and alternative world, where they don't have contact with certain key features of actual shared political reality. And this relies on different mechanisms in different places. In the U.S., it works because of hyperpolarization. There's a lot of political science evidence about how polarization fuels democratic backsliding and authoritarian movements, but in this case, when you become so deeply and fundamentally attached to your political identity and to your tribe and your team, you start to become suspicious of information that contradicts that worldview and that's a tendency on both right and left. We saw during the Trump years is that there's this very particular infrastructure on the American right centered but not exclusively residing in Fox News. That allows people and political leaders to disseminate basically falsehoods to turn them into a sort of totem of belief or an image, right? Like you have to hold out this thing, like the 2020 election was rigged in order to be a member in good standing of this particular political movement. And so for the Trumpist wing of the Republican Party, this really does create an anti democratic authoritarian propaganda effect where you have to accept the certain dictates that exist inside that world, right? And there are all sorts of different specific ways through which this consensus is enforced, but it pushes people away from participation in a shared democratic reality. And one way to talk about some recent events, anyone who's advocating for LGBT rights can be described as a groomer, right? Like trying to recruit kids to some kind of nefarious sexual thing, which turns them into existential enemies, right? People who need to be not just defeated at the ballot box, but repressed. That kind of language and the spread of that kind of thinking through these controlled mechanisms is very harmful for democracy. But the language I would say, it's very similar to what authoritarians have said what the way that maoists put to logic of maoism in the 50s and 60s. The idea that there is disorder inequality in the world and only I can fix it only we can fix it and like Pat Buchanan was saying vaguely authoritarian things in 1991, I would say that what's being said hasn't changed as much. It's just who is saying it, but Brett, I'm interested in your thoughts, because you were talking about speech and you had a line where you were talking about how compromised liberalism has left a generation of writers wings or every word for fear that a wrong one could wreck their professional lives. And I think that that's a concern about speech. But again, both of you are concerned about speech and the curtailing of speech, but not necessarily from an authority. Neither of you are saying the government is going to come in and shoot you because you tweeted something. It's other people. It's your fellow citizens who are enforcing this authoritarian conceit. Well, yeah. I mean, I think we're losing our grip on what it means to live in a free society where you not only should accept that other people have a right to say things that you find offensive or misinformed or downright dangerous, but actually go so far as to celebrate living in that society and it used to be a foundational American value. Now, that's not the country that many Americans feel that they are living in. And that's, I think, a fairly widespread phenomenon. Now what's changed, you asked a question a while back about whether this is any different from 1965 or 75 and so on. And I think it has changed in a material sense for two reasons. Number one, in 2016, an illiberal nationalist gained what used to be called the commanding heights of American politics, which is different. I mean, there was Joe McCarthy, but he was opposed by president Eisenhower. He was opposed by president Truman. There were the segregationists in the south, but they were opposed by Lyndon Johnson. So the question of who had the commanding heights has now shifted since 2016 in a way that profoundly worries me. The second thing is that social media, digital media has essentially re-introduced mob politics into democratic or at least American life in a way that I think would have been unimaginable for the last hundred years. But suddenly, at least in the last ten years, those mobs were able to once again collect in the form of digital space. And create a very active public pressure that canceled the careers of a few people, but much more importantly created a culture of people thinking that it's wiser to keep their mouths shut. And that I think is another distinction between now and say 50 or 40 years ago that just makes our era different. Now, whether we have the resources to change that, that's an open question. I want to push back on you on a couple of things there, because I am curious about this. First, with regard to the historical analogy, I think that the concern here is, first and foremost, when we're thinking about mccarthyism, mccarthyism had its own web and network of language and ideas. And a lot of that was based on the idea that liberalism was itself a problem because it was allowing people to do things. They did not like people doing. And so I think that people obviously the mobs online are different than the mobs that would be formed in the streets. But the self censorship that you're thinking about. I think would have been very common to many people who were writers or thinkers in the 50s. It just that the self censorship would be coming from different entities. It might be coming from the government with the House committee on un American activities. And it might be coming from the people you work with. So how do we differentiate between self censorship.
The Argument
"viktor orban" Discussed on The Argument
"But because of Victor Orban's election victory in Hungary, leading to what has been called a soft autocracy. And what he himself calls an illiberal democracy. And in the U.S., we see some on the right who are celebrating Orban. For instance, here's Hungarian foreign minister Peter Sierra on Tucker Carlson's show. What they say is that the only way to have a progressive successful political system is that you have to be extremely liberal. And our existence makes it very clear that no, this is not the only way to be progressive to be successful to fulfill the interest of your nation. But our way the conservative patriotic Christian democratic way, you know, respecting our historic and really just heritage, respecting our values like family. This brings success also I think that kind of ridiculous. But I think that that gets at the big question I have is that if we're thinking about liberalism, are we thinking about it as the means to an end or an end in and of itself. Brett, I've talked to you before about how you think that America needs a new Liberal Party because you think both the right and the left have become intolerant to ideas that don't match their worldview. Before we get into Zach's problems with liberalism, I want to ask you, how illiberal a country do you think we are right now? And why do you think that? Well, just to be clear on the semantics here, just because there's usually a confusion, I don't think any of us here is speaking about liberalism in the sense of Nancy Pelosi, welfare state. Liberalism. We're talking about western democracy. Right. Democracy is hardware. It's institutions and procedures that create representative government, right? I mean, elections, houses of Congress and parliament, executives, and so on, expressing the will of the people, liberalism, in my view, stands for the set of values, the software that typically undergirds those procedures and those institutions. So free speech is a liberal value, tolerance, pluralism, a belief and freedom of conscience, all of these things that I think used to be the taken for granted of American politics and that by and large leaders from both political parties subscribe to these values. And so when someone like Victor Orban talks about illiberal democracy, he's talking about keeping the democratic institutions in terms of representative government, but none of the values we typically associate with democracy. So with that out of the way, one of the things that has been probably my central political concern for the last 6 or 7 years is the way in which the United States at a cultural level, I think is moving away from liberalism. It's one of the reasons I became a never Trump conservative because I thought the conservatism I grew up with was broadly within the family of liberalism, the conservatism of Donald Trump and his followers with its emphasis on nationalism, closed borders, protectionism, and so on, struck me as foundationally, or at least directionally illiberal. And I've also written a lot about what I see as a creeping illiberalism on the left when it comes to canceling speakers. They don't like or deplatforming people. They don't like. So I think liberalism is under profound threat in the United States even more so in states Europe and the person who is effectively the global champion of that illiberal worldview right now strikes me as Vladimir Putin. So there's a few things I'd like to add to Brett's clarification. Part of it is a central point of disagreement in this conversation, which I don't know if it's worth getting into and significant depth. But it's always worth getting into the central disagreement on the argument. Because I don't see there being a parallel level of illiberalism on the left and the right in the United States, I don't see it being particularly comparable. And I think the hungry example, Jane that you started this conversation with is really useful in thinking through this. There's no contemporary left wing equivalent to Hungary, which is not just an illiberal democracy, by the way. It's not a democracy. It pretends to be. And this is my issue with the category of illiberal democracy to begin with. Is oftentimes governments will say, okay, all we are doing is pursuing conservative cultural values or leftist economic policies in the case of familiar Venezuela. And in that sense, we've abandoned a certain level of liberalism, but what they're actually doing is violating democratic freedoms that are liberal freedoms, freedom of speech and association, the freedom of an opposition to organized, freedom of the press, and grinding them into dust and or to secure their own hold on power. And that's what Orban has done without formally outlawing elections or stuffing ballot boxes. And you can see this, for example, in the recent Hungarian election. In the U.S. style, single member districts were so absurdly gerrymandered, that it was something like out of the capital of Budapest. His party won 86 out of 88 districts, and that's not reflecting just a random distribution of support, or stronger support in the countryside for his party, though there is some of that. It's that the districts were designed by them. And completely transformed the electoral system to favor them. We can go on down the list about 90% of media in Hungary is owned by the government. And these facts typically get washed away when people celebrate or bonus a model for a Conservative Party or a right-wing movement in the United States. And this movement, there's no equivalent on the American left. And that, I think, is telling about the asymmetry that's at work here. I think that's just not true. And it's one of the things that I think would behoove us all to pay closer attention to what's happening on our own side before making arguments about the opposing side. My hometown is Mexico City. Mexico elected a populist left wing leader, Lopez Obrador, and literally right now he is in the process of dismantling 30 years of hard won Mexican democratic institutions. And I think part of the problem is that I hardly see anyone noticing. Right. But I want to get back at something that we've been talking about a little bit, but Zach, you wrote a piece in 2019, saying that critics on the left and the right are waging war against the fundamental ideas that define our politics. And you said that liberalism was in crisis. But my question is, when was liberalism not in crisis? Was there a high point of liberalism that we have fallen away from? Was liberalism in crisis in 1965? Was liberalism in crisis with mccarthyism or is it a crisis of comfort? So I think it's right to say that liberalism periodically experiences a wave of internal threats. That's sort of the nature of liberal politics, right? When you have a society that's defined by tolerance and polyvocal centers of conversation and different people who disagree with each other, trying to participate in the same system, inevitably you're going to get people operating inside the confines of that system who challenge its fundamental core values. And there are also issues where it's not obvious what a liberal policy should do. There's actual significant tension between different liberal values. This is classically the case with issues related to religion or the status of life, like abortion or animal rights. But what we're seeing right now globally, I think it's not one of the normal ones. And I don't want to say liberalism have these long placid periods where everything was fine. Like arguably, the U.S. didn't become a liberal democracy until 1965, depending on who you're listening to. Because of the widespread persistence of a system of apartheid and authoritarian government control in the south. That's what Jim Crow was. So what I think is happening especially in the west, and by the west here, I want to be clear on what I'm talking about. I mean, North America and Western Europe. Right, this kind of anti democratic right-wing.
The Argument
"viktor orban" Discussed on The Argument
"So I wrote that quote, the biggest challenge for liberalism today is the use of its own key features against it. Free speech enabling the spread of authoritarian propaganda, democracy, empowering illiberal leaders, and markets producing an unresponsive oligarchic class. Thank you. You're welcome. So yeah, we're here to talk about liberalism, which is a value everyone in this country has taken. Whether they like it or not. It's like the force. It's the superstructure that surrounds us. It binds us together. And we're not just talking about this because of the tweet, but because of Victor Orban's election victory in Hungary, leading to what has been called a soft autocracy. And what he himself calls an illiberal democracy. And in the U.S., we see some on the right who are celebrating Orban. For instance, here's Hungarian foreign minister Peter Sierra on Tucker Carlson's show. What they say is that the only way to have a progressive successful political system is that you have to be extremely liberal. And our existence makes it very clear that no, this is not the only way to be progressive to be successful to fulfill the interest of your nation. But our way the conservative patriotic Christian democratic way, you know, respecting our historic and really just heritage, respecting our values like family. This brings success also I think that kind of ridiculous. But I think that that gets at the big question I have is that if we're thinking about liberalism, are we thinking about it as the means to an end or an end in and of itself. Brett, I've talked to you before about how you think that America needs a new Liberal Party because you think both the right and the left have become intolerant to ideas that don't match their worldview. Before we get into Zach's problems with liberalism, I want to ask you, how illiberal a country do you think we are right now? And why do you think that? Well, just to be clear on the semantics here, just because there's usually a confusion, I don't think any of us here is speaking about liberalism in the sense of Nancy Pelosi, welfare state. Liberalism. We're talking about western democracy. Right. Democracy is hardware. It's institutions and procedures that create representative government, right? I mean, elections, houses of Congress and parliament, executives, and so on, expressing the will of the people, liberalism, in my view, stands for the set of values, the software that typically undergirds those procedures and those institutions. So free speech is a liberal value, tolerance, pluralism, a belief and freedom of conscience, all of these things that I think used to be the taken for granted of American politics and that by and large leaders from both political parties subscribe to these values. And so when someone like Victor Orban talks about illiberal democracy, he's talking about keeping the democratic institutions in terms of representative government, but none of the values we typically associate with democracy. So with that out of the way, one of the things that has been probably my central political concern for the last 6 or 7 years is the way in which the United States at a cultural level, I think is moving away from liberalism. It's one of the reasons I became a never Trump conservative because I thought the conservatism I grew up with was broadly within the family of liberalism, the conservatism of Donald Trump and his followers with its emphasis on nationalism, closed borders, protectionism, and so on, struck me as foundationally, or at least directionally illiberal. And I've also written a lot about what I see as a creeping illiberalism on the left when it comes to canceling speakers. They don't like or deplatforming people. They don't like. So I think liberalism is under profound threat in the United States even more so in states Europe and the person who is effectively the global champion of that illiberal worldview right now strikes me as Vladimir Putin. So there's a few things I'd like to add to Brett's clarification. Part of it is a central point of disagreement in this conversation, which I don't know if it's worth getting into and significant depth. But it's always worth getting into the central disagreement on the argument. Because I don't see there being a parallel level of illiberalism on the left and the right in the United States, I don't see it being particularly comparable. And I think the hungry example, Jane that you started this conversation with is really useful in thinking through this. There's no contemporary left wing equivalent to Hungary, which is not just an illiberal democracy, by the way. It's not a democracy. It pretends to be. And this is my issue with the category of illiberal democracy to begin with. Is oftentimes governments will say, okay, all we are doing is pursuing conservative cultural values or leftist economic policies in the case of familiar Venezuela. And in that sense, we've abandoned a certain level of liberalism, but what they're actually doing is violating democratic freedoms that are liberal freedoms, freedom of speech and association, the freedom of an opposition to organized, freedom of the press, and grinding them into dust and or to secure their own hold on power. And that's what Orban has done without formally outlawing elections or stuffing ballot boxes. And you can see this, for example, in the recent Hungarian election. In the U.S. style, single member districts were so absurdly gerrymandered, that it was something like out of the capital of Budapest. His party won 86 out of 88 districts, and that's not reflecting just a random distribution of support, or stronger support in the countryside for his party, though there is some of that. It's that the districts were designed by them. And completely transformed the electoral system to favor them. We can go on down the list about 90% of media in Hungary is owned by the government. And these facts typically get washed away when people celebrate or bonus a model for a Conservative Party or a right-wing movement in the United States. And this movement, there's no equivalent on the American left. And that, I think, is telling about the asymmetry that's at work here. I think that's just not true. And it's one of the things that I think would behoove us all to pay closer attention to what's happening on our own side before making arguments about the opposing side. My hometown is Mexico City. Mexico elected a populist left wing leader, Lopez Obrador, and literally right now he is in the process of dismantling 30 years of hard won Mexican democratic institutions. And I think part of.
The Dinesh D'Souza Podcast
Viktor Orbán: Hungary's Authoritarian PM Secures Another Term
"I'd like to say a few words about the election result in Hungary. The party of Viktor Orban, one decisively, and one after a massive campaign. That was conducted against him, a campaign in part financed by, well, George Soros. Let's remember George Soros is Hungarian. And a source has spent money all over the world to promote leftist causes. He has David says essentially bought off big chunks of South America. And he has been very active in Eastern Europe. He's been very active in Asia, manipulating currency, of course, as he's been one of the primary funders of leftist groups in the United States, including some of them with a, with a dubious and a violent history. And this is Soros. He's essentially a thuggish operator who has thuggish operations all over the world. And I think he was desperate in his own country of his birth to defeat Victor Orban. Now why? What is so bad about this guy Orban? Well, what's really distinctive about Orban in Europe is that he stands as an unabashed defender, not only of nationalistic sentiment, which is to say hungry first he's a Hungary first guy. If we're America first, we should understand why people are going to be India for a store hungry first, and that's what he is. But the other thing is he is an unapologetic defender of traditional values. And much of Europe today has become kind of embarrassed to stand up for traditional western values and specifically Christian values, but there are some notable exceptions to that rule Poland is one of them hungry is another. So Victor Orban is kind of a symbol of someone who doesn't play the globalist game.
WNYC 93.9 FM
"viktor orban" Discussed on WNYC 93.9 FM
"39 in clear this morning but increasing clouds and then a high of 56 today gusty tonight low of 43 then tomorrow's slim chance of afternoon rain mostly cloudy with a high near 57 Quite a few rain chances this week It's WNYC at 5 45 It's morning edition from NPR news I'm Rachel Martin And I'm a Martinez Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban won a fourth term in office The populist leader faced an unprecedented challenge from a coalition of parties from the right and left that united try to oust Orban from power It did not work NPR's rob schmitz is in the Hungary's capital of Budapest He joins us now robbed by this election was predicted to be tied to was it No it was not Orban's fidesz party easily ran away with this winning 135 seats in parliament compared to just 50 60 for the opposition in his victory speech Orban said that Hungarians had voted with their hearts And he's saying here that the victory will be remembered for the rest of their lives because they had to fight an overwhelming force the left at home the international left the Brussels bureaucrats the international mainstream media and even the Ukrainian president And he's referred to demir zelensky's criticism of Orban for supporting Vladimir Putin at a time when the rest of the world is condemning the Russian leader Why was this such a landslide win for Orban Orban's nationalist far right policies are popular throughout rural Hungary which is home to the majority of voters These are folks who attend church and see western values as a threat to their traditional lifestyle The other reason Orban wants so easily was mentioned last night in a concession speech delivered by Peter Marcelo the opposition candidate So we did everything right And yet the results show that after 12 years of brainwashing or one can always win any election in this country And he's referring here to how Orban and his party have gained control and influence over more than 90% of Hungary's legacy media TV radio and print news were essentially transformed into campaign instruments for Orban for the past couple of months and many think this had a big impact on how people voted So what does Orban's win mean for Hungary's future Well it means that Hungary will continue to be Russia's best friend in the European Union and it also means that Hungary will move further away from the EU the EU is already cutting off some funding to Hungary but Hungary still receives billions of dollars per year from the block Political scientist zoltan Gabor such thinks this funding could now be at risk but he's also concerned about what this landslide win will mean for Orban's hold on power My biggest fear is that they will think that they should go on this road downward toward further autocratization And if this is true then they can carry on with their policies and they can survive much of their economic situation And as it stands Hungary's economy is suffering from Orban's relentless spending on new sports stadiums and big ticket infrastructure projects Russia's war next door in Ukraine and inflationary pressure could mean a bleak economic picture for Hungary How are people there in Budapest are reacting to this news Well yesterday I spoke to voter Esther maisel vari she voted against Orban but she told me she knew he was likely going to win anyway Here's what she said she thought is now in store for her country A finger means more people leaving the country especially young people Less human rights especially for minorities women But definitely we're going to move towards the students that have asked I think and she says that she thinks hungry is going to move towards the east What she means by that is that she thinks hunger will now align itself more with other autocracies like China and Russia and away from the democracies of Europe and the west That's.
Bloomberg Radio New York
"viktor orban" Discussed on Bloomberg Radio New York
"Is a Bloomberg business flash From Bloomberg's European headquarters in the City of London I'm Laura Wright with this Bloomberg radio business flash losses deteriorating in the European session Overall the stock 600 benchmark just north of the green the best performing sector healthcare up 1.3% driven higher by news that Novartis the Swiss farmer company is implementing a $1 billion cost saving structure by 2024 and merging the pharmaceutical and oncology units Worst performing sectors banks and industrials laggards are cyclicals out of favor this morning telecom Italia selling off three and a half percent and idiosyncratic story the private equity firm KKR said to be pulling out of a proposed takeover bid due to uncertainty surrounding the war in Ukraine and worsening credit conditions of telecom Italia U.S. benchmark ten year treasuries up one basis point yielding two 39 hawkish commentary from San Francisco's fed president Mary Daly over the weekend helping lead treasury yields higher UK ten year guilt down 5 basis points yielding one 56 somewhat of a divergence there The blue McDonald spot index is flat commodity commodity currencies led higher as oil rebounds despite bearish drivers Goldman they have paired back their forecast for oil but for the second half of the year it stands around $125 a barrel That's the Bloomberg radio business flash his Hannah George with the top news morning Hannah Morning Laura thank you Leaders from around the world have condemned Moscow over multiple reports that Russian troops executed unarmed civilians in Ukrainian towns Broadcasters showed images of people they said were killed execution style with Kyiv asking the International Criminal Court to gather evidence of alleged war crimes the European Union is blaming Russia for atrocities and says it's urgently working on additional sanctions against Moscow Two of Vladimir Putin's closest European allies have one election victories Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban clinched a fourth consecutive term after leading his far right prepared debts party to a decisive win in neighboring Serbia Alexander vucic won 5 more years as president and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party is in a position to form a government both leaders have pledged to stay out of the war in Ukraine And it's not the surprise you were hoping for Ferrero is recalling batches of its chocolate Easter eggs in the UK and Ireland over a possible link to cases of salmonella The recall applies to kinder surprise eggs which best before dates between 11th of July and the 7th of October While none of its kinder products have tested positive for salmonella Ferrero's advising people against eating the eggs Global news 24 hours a day on air and on Bloomberg quicktake powered by more than 2700 journalists in more than a 120 countries I'm Hannah George This is Bloomberg So you and a bit of a surprise there Yeah thanks for that Excellent update Tana George It is ten to sorry about that It is ten to ten And it is ten to 5 in the U.S. So.
Bloomberg Radio New York
"viktor orban" Discussed on Bloomberg Radio New York
"Day and week by week We're dealing with an individual who doesn't play by the rules So I've always been very clear by the fact that he goes so far It is indeed a very dangerous moment it is basically the rewriting of these Georgia system that we've known in Europe since the end of the Cold War Bloomberg daybreak Europe on Bloomberg radio On a very good morning from London I'm Caroline hipkin I'm your impostor listening to daybreak Europe live on London DAB digital radio geopolitics very much in focus today talks with a Moscow and Kyiv set to resume in Ukraine as the country accuses criminally forces of carrying out the trustees in towns to the north of the capital and talk of more European sanctions in Hungary and decisive election win for prime minister Viktor Orban and in Asia Sri Lanka's cabinet and Central Bank all submitting their resignations to state amid growing unrest at the region's fastest inflation rate on the markets risk appetite in Asia today but more of a mixed picture in early trading here in Europe Yeah absolutely Stocks here only up by about a tenth of 1% on the U.S. stock 651 hundred gains or ten 30 Dax actually down three tenths of 1% this morning So that is sort of European stock struggling The healthcare sector outperforming but that's sort of about the best of it As for U.S. stock features also dipping into the red for the S&P 500 Mainland China on holiday but the hang saying has been higher this morning This is as Chinese regulators removed a kind of hurdle that was stopping the U.S. from having full access to audit So that are quite a key issue in terms of avoiding the delisting of Chinese stocks in the U.S. As for bond markets this morning we are focused on yield curve inversion That happened in a much deeper way on Friday two 39 is where we stand for the ten year yield this morning Also oil oil feels cheaper than most would have expected according to wittol or at the moment oil prices have been rising at this morning so at a $105 the barrel for breadfruit WTI now spot on a $100 Gold also having gained 6% in the first quarter now trading at 1931 top by three tenths Those are the markets Yeah it's a really punchy moves in Hong Kong stocks there There's some easing of regulatory concern because worries about those U.S. listings of Chinese stocks but really some quite dramatic moves in the Hangzhou particularly among the tech stocks today But that's a risk on move not really carrying across to Europe today No not this morning Also coming up there on the program we should mention that we've got a lot of interesting and important interviews including with Bloomberg's European correspondent Maria today who is actually live in Budapest for us She can talk us through the war in Ukraine Yes but also the will of Victor Orban now the fourth term in office of Victor Orban is been a thorn in the EU's side So how did he manage that win And what will be his role He has in the past been quite pro Kremlin So that's one interview coming up and also Chris Bryant from our Bloomberg opinion team will be joining us For an issue that I've noticed have you people basically being quite an antisocial I think post the pandemic Yeah fascinating conversation Look forward to that later on Let's bring back to London focusing on some of the equities stories to be watching today We've got Bloomberg's breaking news editor Charles at cape joining us now Now Charles let's start off with that nickel debacle at the London metal exchange A bit of a regulatory news on that front Yeah absolutely I'm sure you all remember at the beginning of March We had that bizarre morning in the London metal exchange where the price of nickel rose about 250% Now that was in the middle of a short squeeze And in the weeks after that the London metal exchange has had to slowly recover that market and get it back to normal trading Now the UK's financial conduct authority and also the Bank of England said this morning that they will conduct reviews into the London medical exchanges actions in that nickel market The FCA will review the suspension and resumption of the nickel market while the Bank of England will focus on the operations of London metal exchanges clearing house Now the metal exchange itself welcomed the review and they said they would appoint an independent party to conduct its own review into the events in those weeks Okay so that on the LMA and the nickel story that was immense very very challenging here in the UK It's pouring with rain this morning Charles cape I'm thinking about getting on a plane Ryanair is narrowed its full year lost guidance Oh I know exactly how you feel And yes for Ryanair they have narrowed their full year loss guidance to the lower end of the range So previously they saw a loss of 250 to €450 million They're now seeing 350 to 400 million So that's towards the lower end They also reported some of their full year traffic That's recovered to 97 million passengers in the year That's compared to 27.5 last year But it's still below the pre-pandemic levels Now one of the interesting things that they said is that they've increased their 2023 full year hedging to about 80% of the cover Now oil prices are going to be really important for airlines in the coming months And with those prices going up having all of their fuel hedged is going to be quite important for them So they've done that to 80% in 2023 Now their shares are down slightly this morning We will hear more from them on May the 16th when they report their full year results And Charles a little bit of M and a news bring us that today Exactly what care tech is one of these companies that provides social care services for counsels Now previously they received an approach from their founders harun and Farouk Sheik and that was at 725 pence per share D bay advisers has come out this morning and said that they've submitted an indicative proposal on a possible cast cash offer at 750 pence per share So just pipping that offer that they initially had all that proposal that they initially had from their founders Debug shares are up about 5% this morning And that debate offer values the company at about 850 million pounds So we're potentially seeing a bit of a bidding war starting here It will be interesting to see how the founders respond Yeah absolutely very interesting Thank you so much for being us the latest on those stocks here in London also looking ahead to moon pig and home serve tomorrow Thanks so much Charles cape with the London rush more those stories read the London Russia pinball dot com and of course on the brim bacterial Well let's get to those top stories here's Bloomberg's Hannah George Good morning urine and thank you Ukraine in the U.S. are calling on international courts to investigate potential war crimes in cities outside the capital Kyiv as outraged spreads over disturbing images of civilian killings Bloomberg's air Baxter has the story Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the videos that Ukraine released are alarming We can't become numb to this We can't normalize this This is the reality of what's going on every single day And through a translator president volodymyr zelensky says the investigation has to go further than just Vladimir Putin All the military commanders everyone who gave instructions and.
WBUR
"viktor orban" Discussed on WBUR
"Just come out from the village McCullough can you tell us what it was like during the Russian occupation They were shooting here from just in front of our houses What can I say They create all the houses once they were leaving they took away everything from us They took microwaves TVs meat grinders We couldn't believe our eyes They took everything they saw They killed a man His house was at the end of the street He had a two story house He went home opened the gates and he was then found lying there riddled with bullets I wish them dead What kind of mother gave birth to them they are not people These are not people That report was by orla guerin Now one headline two countries a right-wing European leader has won reelection in a nation juggling ties with Russia and political links with the EU The two countries are hungry and Serbia who both held elections at the weekend and with votes still being tallied up both prime minister Viktor Orban and Budapest and president Alexander vucic in Belgrade appear to have retained power Mister Orban has already addressed supporters in the Hungarian capital claiming a remarkable fourth term victory We have scored a victory.
WNYC 93.9 FM
"viktor orban" Discussed on WNYC 93.9 FM
"Listened to western music in western style cafes but they also felt pressured to adopt western values on multiculturalism sexual identity and gender For many in conservative hungry this has been a struggle Hungary is a place where we didn't have the so called sexual revolution that revolution that took place in the western part of Europe or in America Natalya borza is a philosopher in linguists in Budapest who studies gender issues During the communism Hungarian people they were basically told by the Soviets how to live And okay 30 years pause but still we have the memory of what it feels like being under someone else's rules Hungary's nationalist prime minister for the last decade Viktor Orban draws on that sentiment to stay in power At a recent demographics conference in Budapest also attended by former vice president Mike Pence or band declared that he's protecting Hungary's traditional values The western left wing is attacking It is trying to relativize the notion of family Its tools for doing so are gender ideology and the LGBTQ lobby which are attacking our children Or bonds government recently passed the law restricting the teaching of LGBTQ issues in schools It was prompted by a children's book featuring gay non binary in transgender characters It became a tool for them for the government and they used it as a symbol of the western enemy Bold is our nag edited the book The government loves to visualize the hunger and society is like the best in the 50s before But I don't think that we are that conservative and that closed minded Hungary holds a referendum on the law next year Meanwhile the EU is now threatening to cut funding to Hungary unless or bonds government.
AP News Radio
Pope to Orban's Hungary: Open Your Arms to Everyone
"Hey Francis is started the first of a four day tour of central Europe by visiting Hungary the pontiff's visit to the capital Budapest was welcomed by knowledge crowds as he presided over massive over a hundred thousand people he had the mass promises us Hungary and then now owns towards everyone the need is seen as a veiled critique of prime minister Viktor Orban's anti migrant policies the two leaders did however need to be it for a short period of time organizers say the meeting was cordial even though opens anti migrant policy clashes with the pope's cool for welcome and integration of those seeking better lives in Europe at a meeting with Jewish and Christian I did it against a resurgence of anti semitism in Europe I think this is roughly about seven two little delighting in Europe and elsewhere this is a few not allowed to best band time Karen Thomas
KQED Radio
"viktor orban" Discussed on KQED Radio
"Budapest today. He also met with Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister. Whose hardline stance on migration clashes with the pope's calls for refugees to be welcomed. Orban has said that he is defending Hungary's Christian identity, Francis said today That Hungary can preserve its Christian roots while opening up to the needy. Andre All, Snyder. This is NPR news. Support for NPR comes from NPR stations. Other contributors include Subaru with the 2021 Subaru Forrester featuring standard symmetrical all wheel drive and safety. Technology. Love. It's what makes Subaru Subaru Learn more at Subaru dot com. This is weekend edition from NPR News. I'm Lulu Garcia Navarro. Good morning, even though the number of confirmed Covid cases has fallen slightly daily deaths are up. This disease still has a firm grip on the United States with parts of this country experiencing intense outbreaks in northern Idaho. At least 10 hospitals are so overwhelmed that they began rationing care for everyone last week, regardless of diagnosis. Many people in that part of the state are mistrustful of health authorities as Nate Heggie of the Mountain West News Bureau.
Dennis Prager Podcasts
Republicans Compare Viktor Orban to Communists
"Tucker. Carlson went to hungary last week. As many of you know. He was the speaker on saturday at a conference of young conservatives from all over europe especially eastern europe in depeche and i was the speaker of the day before and he has been an eye as well but he much more as attacked because he had viktor orban's on his program. There are bond is the head of of hungary so this is what they say. Give you an idea of the low level of the never-trumper world so these putative republicans condemned us for going. We are no different than leftists. Who went to communist countries. I know virtually all of these people. And i must tell you. My disappointment in moral idiocy is deep. You have no idea how. Well i know. Some of them and one for forty years to compare or monto communism. You can hate her. Bundle your life or are there Torture chambers and hungary like they weren't hungary and communism the that many people the communist killed in eastern europe is is he murdering people in in hungary. How about a basic thing like this. There was no way you could travel. Outside of the communist bloc when eastern europe was communist a hungarian has the freedom to travel anywhere in the world. The comparison of victor oregon to communists is another example of people trivializing communist evil. It's like comparing people to nazis. All you do is trivial is nazi evil.
On Point with Tom Ashbrook | Podcasts
"viktor orban" Discussed on On Point with Tom Ashbrook | Podcasts
"Coming up in twenty. Twenty two so to what viktor orban's said earlier in that cut what people are getting all their feathers ruffled about is that is just a successful. He's a successful politician. In a hungarian democracy but the democracy remains intact in. There is so that the united states shouldn't worry about adopting or bond esque models here in this country in our politics What would be your response to that. Well this is a very similar thing. That religious rights activists told me twenty eighteen About oregon that they still have elections in hungary. So what's the problem. But as orban himself has admitted or brad hungry is an illiberal democracy and it's not a true democracy If you've rigged the elections gerrymandered district so that you win elections and destroyed a free press and an independent judiciary on. But i think that the american rights affection for this model is demonstrated to us by their either ranging from silence to cheerleading for. Trump's stolen election lies so You know to say that Liberals are making a mountain out of molehill. About tucker carlson's visit to budapest is just Dreyer is is trying. Very hard to downplay it but i think this is A six alarm fire. If you add it in to what. The american right is doing in the united states. Okay so let me follow up on that a bit. Because what does this also say about how far the republican party itself has moved because we talked about orban's relationship with particular influential republican strategists. But the party as a whole just to sort of circle back to where we were a little while ago maybe ten. Now let's take it back further fifteen years ago. What did the republican party view the. What was its view of. The likes of viktor orban. Well as i said. When george w bush was president and was following. His state department was following. What was basically the bipartisan foreign policy consensus that it was the role of the united states state department and foreign service officers. And you know people working in these fledgling democracies in eastern and central europe. Remember that these countries had not been democracies for very long That it was united states position that we should be promoting democracy and stopping authoritarianism and that was back in the early two thousands and fast forward twenty years and basically. It's the mainstream position of the republican party to cheerlead for for victor or bonn of the late john mccain in twenty fourteen. I think it was a called called. Victor oregon a neo-fascist dictator getting in bed with ladimir putin. Okay there's no one in the republican party who would say that today jacko head. Well that is that is frightening. Putting it that way that what a what a way to establish the perspective john mccain spoke out of that from that post war that road indeed cold war moral consensus about what america should stand for in the world and that is simply by the board. Now i mean you. Know donald trump. We had the least patriotic president. We've ever had every time he could. He talked down that vision of america. The idea that we stand for something the idea that we're should be assigning china sitting on the hill. He he wanted no part of that he you know he would relative is you're think putin's a killer we've got our killers you think. And i think that that derogation that he engaged in sort of caught on among his co. they're not you don't hear them now saying what a great country this is. Look at look at look at look at look at carlson he saying. Well i mean who's who's the freer country hungary. The united states. That's absurd question to ask. But it's real him because that's that's how he that's the things he likes are free or the the i guess. Meaning the the ability to strike at cultural pluralism Sarah you mentioning putin here. A couple of times how is there. Is there kind of a relationship between viktor. Orban's and how he is leading in hungary and oddly and oddly what putin is doing in russia or my my my grasping at straws here you are not grasping at straws and the same reasons why the american religious right admires oregon. They admire putin for the same reasons. his strongman tendencies are admired his crackdown on. Lgbtq rights is also admired I had an american religious right activist. Tell me that he got it. That putin's anti gay propaganda law. You know cleaning that prohibits talking to into school children about about. Lgbtq issues that he would like to see something like that here but of course. We can't do that. Because of a first amendment we couldn't restrict speech like that You just another example of how they recognize that we have a different system here but they kind of wish that it was. It was more like russia hungary And you know. Putin also has made many appeals to this traditional heritage or culture And also these traditional values that are rooted in christianity. So it's definitely a piece An it's of a kind and these are the same things that are drawing the attention and the admiration of the american Okay we've got three or four minutes left here I wanted to circle back actually to really to where we began. Because i wonder if there's a kind of point at which influential ideas might percolate amongst the elite of any particular political persuasion in this case. We're focusing on the american right or that that nexus between the american right and and christian conservatives in this country so ideas can percolate there. But then all of a sudden they breakthrough in in to a much larger audience. It seems to me that this could be that moment. This is where we begin the conversation. But i wanted to to focus on a little bit of our discussion at the end here again on this. Do you think the that. Carl tucker. Carlson is influential enough. He's got about three million viewers tonight that him talking up. A hungary to his viewers could actually have an on the ground effect here in the united states. Sarah absolutely carlson's audience is huge. He gets beyond his audience on a lot of play on social media and he he is extremely influential and admired and for some of some of his audience might have already heard The pro or bonn discussion via other channels of information that they might be connected to But many of his audience may not have and this is. It's almost as if there had been some gas. Put down on this and and tucker carlson with the match Jack in the in the minute minute half so we have left here to go. I think the most gripping part of this conversation to me is how orbin himself american conservatives. Who admire him and hungarians as well who voted for victory. Oregon would say yeah. You have all your concerns but once again this happened. This is happening within a democracy in a parliamentary democracy nonetheless. So you know. This is an expression of the will of the people of hungary to protect their fundamental. Hungarian i- i- density. If i could put it that way and so you can see. It's power here in the united states amongst the americans who are really concerned about how they they define as a particular kind of americanise and that they could protected through the various system the very political systems that we have here so just your thoughts on the model that oregon is providing in the united states yes. He's he seeming to legitimate democracy as a way to reaction cultural reaction but i think the republicans beyond that they're dispensing with democracy precedent. The united states well is is is out saying he won the election. Democracy doesn't work it's rate they're going to say it again in the next election and the next so i think they're trying to subvert democracy not say in that way i i give a better better marks than the republicans. He's not least publicly. Spurning democracy Well jack beatty is on point. News analyst with us from hanover. New hampshire jack. Thank you so very much. But you're and sarah hosmer. Investigative journalist and reporting fellow type investigations and author of unholy why white evangelicals worship at the altar of donald trump. Sarah it's been great to have you thank you so very much. Thank you so much for having a meghna chakrabarti. This is on point..
On Point with Tom Ashbrook | Podcasts
"viktor orban" Discussed on On Point with Tom Ashbrook | Podcasts
"That's that's if there it is right there so graduates yes. Let's talk about that. Tell us about how again hungry is showing the example of the state being the nexus of power against of what dreer. Here's calling woke capitalists and illiberal leftist. How is that playing out in hungary. Well from dreyer's perspective rate he. He wrote that book the benedict benedict option. Because he believed that right wing. Christians were being oppressed in the united states and go live in their own separate communities to avoid having the ideology of the left imposed upon them against their will. I mean that is how frames it. And that's very similar to the way. Victor or bonn talks about the liberals of the european union or his conspiracy theories in scapegoating about george. Soros the idea. Is that these liberal ideas of that. You should Welcome and protect refugees and migrants that you should provide equal rights to lgbtq people that Women should have reproductive freedom and so on. Those things are depicted as woke in in or liberal. In orban's words ideas that are being imposed a ban. These poor unsuspecting traditionalist who are just trying to maintain the traditional culture and religion of their country. Lean dots basically the way they're they're framing it the same way and so dreyer sees victor von cracking down on those things and cracking down on checks and balances and independent judiciary and a free press and academic freedom as positives as things that we should probably do in the united states. In order to protect people like rod dreher from liberals and so. I mean you wrote in vice a believe in two thousand nineteen. I'm getting so much about this. I want to get the year's right in two thousand nine hundred about how orban's success is actually changing in urinalysis. What american far right christianity's hopes for what they might accomplish here in the us might be so they. There are american religious rights activists who work on around the world with other like minded on religious actors to oppose what they call a gender ideology which is reproductive rights lgbtq rights. They believe that christians are facing Wait christians in europe and the united states are facing a democrat demographic crisis and they need to reproduce more on in order to fight this and they come together periodically. This organization called the world congress of families. Victor oregon hosted that in budapest in twenty in twenty seventeen. And so they they've made a very deliberate Relationship with people. Like victor leaders like victor oregon Or the lawn justice party in poland as you mentioned earlier And these are activist. Who used to see america. As as what. Ronald reagan called it the shining city on the hill beacon of freedom against the totalitarianism of communist In their framing right but now they believe that america is under assault and being taken over by vogue activists and so therefore maybe the shining city on the hill is elsewhere. Maybe it's on the danube jack. We've got a minute to go before the break your do you think. Well i think that's The new the new jerusalem for them and they can point and they can especially the point. You made magna liberals have cultural power. Let's face it. It's a liberal culture. We live in to our everlasting. Thanks people can say what they mean. That can be pluralism that can be and so on but conservatives see that as a form of power that is illegitimate and that they want to strike back at and the way to do it is through the state when we come back. We'll pick up more about in this analysis. The relationship the long relationship between american conservatism. And viktor orban in hungary and how. That's coming to more people's attention that tucker. Carlson has visited hungary and broadcast his fox news. Show from there so we'll be back in just a moment. This is on point. This is on point a magnetron group already. And i just want to give you a heads up about what we'll be talking about on the show tomorrow. It's going to be the leader in our series about amazon calling it. The prime effect that series where we're taking a look at how amazon is changing the way we shop work and live. And tomorrow we're going to be talking about amazon and surveillance. Do you have a ring doorbell. Have you ever shopped on amazon. In any way shape performed you know just how much data amazon is collecting about you. Not just about your online behavior but literally physically eating your neighborhood. Did you ever wonder what it does with that. Data or who else gets access to it. So we're going to be talking about amazon and surveillance tomorrow on the show. So if you've got a question or a comment or a story about amazon and surveillance if you are even a worker amazon. Say a delivery driver. What do you think about those cameras in your vans. Call us and leave a voicemail at six one seven three five three zero six eight three six one seven three five three zero six eight three. That's for our next episode in our prime effect series. And we'll have that coming up tomorrow. Today we are talking about the long relationship between american conservatism. And victor orb on in hungary. Prime minister viktor or bond and the significance of the fact that just this month. Fox news tucker. Carlson spent some time in hungary and started talking about the nation in earnest on his show on his fox news show so beaming the story of hungary into the homes of millions of fox news viewers. I'm joined today by sarah pose. Nurse she is an investigative journalist and reporting fellow at type. Investigations has written many times. Over the past several years about the american right and hungary she's also author of unholy white evangelical worship at the altar of donald trump. Jack beatty is also with us. He's on points. News analyst with us from hanover new hampshire as always. Now we have been talking a lot about authoritarianism in hungary and it's not a it's not an analysis unique to us. Many scholars of democracy have been looking at hungry and watching the actually rapid decline in democratic norms. There so in fact tucker. Carlson asked prime minister orban about that. Carlson asked or bond y if why he believes his government. Orban's government has described in carlson word as totalitarian. So here's what viktor on said to tucker carlson on fox news or said that the real problem is his success but the fundamentals of the success as totally different than it is reached and run and created by by many other western countries so the western liberals cannot accept that inside the western civilization. There's a conservative national alternative which is more successful everyday life at the level of them. don't be blue ones. Sarah posner respond to that. I mean orban's very clear again. Just at the end. He sees a conservative national alternative. That in hungary is proving more successful than liberal was. A what do you think about that. Well he's clearly playing to the fox news audience right. He's he's playing to the american right. Who's been fed propaganda from tucker carlson and others. That woke liberals are ruining your life that they're ruining the schools that they've destroying your traditions. That they're trying to take away your religion And so he's trying to appeal to that audience by saying look. You have an alternative to all this liberalism runamuck in america. You can be like hungry jack. Your your thoughts on that. Well there he be in in making that pitch to american conservatives he'd be It'd be pushing on an open door. I mean again. To quote william f. Buckley famously said that the role of conservatism liberal culture is to stand with what history and say stop. Well you know that. Is the impulse that so many conservatives feel faced with a pluralistic society and a you know a flourishing a liberal culture. They're under assault from these things. The trouble is that you know the pressures that culture and society bring on people aren't are mad matters of law their habit and custom and and corporate decisions and imagery and marketing. In other words they're not coercive at least on their face state power law route. You know the kind of thing that he's that's coercive. And i think that's the dirty little secret here that the that's what's so attractive to the american right to use coercion to us law to use the state against the forces of mayor. Janati that william buckley's says we all want say stop too. You know sarah as i'm sure you know. There's there's been quite a vigorous response from the likes of roger and other american conservatives. Who are who are looking to hungary. As a potential model for the united states of the response being that the american the american liberals american media progressive on twitter essentially are making tempest in a teacup. About tucker carlson's visit there because they assert unequivocally that hungary is still a democracy. There are elections parliamentary elections..
On Point with Tom Ashbrook | Podcasts
"viktor orban" Discussed on On Point with Tom Ashbrook | Podcasts
"You want to respond to that. Well the religious right was already behind the anti democracy. Even before tucker. Carlson went to hungary. it was on the religious right that you really saw a lot of the earlier or bond fervor and a lot of it did have to do with his move to ban abortion or same sex marriage or otherwise curtail. Lgbtq writes in hungary. They liked that they also liked his appeals too not just ethnic nationalism but christian nationalism which is what they have been promoting here in the united states. As jack said they've been promoting this idea that the founders intended america to be a christian nation and that america in more recent decades has been under attack by liberals who wanna take away that christian heritage by depriving christians of their freedom to Be against lgbtq rights for example or have tried to take away christians freedom by Upholding separation of church and state. So this has been the main driving ideology of the christian right for the past several decades and now they see somebody like victor or bonn who doesn't have a lot of the guard rails that we have here in terms of you know how how easily are not easily. We can change our constitution or checks and balances in separation of powers and without those things he was able to. Just go ahead and impose those sorts of policy or legislative ideas in hungary. They really admired that. And i think they kind of wish they could do it here. So let's can be talk for a second more about exactly. How or a did that. In hungary because i think this these sort of draw the two threads that you and jack are discussing here together so let me play. Get a moment from our show. Back in june with cam shep lee professor of international affairs at princeton university who has lived in hungary worked in hungary knows hungary extremely well. She's also a international expert on democracy as well and she told us back in june about the parallels parallels that she's seen between orban's actions when he lost power early in the two thousands prior to his two thousand ten victory but his time then and the republican party. Now and one of those payroll is she saw was a religion. He engaged in a kind of mass mobilization of civil society and he did it a lot. Through the hungarian churches. he mobilized their members He got them all on board. They already had a pre existing structure. He was mobilising the kind of religious hungarian middle-class and through doing that he developed a very reliable base so sarah. Do you wanna talk about that a little more. What's not clear to me though is that was that sort of original or bonn or were there. Connections between american churches or american religious thinkers and hungary a before that. Well i think that it would have been difficult for him to come into contact with american republicans right activists or or political strategists and be unaware of how the republican party tied its fortunes to the religious right starting in the late nineteen seventies and how they have used that to mobilize voters to mobilize an army of citizen lobbyists for legislation that they want to basically have a get out the vote operation that they can activate with a few clicks on their computers That could not have been lost on him regardless of what his actual relationships were at the time With american religious leaders. What i do know too is in my coverage of religious right Events and media In the late twenty tens in during the run up to the twenty sixteen election and after trump became president There was a great deal of affection and admiration for what or had done And a dismissal of the concerns of pro democracy critics of oregon as basically focusing too much on just quote unquote procedural things As opposed to the great things in their view that or bond was doing to protect heritage tradition family culture. That was the kind of That was the kind of framing From the vantage point of the american religious right. So so jack respond to this. Because i was looking at some of the the writings of rod dreher who writes frequently in the american conservative. And he's a best selling religious thinker as well in the united states author of the benedict option for example. He's actually been in hungary. I believe since april of this year living there for for several months and just earlier this month. He wrote about what he met. Tucker carlson in budapest shared some meals with him as well and in the american conservative. Dreyer writes this. He writes quote. It's quite sensible. Tucker carlson and other conservatives want to figure out what the leader of the small relatively poor central european country has done to hold off those like george soros and the woke leadership of the european union to defend his country and it sovereignty with our own conservative establishment either neutered or sidelined by pointless lib owning enthusiasms thinkers of the american right. Who actually care about saving our civilization off to becoming to hungary and in poland the ads to study these places to make common cause with these people they could use our solidarity and we could certainly use. There's what do you make of that jack. Well that's out in and out embracing of authoritarians and saying to believers the things you want. You can get through a authoritarianism. You can't get it through democracy The most prophetic lines in the last decade were written a few years ago by david from who a conservative. Who said you know. If conservatives have to choose between conservatism democracy and not likely to choose democracy what we're seeing and what they have seen serve is that they can't get what they want that way. The big money can't get what it wants that way and big religion. The can't get what they want. We're in a moment here. Where the sort of bizarre Flirtations of american right wing elites are are almost ready to inflame and to catch fire with amass a religious base through through these Dominion est churches and and this this ideology of we need before the second coming. We need to get things in order here. And we can't be held up by procedural punk guilio about democracy. No no no. Let's let's do it now. I think it's a dangerous moment. And dreyer is all of the apostle isn't it. He's saying look at the here. We are look at the city on the hill here. It's budapest Well i mean he goes on to say this. It's actually really remarkable article where he says quote the unhappy truth. Is that liberalism as we americans have known it is probably dead. He says our future is almost certainly going to be left. Illiberal or right illiberal. It's not the future i would prefer. But we're not being given a choice here. But he really focuses on what he sees as left-wing ill liberalism because he says this job which is the only power capable of standing up to woke capitalists as well as those illiberal leftist in academia media sports cultural institutions and other places the state..
On Point with Tom Ashbrook | Podcasts
"viktor orban" Discussed on On Point with Tom Ashbrook | Podcasts
"The visit comes about eight months before the twenty twenty. Two hungarian parliamentary elections. Where prime minister viktor. Orban is expected to faith his first real challenge since returning to power in two thousand ten. So was a deeply revealing moment. We're gonna have more. We've had a number of them here. In hungary a small country with a lot of lessons for the rest us. That of course is carlson on his broadcast now. Tucker carlson also interviewed or bonn he gave a speech at a conference backed by bonn and he spent time praising hungary's success for example in one broadcast. Carlson highlighted his admiration of a hungarian border fence designed to keep out migrants. He also repeatedly compared hungary and the united states. Such as this moment where. Carlson claims that in the us vocal critic critics of president joe biden risk being silenced or even physical threats but in hungary carlson says opposition figures here. Don't worry that they will be hurt for their opinions. Neither by the prime minister orb on regularly drives himself with no security. So who's freer. In what country are you more likely to lose your job for disagreeing with the ruling classes orthodoxy. The answer is pretty obvious. So if you're an american it is painful to admit it as we have discovered so why is a fox news personality lavishing so much attention on a small european nation. It's because prime minister viktor. Orban one he serves. As a model of success for american conservatism previous guests on our show have said if you squint hard. Enough hungary still looks like a democracy. I mean there are those upcoming elections after all in twenty twenty two but hungary is also a nation moving to words autocracy. Here's kim shipley professor of international affairs at princeton university and author of the forthcoming book. The frankin state how or bonn undermine democracy and provided a model for the world. She told us back in june about what happened. Following prime minister orban's victory in two thousand ten and he won with with a bare majority of the vote but he got he got sixty seven percent of the seats in the parliament in a system. In which a single two thirds vote of the parliament could change anything in the constitution. And it was that lineup. That gave him the legal power to do what he's done. And that is to shut down. Hungarian democracy okay and also to prevent himself from ever losing an election again now took her. Carlson is celebrating that story to millions of american viewers on fox news. Well sarah posner is an investigative journalist. Who's reported on viktor. Orban's relationship with the united states. For many years. She's also author of unholy white evangelicals worship at the altar of donald trump and. She joins us now. Sarah welcome thanks for having me. So we're going to talk about this. This much longer relationship between american conservatives and viktor orban that predates tucker carlson. But i wanted to actually start with this simple question to you. Is it significant that. Carlson was broadcasting from hungary directly into the homes of millions of his passionate and devoted viewers. Here in the united states. Oh it was absolutely significant. While it's true as you're you're saying in the introduction that The american right has long admired or bonn and his assault on hungarian democracy. I don't think that it's something that has spread incredibly widely in the american right. You're i don't think it's something that your average fox news viewer might be intimately aware of. So carlson's broadcast is widening and deepening the audience for this sort of sanitizing of viktor orban's autocracy and creating making him a model for america now. I don't like to presume that people have intimate knowledge of every detail of the political story in every nation around the world much is a i would love for them to have learned about them all here on point but but zero before we proceed any further. When you say sort of when. We talk about orban's dismantling of hungarian democracy. Can you just give us a couple of examples of what we're talking about the you know. Make make your case about why that what's happening in hungary well as professor shipley said in your previous show that you just played here He was able to use the sixty seven votes. Majority simple-majority that simple majority or having that to amend the constitution he amended the constitution to state that the right. His party amended the constitution to state. That the right to life begins from conception which is basically attack on reproductive rights to state that marriage is between a man and a woman which obviously is an assault on lgbtq rights but he also spent a lot of time over the over the years from twenty ten till the present Gerrymandering districts as she said to ensure that he would never lose election again attacking a free press attacking immigration concealing sealing the border stacking the judiciary with loyalists these are all hallmarks of assaults on democratic institutions and democratic values that Experts in democracy are are ringing alarm bells about not just in hungary but around the world and of course it it all faces. What's sort of the remnants of or whatever. The current state of hungarian democracy is faces test in two thousand twenty two with the parliamentary elections. Coming up we'll come back to that in a second. So you have written sarah that carlson while he might be one of the highest profile americans to visit and put it earlier lavish praise on hungary under viktor orban. He is definitely not the first. So take us back. When does the story of american conservatism 's relationship with with hungary really began where which we should be looking for the start of that. Well i would. I would look at two thousand. A win or bonn is plotting his return to power and he hires an american political. Strategist republican strategist arthur. Finkelstein and finkelstein 's history and legacy in the united states is advising his clients to polarize the electorate. Some of his disciples include people like roger stone and paul manafort and he. In the two thousands he started taking on clients in europe and Or bond was just one of the clients that he had and In hindsight after orbin returned to power in twenty eleven on finkelstein in a very rare public appearance he was pretty he. He died some ago but he was in during his lifetime. He was pretty reclusive and didn't talk much about Publicly about his work but he gave a speech in prague where he basically revelled in this new rise of strong men around the world and in europe and he thought that it was. He seemed to think that it was a really good thing that these leaders were dividing their countries over over issues of immigration refugees and religion even and so or oregon learns his chops from finkelstein and then in twenty fourteen. He hires another american. Politician turned lobbyists former congressman. Connie mack who's also an ally of finkelstein he hires mac to represent him in washington and to basically burnish his image With with the media with members of congress with policymakers and so basically what orban's is doing is he's hiring somebody very well versed in american politics particularly american conservative politics to portray him..
Monocle 24: The Globalist
Hungary’s Ruling Party Breaks With Conservative E.U. Allies
"Relationship with the european union is continuing to sour. The country's prime minister has drawn his party fitness from the eu's alliance of centre-right lawmakers the european people's party a change in the rules to allow the european parliament to expel members more easily and in addition to this hungry is forging ahead with its own coronavirus vaccination program using russia's sputnik v product yet to be given the green light by the e. Tell us more. I'm joined now by buyer. Who's a reporter at politico. Good morning lily. Morning thanks for having me a pleasure to tell us what has happened with fidesz viktor. Victorian suggestion is is that. they have jumped before they were pushed. That's right that's so or band. Sent a letter formally withdrawing his ruling fetus party from the european people's party which job as you said. Is this big the biggest group in the european parliament. It's it's a centre-right grouping but it's actually. I'm quite diverse internally. It has some members that lena bit more liberal at how members which are quite conservative and even though officials eat this move came after change to the groups Internal rules really. It's a culmination of years. And years of of debate and internal tension and ultimately i think some of the group's biggest members and in particular the german at christian democratic union That that's the party of chancellor. Angela merkel at perhaps have started feeling that does is more of a liability ford them and so or bond decided you to quit and look elsewhere and just explain to us how we have got to this point where fidesz is in such a dire situation with the european parliament and that it that oh viktor. Orban has decided to leave. I mean i'm writing thinking that That european parliament officials had already suspended fitness from The the center right group already and this is just a second step well. He's his aides a bit complicated. But basically has has party was suspended from the broader european people's party A few years back but they were allowed to stay in the european people's party group in the european parliament. And what happened this week. Is that the twelve members of the european parliament. Left this centre-right grouping within the parliament and are now sitting in parliament but simply as independent members without formal political affiliation and the big question now is what will come next so whoa joined one of the more conservative right-leaning groups one option is the european conservatives and reformists group where the polish a ruling lon justice party is a member Another option is the identity and democracy group where alternative for germany and marine le. Pen's a party are are our members. And then there's the third option of china to create something new which is tough but but possible So what what we saw. Yesterday is victoria on Wrote a small essay where he said that he wants to build What what he termed a In new democratic rights for citizens who don't want migrants don't fund multiculturalism and in his words have not descended into quotes. Lgbtq lunacy so he is putting out his his his platform he's making his views very very public and clear and saying that he's looking for some kind of New right-wing alliance. We just don't know exactly what form it will take
Inside Europe
How the Biden administration will affect the EU
"With the biden administration taking office in just under a month. You leaders a counting the days until they feel like they can have a new start with an american team. that's more committed to transatlantic relations this week. The us foreign policy chief. Joseph barrell reveal the agenda he hopes to pursue well joining me on the line from brussels. Is our correspondent. Teri schultz terry. It's not an exaggeration to say most e you leaders a hugely relief with the biden win and believe things are going to be different now. Where does the e u. side wants to start well and they've actually released this document now laying out where they believe. The most progress can be made in the fastest and most efficient way. And that's what you high rep josette burrell released yesterday. And they've got four areas where they want to start the europeans. They want to start with corona virus. Response making that again. A global effort with president trump having pulled out of the world health organization saying constantly america first america first when it comes to a vaccine. That's something that does not sit well with the europeans who are committed to making vaccines affordable and available to the entire world on climate. They are very much looking forward to president-elect biden making good on his campaign promise to rejoin the paris climate accord. That's something that suffers without. Us leadership and i think president-elect biden is is committed to doing that the third one is a little a little tougher trade and technology that you use third priority and that's one where you're not going to automatically see any. Us president stop protecting or trying to protect american tech giant's against for example e regulators who want to recoup taxes from from the multinationals. That's going to be somewhere where we we may not see as quick progress but on trade looking at the world trade organization where president trump is just continually attacked and and made it impossible for the wto to get reforms that the europeans also support. I expect that that will be one of the areas that there will be some quick progress and unwed burrell calls global action and he says this is working toward a safer more prosperous and more democratic world and they're hoping that president-elect biden will put more emphasis on human rights on rule of and on basic democratic values that the eu and the us due to a large extent share but is it realistic for the e. You just think that the biden administration shares these views simply going to sign onto this plan. Or i think europeans may be disappointed by the fact that foreign policy is probably not going to be the first thing on on president-elect biden's list he's got to deal with the corona virus that's just raging in the in the us and and the divisiveness that this campaign and actually the trump presidency has brought about in america and he's got to work on that before he can justify to anyone that he's going to be working on with with european leaders but he very much wants to do that. All of his statements during the campaign to to europeans. Were basically i understand. This is not the way the. Us you relationships should work and he will. He does share a lot of these views. He certainly will not be giving comfort to leaders. Like hungary's viktor orban or the polish government. That is rolling back the rights of women. He will have. He will have a few things to say about that. Which president trump left unsaid or probably didn't even believe
Monocle 24: The Globalist
Hungarian lawmaker resigns after caught fleeing a 'sex party' by climbing down a drainpipe
"Know. The career of a close ally of the hungarian prime minister viktor orban who was also an emmy p. has ended in a welter of scandal and suspicion as his actions threaten the public valleys of the right wing fidesz party lily by is a reporter at politico and she's here with more lily. It's with all the key elements. We have sex politics lawbreaking drugs and intrigue sitting comfortably. Tell us what happened It's quite an extraordinary story So basically over the weekend. A member of the european parliament. You'll jeff siad of the blue announced that he is resigning He is a member of hungary's ruling fetus party but It's important to understand that he's not just an ordinary member. he's one of the co founders of the party. He was there with prime minister. Viktor orban and others in nineteen eighty-eight when they started this political journey back then as young liberals he has been the prime minister's inner circle ever since and has played a key role in hungary and politics including the lead author of one of the hungarian government's main political projects. The two thousand eleven constitution. So he's really a an important figure especially in the intellectual circles of the ruling party so when he resigned that sparked a lot of questions. Initially people were wondering are there any divisions within the ruling party. What's going on. And then on tuesday details started leaking. I two local belgian press that that a member of the european parliament had attended a party on friday night in brussels. That was by police. Now it's important to Stand for those of our listeners. Who who are not familiar with bowel gyms rules that we have pretty strict covert related restrictions here about gatherings so belgian. Trust reported that there were about Twenty five naked men this particular party which at police had raided for violating the health related restrictions. And what prosecutors later said is that a passer-by had seen someone sleeping along the gutter This person It turns out Mr sire the a member of the european parliament was apprehended and then police found narcotics in his backpack after the leaks. Uche the politician. He admitted to having been present at the party but denied that the narcotics were his and this created a huge storm and hungarian politics given closely associated. He has personally with the prime minister. An element of his behavior do you think was most offensive to the party. I mean could he got away with it if it had. Just been about breaking lockdown rules. Well it's it's hard to tell but one thing to to note is that Ever since the late nineteen eighties when fetus was a young idealistic liberal political party on the were informal conversations within the party about mr sires Sexual orientation this is something. He has never discussed in public. And of course it's it's up to him to to to discuss But but within the party party members were chatting about this and at the time Wait what people say now is that they simply did not care They saw that. It's his private matter of what he does in his private life. And it's it didn't impact his initial political career. He was The group leader of the fidesz faction in the european in the are in the hungarian parliament. Initially in one thousand nine hundred ninety so he was quite an important figure within that party and so you know feed us because of its strategic trajectory. It's important to note you know it used to be a liberal party. It evolved over the years. It moved further and further to the right at today. It's a party that has been criticized for for what Lgbt activists call Anti gay policies but initially it did not have that kind of ideology back in the in the eighties and nineties. But i mean as you say. He had significant input into the very conservative constitution which holds family values it doesn't recognize. Lgbt rights he's married to a female judge judge as you say they've been whispers about his own sexuality so i wonder how this has affected the party. How it's affected feeders. In terms of just sheer hypocrisy. That's right so. I think that the opposition in hungary has really seized upon this issue Some have talks about What what one. Opposition politician called the moral bankruptcy Of the party. And i think that this will be an issue in the twenty. Twenty two election campaigner there will be elections then and it's already looking like a tough race even though Hunger in minister viktor. Orban is in quite powerful position and critics say an unfairly powerful position because of the covid crisis and because of economic problems in hungary like most other countries experiencing It's already said to be a tough campaign and having this kind of Scandal so close to to the real start of of of the race. Is i think putting more pressure on the party. And that's why. I think on wednesday or bounded something quite untested hinted for him He he gave a statement saying that. What cya did was unacceptable and indefensible and he said that This kind of behavior has no place in the values of the political family. And this was quite extraordinary. In hungarian context because i was with such a close friend and ally for over three decades And it's very very rare Side did quit the party. Officially on wednesday as well It's very rare for someone of that stature to to be publicly criticized by by the party to actually quit just quickly before we go. We know that he was a key figure. In brussels. In terms of of hungarian paulo within the eu. And i wonder if this will have an impact on the covert relief budget. Talks where hungary's vetoing the because the eu's insisting that the country conforms to various elements of the law so prime minister or bond was are speaking on hunger and state radio just about an hour ago and he repeated that hungary is came to its original hard line position on the eu budget and rule of law is a big conflict about that because a lot of eu countries in the european parliament one to length distribution of funding to respect for the rule of law There has been a lot of speculation about whether this is going to weaken or bounce position. a bit hard to tell right now We will see. I'm next week when
The Erick Erickson Show
Hungarian Politician Resigns After Brussels Party Is Raided by Police
"An anti-gay hungarian politician has resigned after being caught by police. Fleeing a twenty five man orgy through window. The man joe's Sager quit as a member of the european parliament on sunday instead. It was a private party. He and twenty four other naked men were at the gathering included diplomats and drugs. He tried to sneak the ra- window and was caught by police climbing across the gutter to get out of the place one called a disturbance. Now what was the disturbance. Here's the punchline. Here's the punchline. What was the disturbance to people president. What time through. The kuroda virus lockdown they should have gone to new orleans. Y'all i really got nothing. I'm i just looked i. I read the stories. I find the news. I think you know what this is. A story were talking about the anti-gay conservative to no politician was at the gathering of twenty four. Other naked men. he he's. He is a ally of the hungarian. The right wing. Hungarian prime minister viktor. Orban his fidesz party. He's resigned. His position in brussels resigned his position after he was caught leaving The the gathering friday. He admitted to breaching belgians belgium. Strict lockdown rules to attend the par party. The police found twenty five naked men at the gathering including seizure in some diplomats. The belgian newspaper dernier horror or horror reported the newspaper quoted. Well no. I'm not gonna read that live for what the local police said. They found but Yes so he was hanging out in belgium and he was with twenty four other naked dudes and decided to escape through a window. And it's not that the police were there to break up the gathering of of twenty five men hanging out doing drugs and other things. It's that someone complained that there were more than ten people at the party.
BBC World Service
Hungarian Politician Resigns After Brussels Party Raided by Police
"I apologize to my family, My colleagues. My constituents, please evaluate my slip up in the light of 30. Years of persistent and dedicated work stumbles personal. Please do not extend it to my country or my political community. That's an apology from the Hungarian politician use if, say, Air your founding member of the ruling finished party it up until two days ago, vice chairman of the European People's Party in the European Parliament It's always known until yesterday about his sudden resignation in Brussels on Sunday. That's until Belgian media published details of his arrest at a party. The Belgian police raided for breaking coronavirus rules. They say he was detained after trying to run away from what is being described as an orgy attended by two dozen naked men. And the position is known for having drafted the Hungarian Constitution, which campaigners say is hostile to gay rights for houses or going down in Budapest. On the line from Hungarian capital is the freelance journalist Justin Spike. What are the headlines this morning? Then? This morning, Justin Good morning. Thanks for having me s O. The headlines in Hungarian state media and pro government media are pretty quiet about the story. They haven't really touched on it. Despite the fact that it's been quite explosive on the other side of the media, they really avoided the more lurid details of the story. If they've covered it all Hungarian State news just is the story was breaking yesterday, their main headline. Was the Hungarians had never in history been so satisfied with the prime minister as they are with Viktor Orban.
Morning Edition
After Trump, Europe's Populist Leaders Will Have 'Lost One Of Their Cheerleaders'
"Trump on his way out of office. Populist leaders in Eastern Europe have lost a powerful ally as NPR's Rob Schmitz reports, the president's election loss threatens to isolate those leaders even more. On the day after the U. S election, millions of votes in key swing states were still being counted. And there wasn't a clear winner yet. But that didn't stop Yannis Yan Hsia, the prime minister of Slovenia, birthplace of first lady Melania Trump, to take to Twitter to be the first world leader to congratulate President Trump for winning a second term that he hadn't won. After the election was called for Biden. Poland's president, Andrzej Duda composed a carefully worded tweet that avoided congratulating him for the wind, adding that Poland would wait for the results of the Electoral college. Eastern Europe's populist strongman leaders are having a hard time accepting Trump has lost. I'm not so sure it's a big loss for the populations. I think it's a big loss for the individual leaders. Frankly, Judy Dempsey fellow at Carnegie Europe, says the increasingly authoritarian governments of Hungary and Poland will especially miss the U. S president, who seemed to share their world view. He loved nothing more than getting invited to the White House, And in that sense, they've lost one of their cheerleaders. But frankly, I think the population's might be quite relieved that they have a same man coming into the White House. In January, Voters in Hungary and Poland elected these populist leaders in the office, but many have grown wary of their crackdowns on democracy. So has the European Union. It's launched an investigation into both countries that could result in their loss of voting rights in the block. The post government bet on the wrong horse. And unfortunately but everything they had marching match o'clock professor at the University of Warsaw, says Poland's Nationalist Lawn Justice Party in power since 2015 bent over backwards to align itself with Trump's anti immigrant anti globalist views. Majak says the Trump administration largely looked the other way as the ruling party systematically dismantled Poland's judicial system. And crack down on its free press. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Poles spurred by leaders who came to tighten restrictions on abortion. Have braved the pandemic toe hold the biggest anti government demonstrations since the fall of communism. Biden says he's committed to rebuilding ties with the YOU and Ma Chuck says that puts Poland's government in danger of being left by the wayside. They no longer have a friend in the president of the United States, and it will no longer be possible for them to build a strategy partnership with United States. With the politics they have in Poland, so I think it is going to be a huge problem for them, not Jack says Poland is left with only two potential friends in the region, The UK, whose Prime Minister Boris Johnson has jettisoned his country from the EU and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has consolidated power in himself and his Nationalist Party. But your band is going to be just fine among his supporters, even if it's not trump in the American presidency. That's because, says two's on a vague of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Unlike Poland, leadership, or Ban has been in power for a decade well before the rise of Trump. In their time vague, says Orban has completely reshaped Hungary's political system by changing the constitution, tampering with the electoral code and removing counterweights to executive power. Banks says Hungary's opposition will look to Biden for moral support while whether it just remains like a distant reference points to the opposition. That okay, we can Look at the Westin See that change is possible. Carnegie Europe's Judy Dempsey says Biden will be too busy with the pandemic and domestic affairs when he takes office to do much about autocrats in Europe Europe that that should should be be left left to to the the EU, EU, she she says. says. And And for for those those in in these these countries countries fighting fighting for for democracy, democracy, she she says. says. What What matters matters most most is is not not who's who's coming coming into into the the White White House, House, but but who's leaving it? Rob Schmitz. NPR NEWS Berlin
WTOP 24 Hour News
US Election 2020: Hungary's Orban, Brazil's Bolsonaro Bet On Four More Years Of Trump
"President Trump is not conceded this race and has been tweeting without evidence about fraudulent voting in battleground states, including Pennsylvania. CBS's Vicki Barker has global reaction. President Trump's electoral defeat will be mourned by such fellow populist leaders as Brazil's jacare ball so narrow and Hungary's Viktor Orban. But in the liberal democracies of Western Europe, there's a sense that America just may be coming back into the
NPR's Business Story of the Day
Hungarian Journalists Launch Independent News Site Amid Tightening Government Control
"Hungary's nationalist prime minister. Viktor Orban often does what president trump does. He calls factual reporting fake news or on and his allies now control more than eighty percent of the media outlets in Hungary. Here's Joanna Kakissis. Earlier this month that a small office in Budapest Tush Bobby and huddled with his colleagues around a computer and counted down. There proud funded new site telex was about to go live. The cheered and hugged is their stories hit the web. I couldn't believe we were able to launch daleks at all because just two months before disaster struck our previous workplace. We still feel like bursting into tears when we think about what happened there and how it all ended just a few months ago the staff of Telex, another outlet called index the most widely read news website in Hungary Szabo's dual. Then editor in chief says readers relied on index for definitive news reporting most recently on the pandemic as well as scoops that pro government media ignored Kim similar to. Like win a mayor from the ruling party got caught with a sex tape or when Hungary's ambassador to Peru was accused of paedophilia the government was annoyed. It could not suppress these stories ex prime. Minister Viktor Orban called us. News factory this spring one of the prime minister's allies spot a controlling stake in a company that's in charge of indexes revenue surgery on data quest. As. Consultants wanted to outsource work to outsiders of course posted then you've got fired. In July more than seventy index journalists quit in protest they flanked Managing Editor Veronica Moon at a press conference. Piston cast nick our editors firing was a red line for us. We are united and we would really like to stay together in some form. This off felt familiar to anders pet though who worked at a newspaper that also lost its editorial independence while run by the same pro or bond businessman re came under pressure from our own management. To drop certain stories to remove certain stories from the website and said, no than the editor in chief was forced out of his job, and then I resigned and many other people resigned
BBC Newshour
E.U. issues its first rule-of-law report, angering leaders of Hungary and Poland
"European Union has published today an audit of rule of law issues across its 27 member states, the first of what will be an annual review of Thie State of the blocks Democratic institutions as expected. There is criticism of judicial changes made by nationalist government's in Poland and Hungary in recent years, but concerns We're also raised about corruption in six countries, including Bulgaria. On DH Malta On Tuesday, The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called for the report's author, The You commissioner for values very Jehovah to be sacked All Europe correspondent Kevin Connolly joins us now from Brussels and Kevin just on hungry. How badly does the country come out of this report? There's nothing that will be unfamiliar to the Hungarian government in the charges, but they are not familiar concerns about the limitations of the freedom of the media and determination by the Hungarian government has seen from Brussels. To exercise undue influence of judicial process so that in effect the court system, the legal system in Hungary becomes less free. So it's not the freshness Of the charges, which will annoy Viktor Orban, the Hungarian leader. It is the fact that as you would have expected, they are front and center in the presentation of this case on the really fear in Hungary and in Poland, too. To a slightly lesser extent is the underlying threat, which is still present in this document, which is gaining currency and Brussels as an idea that if you really want to do something about this is the European Union. You have to link the spending of you funds from Brussels with adherence to basic rules about the rule of law, the freedom of the justice system on the freedom of the press. That's what really angers Viktor Orban on DH angers the Polish government, too. That's what they will always come out on the attack. That's why, of course, he's asking for the sacking or via your over the vice president, the European Commission. He certainly won't get that. But he wants to make this for his own domestic political audience about it about Hungary being under attack, rather than hungry, being criticized for falling short of international standards. How likely are other, You country's Tio follow up on on that threat. I think at some point, that idea is gonna have to work its way onto the political agenda. Because at some point I think the European Commission is going to be forced to conclude that persuasion simply doesn't work in these kind of cases. Viktor Orban Thie nationalist government in Poland, They're both going to pursue the same argument. That the European Commission doesn't understand what it's like to emerge from decades of Communist domination that certain measures are necessary that Poland and Hungary are not France and Belgium and the things of different so as long as The countries who are accused pushback in those terms. I think eventually the European Commission will be forced to acknowledge that it's going to have to use any financial levers at its disposal. It won't be quick because nothing involving the European Commission of the European Union is quick. But I think it's some point. It's inevitable on just briefly. The other countries mentioned I included Bulgaria immortal one of the concerns there is that about corruption. It's about both corruption and about shortcomings in the judicial process. In this special mention, I suppose for Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovakia who make both this and here's the takeaway from this. This is a 27 member institution. About a quarter of the member states, mainly former Communist states. About a quarter off them come in for some kind of criticism, so a bracing dose of freshness.
BBC Newshour
Hungary 'broke EU law with foreign funding rules'
"The top court in the European Union has ruled that Hungary broke European law by restricting foreign funding of civil organizations the European Court of justice at the restrictions discriminated against both the NGOs involved arms the donors Nick Thorpe reports from Budapest the course of justice of the European Union ruled that the twenty seventeen Hungarian low on the funding of non governmental organizations from a broad formulated both fundamental rights and the free movement of capital Viktor Orban's Fidesz government argued that it was necessary to make the work of foreign funded NGOs more transparent the NGOs replied that they were far more transparent than government backed associations and that the law was designed to punish those in Hungary who stand up for human rights
BBC Newshour
Top E.U. Court Rules Against Hungary’s N.G.O. Law
"The top court in the European Union has ruled that Hungary broke European law by restricting foreign funding of civil organizations the European Court of justice at the restrictions discriminated against both the NGOs involved arms the donors Nick Thorpe reports from Budapest the course of justice of the European Union ruled that the twenty seventeen Hungarian low on the funding of non governmental organizations from a broad formulated both fundamental rights and the free movement of capital Viktor Orban's Fidesz government argued that it was necessary to make the work of foreign funded NGOs more transparent the NGOs replied that they were far more transparent than government backed associations and that the law was designed to punish those in Hungary who stand up for human
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Hungary Moves to End Rule by Decree
"Hungary's parliament voted to end a controversial law allowing the country's powerful prime minister to rule by decree during the crime virus pandemic Joanna Kakissis reports critics call this emergency rule law a power grab by leader who has eroded democratic checks and balances in the European Union country Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban has promised to officially end decree rule by June twentieth he says critics should apologize for accusing him of using the pandemic to grab power democracy watch doctor noted that the emergency law had no sunset clause and allowed him to sidestep parliament it also criminalized the spreading of false information about the pandemic Orban has used the law district municipalities of tax revenue he also dispatch the military help operate businesses considered nationally strategic Orban's critics say he has a poor record on democracy he spent his decade in power taking over courts media and the
All Of It
Hungary’s government accused of using pandemic for ‘power grab’
"The Hungarian government is pushing to strip the country's mayors of their powers the move comes days after the parliament granted the prime minister on president of distorting is Joanna Kakissis reports the changes have sparked outcry across the European Union Hungary's nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban is being accused of using the corona virus pandemic to grab power lawmakers passed a law on Monday that gives him the right to rule by decree indefinitely the following day he tried to push through a new bill that would sideline all of the country's mayors the mayor of Budapest Kerr get car shown as a young and popular progressive will beat Orban's far right candidate Russian them okay Steve hold on the US market this is not a time for small minded power games he said in a televised statement this is a time for cooperation the government rescinded the bill but some E. U. leaders say Brussels must punish or bond for attacking