“Orbán should have been born in a big country like Germany,” a Hungarian acquaintance once told me, in typical East European fashion. “His genius is wasted in Hungary.” An optimistic observer might retort that everyone has an opinion on Hungary…
At the Dec. 14-15 summit of European Union (EU) leaders, Hungary’s soft Euroscepticism took center stage when Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refused to vote in favor of opening accession negotiations with Ukraine. In addition, he blocked the EU from giving…
Based on its last experience approving a new NATO member, it is no wonder that so many in Hungary’s conservative government have been wary about doing so again. Just a little over a week after Hungary gave the green light…
Unsurprisingly, the question of NATO membership for Ukraine generated the greatest discussion among both the participants at the recent NATO summit in Vilnius and commentators in the major western media outlets. Beyond the sometimes testy exchanges, however, much of the…
In 1946, George Kennan, the U.S. Charge D’Affaires in Moscow, sent an 8,000 word telegram to the State Department warning of Joseph Stalin’s aggressive foreign policy. The following year, writing under the pseudonym “Mister X,” he reiterated his warning in…
“Even by today’s low standards, this is shockingly delusional,” I thought after reading Kati Marton’s diatribe against the current Polish and Hungarian governments in the Los Angeles Times last week. Most such pieces are relatively standard and don’t warrant a…
While former President Donald Trump still leads conservatives domestically, the Right has found a world leader abroad in Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán. Orbán has gained this following among American conservatives not only because he is electorally successful but also…
Pope Francis has returned from touring Hungary, a bastion of European conservatism, where his mixed messaging is seemingly at odds with national sentiment. At a Mass celebrated Sunday in Budapest, His Holiness called on the Hungarian government — led by…
Pope Francis made the short trip from Vatican City to Budapest on Friday, April 28, much to the consternation of the New York Times. Their narrative is simple: By scheduling a papal visit, the Vatican has unwittingly played into the…
