‘In the end, the USD’s centrality to the system of global payments also increases the power of sanctions it imposes on other countries or individuals. In truth, since almost all trade is done in American dollars, even trade among other countries, they can always be subject to US sanctions because they are handled by so-called correspondent banks with accounts at the Federal Reserve. By cutting off the ability to transact in USD, Washington can make it uncomfortable for those it blacklists to do business.’
During the Kádár era, it was forbidden to drink alcohol on the streets and sometimes people were even searched and checked in pubs. In contrast, at house parties, young people had the opportunity to meet and flirt, and they only had to worry that their parents would come home earlier or that annoying neighbours would call the police on them on the landline phone.
‘The protection of human life, the protection of the family, or the protection of the sort of education that characterized Europe are basic values that we should definitely stick to because otherwise we are not Europeans,’ Professor Ferenc Hörcher, Director of the Research Institute of Politics and Government at Ludovika University of Public Service told Hungarian Conservative in a recent interview.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.