Chief Operating Officer for the Hungarian oil company MOL György Bacsa recently spoke to the Financial Times about Western powers trying to pressure Hungary into giving up Russian oil imports, while they themselves continue to buy refined oil from Türkiye and India, countries that are still refining Russian crude oil, essentially ‘laundering’ the energy import.
‘Before I left for America on this trip, I complained to a Magyar friend about how stubborn Hungarians are, and how they refuse to change their ways of doing things, even when there is a plainly better way. “You’re right, we are like that,” she said. “But consider that our hard-headed temperamental conservatism is also the thing that makes us willing to stand up to Brussels and tell them to go to hell.” Touché.’
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the European Council for nothing less than nuclear weapons or a NATO membership. The Ukrainian president presented his five-point ‘victory plan’ to EU leaders on Thursday, which is more of a wish list than an actual plan. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called it a ‘lose-lose situation’ and firmly stated that Hungary will not participate in it.
The ‘Friends of Peace’ group was established at the United Nations last Friday on Hungary’s initiative. Led by China and Brazil, the 15-member group aims to facilitate the initiation of peace talks regarding the war in Ukraine and promote the implementation of the key points of the Sino–Brazilian peace plan.
‘Ukraine is losing this war, indeed has likely lost it, and Washington is looking for a scapegoat for its colossal strategic failure. Viktor Orbán, who was right about this war from the beginning, is that scapegoat. If Harris wins in November, we can expect a narrative coming out of Washington saying that Ukraine and its allies would have prevailed if it had not been for Hungary stabbing Ukraine in the back.’
Users on X (formerly Twitter), corporate and private alike, were captivated by the images of the recent flooding of the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary. Photos of the flooded capital city spread across the social media site. Thankfully, the water levels have come down to normal since, and the flooding passed with no loss of human life.
‘Today, the Hungarian capital is part of the ongoing political discussion at the highest levels of American political life—for better or for worse. Hungary is either a symbol of all that is bad in the Western world—that’s how progressives, liberals, and neoconservatives see it; or it’s a plucky resister to globalism, social liberalism, and mass migration, a laboratory for a new kind of right-of-center policymaking.’
During the third panel of the conference some of the renowned experts held that the future will be about a multipolar world the axis of which are non-Western countries, particularly China, while others argued that the 21st century is still American, with the United States remaining the central and most powerful actor.
‘Europe finds itself at a critical situation, faced with a fundamental choice between unity in progressivism or sovereignty in diversity…Central to this decision is the recognition of Europe’s intrinsic diversity, rooted in centuries of history, cultural exchange, and shared heritage. This diversity, inherently European, forms the essence of the continent’s identity and should be cherished and preserved. Importantly, efforts to import diversity from external sources often lead to fragmentation and discord, rather than enriching European society.’
‘An important element of Viktor Orbán’s governance is that he knows Hungarian history and has learned from its mistakes. He does not want to repeat the sins committed by the historic Hungarian state during the 20th century. Hungary’s vision has thus not been blinded by the anti-Zionism of woke ideology, and it is able to recognize that Israel is the bastion of democracy and human rights in the Middle East, while successfully holding on to its religious and national traditions.’
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.