Extending US political support for the Orbán regime at the elections scheduled for this Sunday, US Vice-President JD Vance - standing next to Viktor “Putin’s mouse” Orbán - accused Brussels and Kyiv of interfering in the Hungarian elections. I’m not joking.
However, if Orbán is indeed planning to cancel or postpone the elections by staging some form of incident, Vance’s visit provides a convenient opportunity. 4/4
Whether or not this actually helps Orbán’s struggling party remains an open question. 3/4
Vance is expected to address Orbán’s election rally at a football stadium in Budapest later today, just a few days before the Hungarian parliamentary elections (if they take place) this Sunday. 2/4
US Vice-President JD Vance has eventually gone to Hungary to extend US support for the far-right regime of Viktor Orbán. 1/4
It is widely believed that the incident involving the explosives is a false-flag operation devised by the Orbán regime, but given Jovanić’s statements, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić might have been a co-conspirator. 5/5
Jovanić dismissed the involvement of Ukrainians in the incident, a theory being pushed by the Orbán far-right regime, which has built its election campaign in the run-up to the 12 April elections around anti-Ukrainian sentiment. 4/5
Jovanić also said that the explosives were produced in the US and that the military is conducting an investigation into the incident. A migrant with military experience is suspected of having delivered the explosives to the pipeline and is currently being sought. 3/5
All those warnings were met with scepticism and disapproval. 2/5
Following the discovery of explosives in Serbia near a pipeline that transports Russian gas to Hungary, Director of Serbia’s Military Intelligence Agency Đuro Jovanić stated that his agency had been warning Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić of such a development for months. 1/5
Who would have possibly expected that a deranged paedo-rapist would publicly threaten to commit war crimes? I’m shocked!
Remember these words for the presidential elections in France next year and for foreign support for the French far right: Israel, Black Cube, IDF. www.politico.eu/article/blac...
Ukraine may still have something up its sleeve - such as potential public confession of that individual arrested last year in connection with what I assume was an “anti-Hungarian” false-flag attack in Transcarpathia - but beyond that, I do not expect anything further. 6/6
As much as I would be curious to see it, Ukraine does not appear to be engaged in any political warfare operations around the Hungarian elections. 5/6
Potentially, this third strand may also include efforts by non-EU, yet still Western, agencies acting independently of their governments - however strange that may sound. 4/6
— The third is anti-Orbán and conducted by unidentified EU governments - likely not even coordinated among themselves - and consists primarily of tactical leaks of SIGINT and HUMINT. 3/6
— The first two - Russian and American - are effectively aligned with the Orbán regime’s own efforts and function as extensions of its political technology aimed at retaining power. 2/6
The way I see it, there are three major strands of political warfare surrounding the upcoming Hungarian elections. 1/6
A lovely essay on the meaning of Europe -- and how some outsiders misunderstand it to the deluded degree of claiming "civilizational erasure."
The reasons why Greco-Roman civilisation became a foundational pillar of Europe lay not only in early ideas of democracy, legal order, or concepts of citizenship and reasoned debate - they also lay in the drive to impose standards and regulations. shekhovtsov.substack.com/p/european-i...
In my new essay on European Imperium, I explore the metric system, the alchemical transformation of poetry into regulation, and the anti-European logic of US techno-oligarchy. shekhovtsov.substack.com/p/european-i...
🔎NEW INVESTIGATION: The hotline between FM Péter Szijjártó and Sergey Lavrov gives Russia strategic insight into key EU matters. Evidence, including a leaked phone call recording shows Hungary’s FM acted for the Kremlin, pushing to delist sanctioned Russians, with Slovak support.
Hungary colluded with Russia to delist sanctioned oligarchs, companies and banks vsquare.org/kremlin-hotl...
The state-sanctioned perpetuation of under-education ensures that social frustration and hate are redirected from the corrupt elites toward disadvantaged ethnic and cultural groups. 6/6
The state-sanctioned violence of poverty ensures that sizeable parts of society become dependent on “mercy” from the state and thus can be easily manipulated, abused, and blackmailed for the establishment’s political gains. 5/6
While enriching themselves, autocrats need to keep vast sections of the population intentionally impoverished (and under-educated). 4/6
Today, Hungary is seen as the most corrupt country in the EU, and it is also one of its poorest members. With the Orbán regime in power since 2010, this seems only natural. 3/6
Based on a six-month investigation, the film "The Price of a Vote" depicts impoverished rural communities where local officials allegedly control jobs, aid, and services in exchange for votes, with claims that up to 600,000 voters across dozens of districts are affected. buff.ly/ivoUCuk 2/6
Ahead of Hungary’s 12 April elections, the Orbán regime has been engaged in widespread voter intimidation, targeting rural constituencies with bribery, coercion, and even illegal drugs, as polls show the ruling Fidesz party trailing. 1/
