'...big German companies, such as Bosch and Siemens, also availed themselves of the Hungarian government’s largess. In a sense, Orbán took Germany hostage, which guaranteed then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s inaction. Orbán was just too important to the German economy to be allowed to fail.'
🇭🇺 🇪🇺 Si Hungría puede ser el primero en salir del peor populismo, ese será un precedente fundamental. Es posible que, entonces, incluso Estados Unidos pueda querer aprovechar algunas lecciones húngaras @fromtga.bsky.social @elpais.com
elpais.com/opinion/2026...
Agreed…
Hungry now has a chance for an unprecedented post-populist transition, with lessons for everywhere from Poland to the US. My commentary from Budapest…
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Can Hungary show the way out of deep populism? I write from Budapest…
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Four years ago, Orbán gloated that his election victory was so big that it could be seen even from Brussels.
Today's defeat is such that it can be seen even from Washington and Moscow.
‘Hungary, Europe!’ Spontaneous chant I just heard on streets of Budapest … Supermajority means Tisza really can dismantle the Orban system… and Orban has conceded… It will be a tough road ahead but truly hard to imagine a better result… I’ll be writing about it soon…
Please send JD Vance to support Nigel Farage, the Rassemblent National and thee AfD!
It looks almost certain that Tisza has a supermajority with which they can dismantle the Orban system… if so, best possible outcome… sounds of celebration on streets of Budapest…
A great moment to be in Budapest…
💥🇭🇺🗳️ WOW! 54.14% turnout by 1pm in Hungary’s historic election (vs 40.01% in 2022), where voters could end Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule. Massive participation, in line with independent pollsters’ predictions – who also predicted a massive opposition win. Polls close at 7pm.
I’m in Budapest again, as so often since 1979, for today’s globally crucial election - potentially the most significant political event here since 1989, and certainly since @viktororban.bsky.social
started dismantling liberal democracy in 2010.
I’ll be writing about it early next week.
7- A deeply personal, deeply moving inside view of that moment in 1989 when communism behind the Iron Curtain was washed away by people power. I also liked the last chapter from 2019 as a look back and a look forward #BookSky💙📚 #BooksOf2026 @fromtga.bsky.social
Mark your calendar for this discussion, co-organized with Political Capital! 🇭🇺🗳️
🗣️ @fromtga.bsky.social
🗣️ Krisztina Arato
🗣️ @zsolt.bsky.social
🗣️ Peter Kreko
🗓️ Apr 10, 5pm CET
📍 Budapest, Nador u. 15.
Details:
👉 cutt.ly/UtAGDDMu
Registration:
👉 cutt.ly/3tAGD4sF
'¡Ah, la “relación especial”! Debe de hacer 40 años que oí decir por primera vez al excanciller de Alemania Occidental, Helmut Schmidt: “La relación especial es tan especial que solo una de las partes sabe que existe”.'
Por @fromtga.bsky.social
elpais.com/opinion/2026...
Great take down of the latest British grovelling to the US by @fromtga.bsky.social
Love Actually? Washington’s current relationship with Britain is more like Contempt Actually
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Love Actually? US-UK today is more like Contempt Actually.
Britain needs another leg to stand on. My latest.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
We have two superb speakers on the past and present of Polish-Ukrainian relations in Oxford tomorrow, March 10 (1700 GMT, 1800 CET): Yaroslav Hrystak (Lviv) and Anna Wylegała (Warsaw).
Do register here to join us online: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
The US transforming the Middle East? A reminder of how well it went last time…
open.substack.com/pub/timothyg...
Everyone appreciates the effort to speak in another language. I discovered this as a white parent coordinator in an 80% Asian NYC school. Got big smiles when I introduced myself in Mandarin to our Dual Language families. It shows you care enough for them to feel welcomed n comfortable.
2....https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cg4e0r1el5yo (BBC)
www.wsj.com/us-news/vide... (WSJ)
Let it now be shown how the USA is not, after all, the USSR, China or Iran.
1. The combination of violence and lies is at the heart of all human oppression. But truth, publicly known, has its own power against them. Here is the truth, so far as it can currently be established, about the killing of Alex Pretti:
www.nytimes.com/video/us/100... (NYT)
...(cont.)
Two conclusions from the amazing Trump turnaround on Greenland:
1. If you're firm, and have sufficient power, he will back down.
2. The most powerful man in the world is visibly losing his marbles. And we have up to 3 more years of this to survive…
I'm moved to see Mark Carney take his inspiration from Václav Havel in his superb speech at Davos. Well worth reading the entire speech:
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
