Is Hungary Bailing out Trump?

Orban with Graffiti.  Gabor Gasztonyi 2019.  

Hungarian Prime minister Victor Orban is flying to Donald Trump’s private residence in Mara Lago Florida next week.  Presumably, he will travel on a military jet, immune from border and customs regulations.  Trump has recently been fined over 500 million dollars in fines over illegal activities in New York state.  To file an appeal,  Trump must put 110 per cent of the fine in trust to the court.  Trump suggested he post a 100 million dollar bond instead.   This was denied by the judge involved.  He seems unlikely to have the funds to cover his appeal and will likely have to sell assets in New York or elsewhere.  He might also declare bankruptcy. 

As a former president of the United States, the fact that he is in so much financial jeopardy puts him in a state of security risk for the nation.  Having a friendly relationship with Vladimir Putin, which he has demonstrated in the past, calling him very intelligent and at one point praising his invasion of Ukraine, he is now a compromised target.  Recently, he said he would encourage Russia to invade NATO countries which do not pay their fair share in defence spending. 

Victor Orban, a close friend of Putin who acts as Putin’s Trojan Horse in Europe and operates Hungary as if it were a Mafia state, just as his friend Putin does in Russia, is possibly an intermediary in this compromise.  Putin, a former KGB agent, understands only force, violence and clandestine operations.  The most extraordinary clandestine operation in history would be to have Donald Trump secretly under the command of Russia.  If this were so, the United States would not support Ukraine in its war with Russia under the Trump administration.  He has admitted to this and presumably many of the sanctions against Russia would be removed.  Putin would be a clear winner, allowing him to move forward and seize all of Ukraine, which he believes is historically Russia itself, and encircle it within his Mafia regime.  Putin’s goal is to recover the complete territory of the old USSR and somehow assemble a new Russian Empire.  He likens himself to Peter the Great and wishes this legacy for himself.  He will stoop at nothing to attain that end. 

Lorincs Mezaros, the wealthiest man in Hungary, was originally a gas fitter and a childhood friend of Victor Orbans's.  All construction contracts in Hungary filter through his companies.  These contracts are primarily awarded without proper bidding, and much of the final work completed is of a shoddy nature with inflated pricing and riddled with corruption.  The Mezaros companies are a mechanism to steal money from the country and put it in the hands of Victor Orban and his friends and family.  The European Union considers Hungary one of the most corrupt countries in Europe.  Mezaros also owns a bank, MBH, which he obtained last year through a series of secret and clandestine manoeuvres.  Perhaps he can lend or give Donald Trump the money to post as a bond and allow him to launch his appeal.  Is there a possible direct link to Putin himself in this potentially bizarre arrangement?  Is Orban simply acting as a messenger under diplomatic guise.  We probably will never know.  But we should be cognizant of the possibilities.  Nothing should surprise us in an increasingly Mafia world. 

Sadly, the new political model for the world in our new century is not democracy but Mafia-based regimes.   Countries like Russia, Iran, China, Hungary, North Korea, and, to some extent, India are moving to this bizarre criminal structure.  It is very difficult for democratic countries to engage with other countries that rely on criminal models for their existence.  They only understand violence and power. They have no understanding of justice. 

We wonder if there are Russian gold bars on Orban’s Military aircraft when it lands in Florida. 

I would not be surprised. 

 

 

Hungary: A Small Population in a Larger World.

As one learns more about Hungarians and Hungary, I often wonder why the country continues to elect a dictator, Victor Orban, and his government to power.  It is not an easy question, and many of the answers include his control of the media and his unwavering connection to the people of the countryside of Hungary, who, despite the highest inflation in Europe and rampant poverty, continue to support him.

The Orban family and the friends of the government have enriched themselves lavishly even as many Hungarians have been unable to heat their homes in the winter and buy food at reasonable prices.  The gasoline prices are some of the highest in Europe, teachers and nurses are the most underpaid in the EU and highway tolls have nearly doubled in the past year.  The government has befriended the criminal regime of Vladimir Putin, recently signing new gas purchase deals and further enhancing an atomic energy project. Many of the large government agencies, including the gas utility MVM, are state-owned or, more correctly, partially state-owned, with friends of the government taking large stakes in almost all regulated entities with consistent cash flow.  The heating gas prices in Hungary are some of the highest in Europe,

Teaches Protesting at the October 23rd Demonstration in Budapest 2023. 

 
Even though the Orban government has repeatedly said that the supply deal with Russia is the cheapest possible.  It is a state modelled under the rules and ethics of a Mafia organisation.  The history of Hungary does tend to explain many of these anomalies.

Hungary has had a complicated history going back to the Turkish invasion of the 1600s.  Having fought on the German side in WWI and again in WWII, Hungary lost much of its land and now occupies only one-third of the original Kingdom of Hungary.  After WWII Hungary fell into the hands of communism and has always remained suspicious and skeptical of the Western Powers.  The revolution of 1956 was thwarted quickly by the Russians, and although Hungary called for help from the West, no one came and answered the call.  Hungarians were left alone and suffered the brutal recriminations and revenge of the Russian-installed puppet government.  

I would argue that as a result of the historical suffering, the Hungarian people are in a state of post-traumatic stress syndrome or PTSD, a condition perfect for the creation of a dictator and the inability of the population to rid themselves of such a dictatorship.  The government propaganda machine is unbelievably efficient, having taken over all media by friends of the state.  Much of this is modelled under the Russian propaganda system, where almost all the lies of the state are believed.  In fact, I spoke with one gentleman, not uneducated, who firmly believed that the United States created the Ukrainian war in order to make money by selling arms.  

Man watching Teachers Demonstration. 

Many of these lies are believed and made into mythological truths that reinforce the idea that the aggressive government currently in power is the only one that can maintain stability and a national identity.  Coupled with an inherent suspicion of the West by a tiny population whose language and way of life are under threat, it is comforting for many to support the nationalism promulgated by the current government.  When Orban reels against the EU and the United States, many people here feel good about that rebellious tendency and its nationalist quality.  

The Frankfurt school Sociologist, Bruno Bettleheim, after WWII, came up with the concept of Identification with the Aggressor or the idea that those that are subjugated soon learn to copy the behaviour of those aggressive to them as a form of survival.  Much of that is evident in today's Hungary.

Hungary: The Politics of Lies

 

On the anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, October 23^rd 2021, the Hungarian government of Victor Orban decided to have a so-called Peace March in downtown Budapest on the prominent corner of Andrassy and Bajci-Zillinsky streets.  As I walked along Andrassy, one of the main streets of Budapest and a Unesco heritage site.  Buses parked on both sides of the road to Heroes square, several kilometres away.  The buses brought supporters, primarily elderly from neighbouring cities and perhaps even from distant parts of the country, to support the ruling dictator Victor Orban in the peace rally.  Although the buses were mainly empty, a handful of elderly pensioners in each bus quietly sitting in their seats, who came along primarily for the day's excursion and the few thousand forints the government put in their pockets to show up.  Many of them did not leave the bus. 

The march took place during the height of Covid deaths in Hungary, and once I was in the crowd, I began to feel uneasy as many people were maskless, and it felt as if people were closing in on me.  I tried to get near the front of the line near Oban's podium.  The police guiding the crowd asked me to stop at Andrassy and move behind and further through into a crowded viewing area. I persevered and started taking photographs of the people.  There were few young people there. They were mostly elderly and carrying placards implying the dictator was a god.  The young people bearing slogans and placards were unsure of what they were there for as they came for the bus ride and enough money to buy a few beers in their pockets. 

To live in Hungary is to live in a nation of rules and confusing bureaucracy.  If you do not pay a parking ticket, many of which are fake, the fine doubles each month.  The country operates on various levels of corruption, both municipally and federally.  The prime minister and chief oligarch is Victor Orban himself.  He has feasted on the Hungarian people for over twelve years and enriched himself through his friends and family, who find ways of extorting funds through government contracts.  The press and media are all owned and controlled by Orban, and his cronies and the justice system are rigged to favour the government, not allowing prosecution for the government's crimes.  Hungary is modelled after Putin's Russia.  Orban is Putin's only friend in Europe, and now with the war in Ukraine, Putin and Orban are shunned and isolated. 

 

During the speech, Orban spoke of his nemesis George Soros, the Jewish philanthropist and humanitarian who is a continual object of hatred in the propaganda ministry of Victor Orban.  He referred to Mr Soros as the big bad wolf who came into the village and ate people's grandmothers.  The crowd cheered, and Orban gained energy during the speech.  He threatened the European Union, and it appeared as the enemy, as the Union planned to stop regional payments to  Hungary unless they established freedom of the press and a responsible judiciary. 

I believe Hungarians are terrified of Democracy.  They feel comfortable ruled by dictators and knowingly accept the corrupt nature of absolute control.  Perhaps it is a result of two lost world wars and over fifty years of communism.  Over one hundred years of trauma, the Hungarian people have fallen back on themselves and lost faith in almost everything.  They blindly accept the continual propaganda and lies, much like a traumatized person who agrees with the constant abuse of a spouse, parent, teacher, or prison guard.   They tend to soften and cling to themes of lost glory and nationalism, which resonates in the speeches of dictators.  The distant memories of lost glory comfort their minds, whereas their mental imprisonment's irrationality is forgotten. The thousands of people eventually walked back to their buses for the ride home into their villages, again feeling proud of a nation long lost. 

 Photographs copyright Gabor Gasztonyi 2021

Orban's Hungary: The Crusifixtion of the Elderly

            Gabor Gasztonyi Photo 2021.

The right-wing government in Hungary, led by its leader Victor Orban is a Mafia state, as noted by the Hungarian sociologist Balint Magyar.   The Hungarian government's entire organisation is best understood when compared to a Mafia family controlled by a god-father, Victor Orban.  Power, privilege and control of all state resources are in the hands of a few loyal politicians, oligarchs and friends whose sole purpose is self-enrichment and the continuation of that enrichment.  The Hungarian constitution was rewritten several times by Orban, and today, even if they lose an election, the new government is hamstrung unless they have a two-thirds majority.  The entire legal system, the financial system, is staffed with members of the mafia family, resulting in complete domination in all aspects of civilian life.  The state of Hungary is worse than the darkest days of communism. Sadly the state controls all media, television and political advertising, with members of the mafia family emulating the propaganda of 1930's Germany under Goebbels.  Although some might say this is an exaggeration, I submit it is not far off the mark.  The impact of this regime is evident in the lives of the poor and in those unable to speak.  Often in the mafia state, the poor and helpless are objects of ridicule and little importance as they are not sources of wealth for the privileged.

Last week I was sitting at a café in the sixth district on a day when all the garbage cans were assembled on the corner, ready for pickup.  A well dressed older woman walking with a cane and a shopping bag opened each garbage can, looking inside for leftover food or beverage containers.  She was not a street person or homeless, but I am sure she lived in one of the nearby apartments.  Often pensioners are unable to heat their homes or pay for repairs to heating equipment and often unable to buy enough food. 

The other day on Terez Korut, I noticed an elderly lady on a street bench grasping a bag of buns and some toilet paper rolls.  She had taken them from the grocery store without paying.  The police arrived, and she said she was ill and wanted to go to a hospital.  The officers called an ambulance.  I am sure the officers felt as sad as I was and were trying to help.  How can we not look after the poor and the hungry in a country that is part of NATO, part of the EU and part of the modern world?

View from my apartment on Hajos Street on a warm night in Budapest a couple of days ago.

This Sunday Hungarians will take part in a National Referendum regarding refugees seeking asylum in Hungary and elsewhere in Europe. They will vote on the European Union's plan to spread the burden of immigration to all member states including the Balkan states who have rejected increasing the number of refugees allowed into their respective countries.  They have built fences and closed their borders.

Hungarian Prime minister Victor Orban is staking his reputation on the fact that Hungarians will reject the EU plan, and not allow the further immigration of refugees.  He has appeared on television and radio stations telling everyone that a "yes" vote in favor of increasing refugee immigration will destroy Hungary as well as EU members such as Austria, Poland and Croatia.  The only answer he says is a "no" vote.

This is the only way to continue the Christian and cultural tradition of a nation, he argues, whose values and history are opposed to the values and the aspirations of refugees who have entered Europe. Playing on the fears of a population in which over twenty percent of its citizens are retired seniors, living in many cases in poverty, he says the country is too small and economically weak to absorb refugees who would not be gainfully employed, having to rely on the generosity of the Hungarian government. He tells the people that the refugees are similar to an economic albatross, wrought with potential terrorists and criminals. It is an example of the politics of fear.

He fails to mention that the vast majority of the refugees who have entered Europe primarily from war torn Syria are women and children fleeing for their lives.  As one of the most cruel wars in the modern era, its devastation and outright murder of women and children is beyond understanding. Russia's defense of the war criminal Assad, who only a couple of years ago used nerve gas against his own people brings in the Balkan and Putinesque need to reestablish their political influence in the world.  This increasing need for Russia to assert itself politically and psychologically throughout the region has planted seeds of nationalism among other Balkan countries who are becoming increasingly fearful of losing their identities.  The idea of foreigners coming into Europe fuels these ancient and pent up emotions.

The "no" advertising campaign of the Orban government has been relentless.  The country is full of massive billboards in every small village and town advertising the "no" vote.  Letters and pamphlets are mailed door to door and the campaign has escalated to a feverish pitch in the newspapers and media.

For the referendum to be valid they require a minimum fifty percent vote and the Orban administration is campaigning relentlessly to achieve that number.  Should the numbers fall short it would be a big embarrassment for the government and  Orban's European agenda.  Many people are planning to boycott the vote in order to ensure its failure.  After speaking to several taxi drivers lately they have all said it is the duty of all Hungarians to vote "no" to preserve their culture and keep refugees out of the country permanently.  We will know the results on Monday.

Orban has modeled himself as the savior of Europe.  He has become the symbol of rejection and defiance for refugees fleeing for their lives.  He has laid the seeds of doubt implying that with the influx of refugees Europe and Hungary will be fundamentally changed forever.  Indeed there is speculation that he has political aspirations to lead the EU and succeed Donald Tusk and further promote his agenda, not only building barbed wire fences around Hungary but around all of Europe.

The agenda is painfully similar to Trump's Mexican Wall.  Trump has used the symbol of the wall as a mechanism for the disgruntled and the disenfranchised to find someone to blame for their problems. Indeed Hungary has always had a history of this.  Anti-antisemitism has always been a problem here and in the Balkans.  Hungarians were willing cohorts of the Nazis during WW II sending record numbers of Jewish people to their death.  The building I now live in in Budapest was once part of the Jewish Ghetto and during the war certain residents were rounded up by thugs, taken to the banks of the Danube and shot, their bodies falling in the ancient river never to be seen again.  This took place a few feet from my apartment on the third floor.  Its difficult to imagine such things actually happening.When I step out of my front door and as I look to the left down the long interior balcony its hard to believe that people were dragged out at gunpoint in the middle of the night and made to walk half a mile to the Danube where they were executed. Another shameful and unspeakable part of our history.  Hungarians somehow always need to blame someone else for their problems.  During WW II it was the Jews and now it is the refugees.  The current immigrants are mostly women and children.  By sending them back we are essentially killing them in a subtle fashion.  And so Hungarian fascism continues and thrives today seeking new avenues of hatred.

A few days days ago on one of the busiest streets in Budapest a bomb went off around ten in the evening.  An awkward surveillance video shows a man in a white hat throw a knapsack at two patrolling police officers.  The video does not show the injured police personnel.  The buildings near the bombing were suspiciously empty and no mention was made in subsequent days about the condition of the police officers.  Their families or loved ones were not interviewed.  All information was sketchy and suspicious.  Some have speculated that the bombing was a hoax designed to frighten Hungarians and scare them into voting "no" in Sunday's referendum.  Is this sort of thing possible? Sadly in Hungary anything is possible in the political realm. Hungarians are fully aware that they are being manipulated by politicians and by the media and have become victims of exhaustion.  They are used to accepting the inevitable and lament the idea that positive change is nearly impossible.  In many ways, the cold war has  never ended and continues here and now, disguised in many forms of deception.

There is speculation that if the referendum fails that the Orban government will have to resign.  That is unlikely.  A more inevitable scenario is that Orban's ambitions to save Europe will be quashed forever.  In that sense the referendum's failure will have achieved a positive result.