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Europe
Hungary
September 26, 2024 4:06 PM CET Orbán, the political director of his namesake (but no relation to him), was a guest on a podcast on yesterday where he talked about Ukraine's self-defense against Russian aggression. “Every country has the right to decide its own destiny, and leaders take responsibility,” Orbán said. “We probably wouldn't have done what President Zelenskyy did two and a half years ago, because it's irresponsible,” he said. 'Because obviously he put his country into a war defense, all these people died, all this territory was lost - again, it's their right, it's their sovereign decision, they had the right to do it. But if we had been asked, we would not have advised it.” According to Orbán: “We have to be careful here, and we have to be careful with very precious Hungarian lives. You cannot just throw them away in front of others.” “Hungary's position is clear: we see no sense in the Ukrainian-Russian war” in which hundreds of thousands of people have died 'for nothing.” Orbán has touched on a sensitive point in Hungarian history: October 1956, when a revolution broke out against the totalitarian communist regime, demanding democratization and exit of the Warsaw Pact. But in less than three weeks, Soviet troops invaded the country, and the struggle for freedom left 2,700 dead and 20,000 wounded; 176,000 people fled the country of less than 10 million after the fight was lost. In addition, the new communist regime that ruled Hungary for another 33 years after the Soviet invasion executed 229 civilians, including the prime minister during the revolution, Imre Nagy. (Source: politico)
by Körömi
September 26, 2024 10:58am EDT Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó discussed with Fox News Digital the potential impact of a second Trump administration as well as hesitations over a Harris administration as the world remains in a fraught security situation. Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó revealed in an interview with Fox News Digital that former President Trump alone is his country’s "hope" for helping bring stability to a fraught and increasingly chaotic international security landscape. "We do believe that actually the game changer here can be the U.S. presidential election, in case President Trump wins," Szijjártó said, referring specifically to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "Because knowing Trump, I think it’s absolutely possible – absolutely likely – that with two phone calls he can end this conflict." "No one else can do so," he insisted. "I think only President Trump has the hope and our hope is all in President Trump to do this." "What we can definitely say is the following: „Politics is based on experience, and we have a clear experience about the term of President Trump in office, and we have clear experience from the terms when the Democrats were there," he said. "From the aspect of the U.S.-Hungary relations and from the aspect of the global security situation, when it comes to the U.S.-Hungary relations, it’s obvious that during President Trump[‘s term] these relations have been on the top – best ever," Szijjártó added. Orbán proved this is a mutual dynamic when he chose to leave the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., earlier this year to instead meet with Trump in Mar-a-Lago in Florida to discuss foreign relations. "Under President Trump, everything was under control," Szijjártó said. "Since President Trump has left office, the whole global security situation is deteriorating, so, I mean, these are experiences." "If we base it on our experience, we say yes, from a perspective of U.S.-Hungary relations, I think President Trump would bring another impetus, freshness, dynamism to this relationship, and I think if President Trump is elected, I think the world has a good chance to become a more peaceful place compared to the current situation." Szijjártó argued that "if you look at an administration which is led by a president and vice president, and we didn’t hear too much initiatives from the vice president … means to me that the vice president was part of the structure 100%." He noted that this comment came from a personal opinion "based on logic" and not the opinion of the Hungarian foreign minister. Hungary has attempted to pursue peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, positioning itself as a chief facilitator for resolving the conflict. Hungary assumed the presidency of the European Union as part of a rotating six-month structure. Orbán seized on the opportunity to visit both Russian President Putin and President Zelenskyy within the first days after taking the seat, but European leaders moved quickly to stress that the role is purely ceremonial and that Hungary had no official capacity to represent Europe in any peace talks. Szijjártó blasted those who criticized the Hungarian effort, claiming "those who have been criticizing us, the prime minister, the peace mission, have clearly been the pro-war politicians." "They just simply don't like that there is a country, there is a government, there is a prime minister in Europe who speaks direct language, who speaks honestly and who is not a hostage of the liberal mainstream," Szijjártó said. "Therefore, it is very unpleasant and inconvenient for them that we are there and that we act, that we speak, that we make actions." Szijjártó resisted the idea that Ukraine should join NATO, noting that "including Ukraine into NATO would put us in a totally exposed situation, security-wise, because it would mean that NATO could be easily dragged into a war against Russia at any time, and this is something that we don’t want." "Everyone knows that any kind of direct confrontation between NATO and Russia would mean an outbreak of Third World War immediately, and we have joined the NATO to enhance our security and not to make ourselves exposed," he said. /video, photo/ (Source: foxnews): https://tinyurl.com/yttx39xm
by Aitken
Russia
Sep 26, 2024 at 11:16 AM EDT Authorities in Russia have said that Kyiv has fired drones into Russian regions bordering Ukraine in attacks that follow Putin's suggestion he wants to change the criteria for Moscow to use nuclear weapons. Putin told Russia's Security Council meeting yesterday that any aggression by a country without nuclear weapons 'with the participation of a nuclear state is proposed to be considered as their joint attack on Russia." ’Putin announced that Moscow may consider the use of nuclear weapons in response to a massive launch of missiles or drones crossing its state border’. The governor of Russia's Oryol, Klychkov, said that a Ukrainian drone had been shot down over the region overnight yesterday. Russia's Defense Ministry reported that seven drones had been destroyed over the Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions that border Ukraine, although there were no reports of damage. Russia in turn has continued with its drone strikes targeting Ukrainian infrastructure. Over 15 drones were spotted near the capital, 10 of which were downed by air defenses, the Kyiv City Military Administration said. No time frame has been given for the nuclear doctrine changes. (Source: newsweek)
North America
United States
Sptember 26, 2024 1:54 PM CET U.S. President Biden announced $7.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine before meeting with President Zelenskyy at the White House. According to Biden's statement, the U.S. will allocate $5.5 billion through his presidential drawdown authority to fund equipment for Ukraine and another $2.4 billion in security assistance to provide the country with additional air defense, uncrewed aerial systems and air-to-ground munitions, among other equipment. Biden will also provide Ukraine with Joint Standoff Weapon long-range munitions to improve long-range strike capabilities. The U.S. will also refurbish and provide Ukraine with an additional Patriot air defense battery and additional Patriot missiles. They will expand training for Ukrainian F-16 pilots. Beyond security assistance, Washington also announced an international effort to “disrupt a global cryptocurrency network” that it said was used to counter Russian sanctions evasion and money laundering. The U.S. president announced that he will convene a summit-level meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany next month. (Source: politico)
by Körömi
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