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Ukraine says it is ready to meet Hungary’s demands on minority rights

MANDINER | November 10, 2023 

Ukraine is ready to reach an agreement with Hungary on meeting EU requirements for the protection of the rights of national minorities, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olga Stefanishyna told a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.

She vowed to guarantee the rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority living in modern-day Ukraine, but rejected claims that Hungarians were particularly affected by the ongoing Russian aggression in the country.

“The Hungarian minority has suffered much less than, say, the Greek minority in the Azov region,” she noted.

The Ukrainian minister said that Hungary reserves the right to arbitrarily block Ukraine’s EU accession process, but stated that she did not believe the Hungarian problem should be the main obstacle in the EU enlargement process.

“I am confident that we will be able to overcome this challenge. I am confident that we will find political understanding,” she stressed.

Hungary has been at odds with Ukraine for years mainly on account of the erosion of rights for its 100,000-strong ethnic Hungarian minority there, mainly based in the Transcarpathia region. Besides nationalist threats against Hungarians, there have also been reports that Ukraine conscripts ethnic Hungarians above their ratio in the overall population.

Stefanishyna noted that a dialogue is ongoing with the EU on how Ukraine is preparing to improve the protection of the Hungarian community in Ukraine. The Ukrainian delegation presented a detailed roadmap to Hungary in September, which included both practical steps, such as the provision of textbooks for Hungarian-speaking children, and plans for legislative amendments.

Asked whether Ukraine had any “red lines” for legislative changes, the deputy prime minister said that these amendments must “in no way affect knowledge of the Ukrainian language.”

November 11, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

Bulgaria enforces punitive transit fees on all natural gas unless it’s proven not to come from Russia

REMIX NEWS | November 8, 2023

Bulgaria is enforcing a punitive transit fee, known as its “energy contribution fee,” on all natural gas transfers from Russia in a move likely to hit Central and Eastern European countries the hardest, Hungarian business newspaper Világgazdaság reported on Tuesday.

Sofia has begun collecting the charge of 20 leva (€10) for every megawatt-hour of Russian natural gas passing through its territory. The extra charge is a quarter of the price of the gas itself and hits Hungary hard: most of the gas from Russia enters Hungary via Bulgaria.

In the case of gas destined for the Hungarian market, the extra bill is paid by Gazprom because the Russian company bears the costs until the gas reaches Kiskundorozsma.

Bulgaria considers all gas Russian until proven otherwise

In addition, although only gas of Russian origin (including liquefied) is covered by the law, which was adopted by the Bulgarian parliament on Sept. 28 and entered into force on Oct. 13, traders who transit non-Russian gas have also received a notice to pay the higher amount.

If they do not pay, the Bulgarian system operator will still take the money it says it is entitled to after a grace period of 10 days under what it calls a traders’ bank guarantee.

Bulgartransgaz, the natural gas transmission and storage system operator of Bulgaria, recently sent a notice to users of its gas network asking them to prove the origin of their gas, namely whether it is Russian or not.

According to market sources asked by Világgazdaság, users were unlikely to comply, as Bulgartransgaz knew who was supplying what to whom anyway. However, the company replied to traders’ complaints by saying that any gas they did not declare was considered Russian by default.

Transit from Greece is affected as well

Under the law, the logical thing would have been for the 20 leva to apply only to Russian gas entering Bulgaria from Serbia, i.e., from the Turkish Stream. However, according to market sources, Bulgastransgaz penalizes all transit. This includes, for example, transport coming into its network from Greece and going to Serbia, although the Greek-Bulgarian border point will be excluded from the measure.

It will also only waive the extra penalty for such transit if it has received a “non-Russian” certificate.

Hungarian diplomatic channels have already contacted the Bulgarian authorities on the matter, but no further information has been reported.

November 11, 2023 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

Hungary calls for new European security architecture

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses the 5th Demographic Summit in the Fine Arts Museum in Budapest on September 14, 2023. © Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP
RT | November 3, 2023

Hungary wants to see the creation of a new security architecture in Europe that would take into account both Russian and Ukrainian interests, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

Speaking at the summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Friday, the Hungarian leader stated that the West’s strategy of supporting Ukraine with money and arms had failed and, against this backdrop, Budapest was “advocating a plan B.”

The initiative, he continued, “is aimed at a ceasefire, peace negotiations and the construction of a new European security architecture that will be reassuring for Ukraine and acceptable to the Russians.” According to Orban, Türkiye, which has remained neutral in the stand-off between Moscow and Kiev while acting as a mediator between the two, will also play a prominent role in this potential arrangement.

Since the start of open fighting in the Ukraine conflict, Budapest has consistently urged Kiev and Moscow to engage in talks, while also resisting calls to support EU sanctions against Russia, particularly in the energy sector, arguing that the measures are detrimental to the bloc’s own economy. In May, Orban also predicted that “poor Ukrainians” would not be able to prevail over Russia given the circumstances, particularly NATO’s reluctance to send its troops directly to the battlefield.

Hungary, along with Slovakia, also opposed an aid package to Ukraine to the tune of €50 billion ($53.5 billion) approved by the European Parliament last month. The two nations pointed in particular to concerns about corruption in Kiev and argued that the aid was not working.

While Moscow has never closed the door on talks with Kiev, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree last autumn barring all talks with Moscow, after four former Ukrainian regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia.

In December 2021, shortly before the years-long Ukraine conflict moved to open fighting, Russia submitted proposals To NATO and the US on security guarantees, demanding that the West ban Ukraine’s accession to the military bloc and insisting that the alliance retreat to its borders of 1997, before it expanded. The overture in late 2021, however, was rebuffed by the West.

Orban is not the only EU leader to have raised the prospect of security guarantees as hostilities continued. Last December, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that Western capitals should consider setting up a security architecture that would take into account Russian interests, once Moscow and Kiev engage in talks. These remarks, however, triggered outrage, both in Kiev and in several EU member states.

November 3, 2023 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hungary calls halt of Nord Stream probe ‘outrageous and scandalous’

Al Mayadeen | October 28, 2023

In an interview for RIA Novosti, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated that the lack of intention to continue in the investigation of the explosion on the Nord Stream pipeline that occurred last year is “outrageous and scandalous.”

“I really do find it outrageous and scandalous that no forward progress has taken place regarding the attack against the Nord Stream pipeline. It has taken place more than a year ago. So, there’s no forward progress and I don’t really see the intention to have forward progress which is outrageous,” Szijjarto said.

He added that his country prefers a thorough and deep investigation into the situation regarding a recent incident at Finland’s Baltic connector pipeline that took place earlier this month.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned after the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline that it would view any acts of sabotage on gas routes used to buy gas from Russia as a casus belli, or a reason for war, though he noted that the warning had been heeded.

“What we, Hungarians, did immediately: we made clear that there is another pipeline, not just Nord Stream, but there is Southern Stream, coming gas from Russia through the southern corridor,” he said.

Internal play 

Famed journalist Seymour Hersh, who had previously exposed US war crimes in My Lai and Abu Ghraib, and had most recently exposed the US’ role in the Nord Stream explosions, revealed further information in an interview with China Daily in March this year.

Hersh argued that the US elites had a “long-standing history” of being “disturbed by the Russian gas and oil sales to Western Europe” which was further confirmed after US President Joe Biden’s public threat to “bring an end” to the Nord Stream pipelines just two weeks prior to the war in Ukraine. This, Hersh said, proved that it “wasn’t much of a secret what we wanted to do.”

Biden’s decision to order the demolition of the Nord Stream pipelines, says Hersh, was motivated by Germany’s projected reluctance to continue arming Ukraine.

Significantly, Hersh explained that the US administration was unhappy with the fact that its proxy war against Moscow was not “going well”, and “decided in late September to trigger the mines.” He said that American foreign policy elites had made it clear, in the past, that they objected to Russian-Europpean cooperation. Based on that, Hersh said he was not “surprised one bit” by the decision to sabotage the Nord Stream Pipelines.

October 30, 2023 Posted by | False Flag Terrorism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Hungarian parliament refuses new vote on Sweden’s NATO accession

Hungary will make a sovereign decision on Sweden’s application without pressure from abroad, Turkish ratification will ‘change nothing’

MANDINER | October 25, 2023

Tensions over Sweden’s membership of NATO have been reignited after Turkish President Erdogan on Monday submitted a protocol to the Turkish parliament approving the country’s accession to NATO, bringing the Scandinavian country a step closer to joining the military alliance.

Following Erdogan’s move, international attention has again turned to Hungary.

In order for Sweden to join, it needs the support of all 31 allied countries. That is why many were caught off guard by the decision of the Hungarian parliament on Tuesday to once again refuse to vote on Sweden’s application for membership.

One reason why Hungary is dragging its feet on ratification is the fact that lawmakers from Hungary’s governing Fidesz party believe that Swedish politicians have spread “preposterous lies” about the state of Hungarian democracy, accusing the country of democratic backsliding, reported the Associated Press.

The Hungarian position has long been clear

Speaking from New York ahead of Tuesday’s U.N. Security Council meeting, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that the ratification process in the Turkish parliament “does not change anything” and that Hungarian lawmakers “will make a sovereign decision on this issue.”

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also confirmed last month that Hungary was “in no hurry” to ratify Sweden’s accession to the EU, saying in response to a question from journalists that a senior Fidesz lawmaker saw “little chance” of parliament voting on the issue this year.

The Swedish application was submitted to the agenda by opposition MP Ágnes Vadai, a member of the liberal Democratic Coalition (DK). Vadai said that Hungary’s opposition and Sweden were in constant dialogue.

“I believe that the two countries (Turkey and Hungary) will ratify it, if not at the same time, then very close together,” Vadai added.

October 25, 2023 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

Europe is suffering from ‘war psychosis’ in its unyielding military support for Ukraine: Hungary’s foreign minister

MAGYAR NEMZET | October 24, 2023 

Instead of looking for ways to foster peace, the European Union’s current and planned actions only serve to extend the war, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said after a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council.

“It is all about war, there is no peace. Brussels is still pro-war, as shown by the fact that they would give €5 billion a year for arms over the next four years, which also shows that they expect the war to continue,” Szijjártó said. “No one in Western Europe is talking about peace, Europe is suffering from a war psychosis.”

He added that it is clear there will be no solution to the war on the battlefield. Europeans expect nothing but destruction and death, and the conditions for peace are getting worse.

“Taking arms production and training to Ukraine would drag the EU into an immediate war. We find this totally unacceptable. Nor should arms transfers be just about supplying the Ukrainians with as many weapons as possible, because the EU is not a security organization, and justifying a country’s future accession on security grounds is completely unacceptable,” Szijjártó added.

Energy sanctions are hurting Hungary, Szijjártó claimed

Speaking of the EU’s bans on Russian fossil fuels, Szijjártó said that Hungarians do not want to give up energy security in the name of some ill-defined ideals.

“On energy supplies: We didn’t talk nonsense by saying that it’s not a political issue, it’s a physical issue. We are not willing to risk the security of Hungary’s energy supply or the results of cuts in tariffs. Hungarians are not responsible for the war, we are not willing to make them pay for it,” he said.

The Hungarian foreign minister accused other member states of being covert about their dealings with Russia, unlike Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who has been honest and transparent through his recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing.

“My colleague, the Lithuanian foreign minister was blunt. He said that he expected me to clarify whether what is being said here is our own position or the Kremlin’s position. This is unacceptable to me. I reassured him that Hungary is a sovereign country with a sovereign opinion,” Szijjártó explained.

“As long as this government is in power, we are not prepared to accept any opinion from anywhere, from any geographical direction, whether there is a lot of water between us or not. I said to my Lithuanian colleague that I hope he can say the same thing with his hand on his heart,” he added.

October 24, 2023 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

Hungary warns of ‘knockout blow’ to EU economy

Hungarian Trade and Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. © Omer Taha Cetin/Getty Images
RT | October 21, 2023

The EU should pursue cooperation with China and Asia as a whole, which have already become more competitive than the bloc in economic terms, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

Speaking at an informal meeting of EU trade ministers in Valencia on Friday, Szijjarto emphasized that the global economy has turned upside down over the past few years, resulting in a fall in the bloc’s economic position, which Brussels is making worse with its indiscriminate sanctions policies. He reiterated that recent sanctions against Russia and the drive to abandon Russian energy “shot the European economy first in the foot and then in the knee.”

“Today we pay four times as much for gas in Europe as Americans do at home and three times as much for electricity as people pay in China,” he pointed out, noting that while distancing itself from Russia has already caused problems, doing the same with China would be even more destructive for the EU economy.

Szijjarto noted that China has already surpassed the EU in terms of gross domestic product (GDP): its share of global GDP jumped from 9% in 2010 to the current 18%, while the EU’s share dropped from 22% to 17%.

“The overall structure of the world economy is being transformed, and this great transformation also means that the West’s automatic competitive advantage has ended. The Eastern world has strengthened significantly, they have at the very least caught up with the Western world from a financial and technological point of view, while they have always been ahead of us in terms of human resources,” he stated. Szijjarto added that the Eastern and Western economies are more strongly interdependent nowadays than ever before, and said the EU should not shy away from this trend.

“Whether we like it or not, it’s a fact. Whoever denies all this can cause very serious damage to the European economy,” he warned.

Szijjarto noted that the basis of the EU’s economic growth previously lay in the combination of advanced Western technologies and cheap Russian energy, but this line of cooperation has now been severed.

“Unfortunately, there are Western Europeans… who strive to cut off economic cooperation between Europe and China in the same way. If this were to happen, it would practically be a knockout blow to the European economy. That is why we are against any effort to isolate the Chinese and European economies from each other,” he stated.

The minister said the consequences of such actions would be especially felt by the European automotive industry, which relies on Chinese suppliers.

“This would practically suffocate the car industry. And if we strangle the European car industry, we will destroy the European economy,” he declared.

“Everyone in the economy understands this, but Western European politicians don’t want to see the reality, they don’t want to hear the facts, but rather they politicize out of ideology and anger.”

The EU relationship with China has been strained over the past several years, with Brussels viewing Beijing as an economic rival, and each side increasingly unhappy with the other’s policies.

October 21, 2023 Posted by | Economics | , , | Leave a comment

Hungary PM Orbán meets with Putin in Beijing

BY THOMAS BROOKE | REMIX NEWS | OCTOBER 17, 2023

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Tuesday to discuss ongoing bilateral agreements between the two nations.

The pair were snapped shaking hands in the Chinese capital — the first photographed handshake between Putin and an EU leader since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Orbán told the Russian president that “Hungary has never sought to confront Russia” and has always and will continue to “pursue the goal of building and expanding the best communication,” reported Russia’s state-run news agency TASS.

“In Europe today, one question is on everyone’s mind: Will there be a ceasefire in Ukraine? For us Hungarians, too, the most important thing is that the flood of refugees, the sanctions, and the fighting in our neighboring country should end,” Orbán posted on X following the meeting.

Budapest has maintained relatively close relations with Moscow and faced the wrath of the European Union for steering its own course through the conflict in Ukraine and refusing to present a united front with other EU leaders.

Orbán’s administration has long opposed the provision of arms to Kyiv, which it claims is prolonging the conflict and increasing the death toll, and has advocated for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks.

The rendezvous exerts further pressure on Brussels, which requires Hungary’s approval for proposed budget reforms in order to unlock further funding for Ukraine.

“Given the fact that in today’s geopolitical conditions the opportunities for maintaining contacts and developing relations are very limited, it can only cause satisfaction that our relations with many European countries are maintained and developed. One of these countries is Hungary,” Putin told Orban.

The meeting was criticized by U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman who accused Orbán of “pleading for business deals” while Russia continues its aggression in Ukraine.

“Hungary’s leader chooses to stand with a man whose forces are responsible for crimes against humanity in Ukraine, and alone among our Allies,” he posted on X.

This interpretation of the meeting was questioned by the Hungarian prime minister’s political director, Balázs Orbán, who claimed that Budapest was “fed up” with Pressman’s “hypocrisy.”

“If the question is who’s doing business with the Russians, the Americans should turn down the volume. They are buying more than twice as much nuclear fuel alone as they used to, and we have a whole list of them,” he added.

“Since your president refuses to talk about ending this war, someone has to,” quipped Koskovics Zoltán, a geopolitical analyst at the Budapest-based Center for Fundamental Rights.

Both leaders arrived in Beijing at the invitation of Chinese President Xi ahead of an international forum on China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Earlier on Tuesday, Orbán met with the Chinese leader to discuss the strengthening of Hungarian-Chinese relations.

“Connectivity instead of decoupling: This is the Hungarian model. Our aim is to strengthen Hungarian-Chinese relations. This is good for Hungary and good for the European economy,” he said in a statement.

October 17, 2023 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Partnership with Russia in Hungary’s national interest – FM

RT | October 15, 2023

Budapest will stick to agreements with Russia in the energy sphere despite Ukraine-related sanctions and pressure from EU peers, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told RT on Friday, on the sidelines of the annual Russian Energy Week forum. The official stressed that his country will always put its national interests first and that energy cooperation with Russia is among its key priorities in this regard.

“Our national interest is to definitely have reliable, mutually respectful cooperation with Russia. Without Russian energy we would not be able to guarantee the safe supply of energy for our country,” he stated, adding that, for Hungary, the supply of energy “is not a political issue or an ideological issue, but a physical one.”

The official noted that his country is in constant contact with Moscow “to make sure our cooperation continues according to our existing contracts.” Hungary continues to buy Russian gas under the 15-year contract with energy major Gazprom signed in 2021, which provides for the supply of 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. The country is also buying Russian oil via pipelines that run through Croatia and Ukraine, having secured an exemption from the sanctions imposed by Brussels on Russian crude oil imports last year.

Another large part of Russian-Hungarian cooperation is the work on new reactors for Hungary’s Paks-2 nuclear power plant under a contract with Russia’s Rosatom. According to Szijjarto, the construction process has already started.

“The cut-off walls are now under construction – that gives us hope that by the beginning of the next decade we will be able to connect the two new blocks to the grid, which will increase the nuclear capacity from 2,000 megawatts to 4,400 megawatts,” he said, adding that the project will make Hungary’s power production “more competitive, safer and more environmentally-friendly.”

Szijjarto conceded that the project faced much pressure, especially with the EU continuously pitching the Russian nuclear industry as a potential candidate for sanctions. However, according to the foreign minister the EU is unlikely to go through with these threats.

“We made it very clear that we will not agree to any sanctions package which will include the nuclear industry… because for us it would be totally against our national interests if the nuclear industry was under sanctions. And since the US has bought 416 tons of uranium from Russia during the first half of this year, I think no real arguments are there for the EU to put the Russian nuclear industry under sanctions… that would be a huge hypocrisy.”

Szijjarto reiterated previous statements that the West’s anti-Russia sanctions policy has failed, and urged the collective EU to help Russia and Ukraine bring the conflict to an end instead of heaping more punitive measures on Moscow.

“The EU is struggling when it comes to economy and when it comes to competitiveness, it’s obvious – there are figures – China has already overtaken us when it comes to share of global GDP. So, the EU should make the decisions in order to improve competitiveness… and sanctions [against Russia] have contributed to the loss of competitiveness, for sure… Instead of imposing sanctions and delivering weapons, we should start discussions about peace,” he stated, warning that circumstances for peace talks will become less favorable as time passes by.

October 15, 2023 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

Hungary should consider leaving EU if Brussels makes drastic treaty change move, argues Hungarian columnist

Hungary has a new red line as Germany and France move in to seize control of the entire bloc, writes Hungarian political analyst.

By John Cody | Remix News | October 10, 2023

Following news that Germany and France are moving forward with reforms that would drastically curtail the sovereignty of EU nation-states, Hungarian columnist Tamás Fricz argued in the Magyar Nemzet newspaper that if such changes really do come to pass, Hungary needs to consider the possibility of leaving the European Union.

All I can say is that if we can really get this through the EU institutions, we really need to seriously consider our role and the conditions for staying in the EU,” wrote Fricz in response to the new reform measures being proposed.

“Once again, the two EU powers have found each other: France and Germany are determined to reform — or, in other words, to curtail — the rights of the member states this year, including the abolition of the veto in the European Council, the only EU body where the member states say still counts,” he wrote.

He described how the move was first discussed by German Minister of State Anna Lührmann and French EU Minister of State Laurence Boone during an interview with Euractiv a few weeks ago. However, since then, the EU has accelerated its plans, with 12 experts commissioned by Germany and France to produce a 60-page draft reform paper detailing how the EU would be “reformed,” most notably by abolishing the veto.

Fricz asks why Hungary should go along with these reforms, and writes if Hungary does not fight back against the abolition of the veto, “we will be permanently at the mercy of the mainstream, liberal, globalist elite in Brussels.”

“That is when a qualified majority, 15 countries and at least 65 percent of the population, is enough for the globalists to impose their will on the member states,” he wrote.

He then details the various areas where Hungary would face serious challenges, writing that Hungary would be “forced to take in tens of thousands of migrants under a mandatory quota” or “pay through the nose” to refuse them.

He also notes that the EU would force Hungary to abolish its child protection laws, thus “opening ourselves up — as already done in Western Europe — to LGBTQI+ propaganda in our schools, in our kindergartens, on our streets, in advertising, in cultural works, on television channels, everywhere and anywhere.”

He then listed various initiatives that Hungary would be powerless to stop, such as the global passport scheme from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the abolishment of cash.

“The European Central Bank wants to abolish the use of cash, one of the main guarantees of individual freedom, and the Union is giving huge amounts to Ukraine to continue fighting the war,” writes Fricz.

“I could go on citing the examples, but if our French and German ‘friends’ are able to abolish the veto, if they can do this feat, then there is nothing more to talk about,” he concluded.

October 12, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , , | Leave a comment

Unfreezing $13.6Bln of Funding for Hungary Not Connected to EU Budget Changes

Sputnik – 04.10.2023

BUDAPEST – Brussels owes Hungary 13 billion euros ($13.6 billion) from the European Union’s funds and has to unfreeze the funding without taking into account planned changes to the bloc’s budget, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated on Wednesday.

A British newspaper has reported that the European Commission was considering unblocking 13 billion euros for Hungary to receive Budapest’s support for a new increased common budget, which includes support for Ukraine.

“We are entitled to money from EU funds. This fact has nothing to do with changes in the budget. It has nothing to do with whether the EU wants to change the budget now or not. This is a completely different issue and should be discussed according to completely different criteria. The payment of the money we are entitled to does not depend on anything, it should be paid to us,” Szijjarto told a briefing.

This comes days after Gergely Gulyas, the Hungarian prime minister’s chief of staff, hinted that Hungary might veto further EU funding for Ukraine unless Brussels unfreezes budget money it was withholding from Budapest over alleged noncompliance with EU values.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has proposed topping up the 2024-2027 EU budget with an additional 66 billion euros, most of which will be used to support Ukraine over the next four years.

October 4, 2023 Posted by | Aletho News | , | Leave a comment

Ukraine Fatigue Is Worrying NATO Elites – and So They Should Be

By Finian Cunningham | Strategic Culture Foundation | October 4, 2023

On both sides of the Atlantic, there is now discernible fatigue and anger among citizens over the bottomless money pit that is NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine against Russia.

The only wonder is that it has taken so long for the Western public to get wise to the scam.

The disgraceful adulation of a Nazi war criminal by the whole Canadian parliament in a perverse show of solidarity with Ukraine against Russia has helped focus public attention on the obscenity of the NATO proxy war.

All told, since the NATO-induced conflict blew up in February last year, the American and European establishments have thrown up to €200 billion into Ukraine to prop up an odious Nazi-infested regime.

All that largesse that is billed to U.S. and European taxpayers has resulted in a slaughter in Europe not seen since the Second World War – and a failed Ukrainian state. And of course huge profits for the NATO military-industrial complex that bankrolls the elite politicians.

Times are changing though. In the United States, the financially conservative Republicans have had enough of the blank checks to the Kiev regime. The U.S. Congress finally showed a modicum of sanity to prevent a government financial shutdown – by dropping military aid to Ukraine. That shows how twisted Washington’s priorities have become when national self-interest has to wrestle with funding for a Nazi regime.

And then following the Congressional vote to temporarily end funding for Ukraine, the Kiev regime’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba dared to reprimand American lawmakers: “We are now working with both sides of Congress to make sure that it does not (get) repeated under any circumstances.”

Meanwhile in Europe, Slovakian citizens have voted for a new government to end the military fueling of war in Ukraine. The Smer-SD party led by Robert Fico won the parliamentary elections primarily on the vow to shut off any further weapons supply to the Kiev regime.

This week also saw massive protests in Germany against Olaf Scholz’s coalition government over the latter’s abject pro-war policies in Ukraine. German Unity Day on October 3 prompted a mass rally in Berlin denouncing the NATO proxy war in Ukraine and calling for peace negotiations to end the conflict.

There were also unprecedented protests across Poland in Warsaw, Lodz and other cities against the PiS government’s slavish implementation of the U.S.-led NATO proxy war in Ukraine. Faced with millions of Ukrainian refugees and neglect of social needs for Poles, the PiS ruling party has recently threatened to end weapons supply to Kiev – a move less about principle and more about trying to buy votes in the forthcoming election on October 15. Nevertheless, the belated move by the Polish government illustrates the concern among European leaders about growing public disdain over the seemingly endless financial aid allocated to Ukraine.

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, says it is a “worrying” sign that Washington for the first time closed the coffers for Ukraine.

The EU foreign ministers held a summit in Kiev on Monday. It was the first time that their summit was convened in a non-EU country. The agenda was a little too self-conscious, slated as a show of “solidarity” with Ukraine.

Borrell and the other EU diplomats said the summit was a warning to Russia to not count on “weariness” among Europeans over support for Ukraine. Who is he trying to convince? Russia or Europeans?

The unelected European elites described the war in Ukraine as an “existential crisis” which requires never-ending support for the Nazi regime against Russia.

Such melodrama needs serious qualification. The conflict is only “existential” for certain people: the NATO ideologues, the elitist leaders, the military-industrial complex, and the corrupt Nazi regime in Kiev. But it’s not existential for most other people who want to end this insane slaughter, grotesque wasting of public finances, and perilous flirting with nuclear war.

Significantly, the contrived EU summit in Kiev was not attended by Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto. In highly critical comments on the EU’s misplaced priorities, he said that other countries do not understand why Europe “has made this conflict global” and why people living in Asia, Africa and Latin America have to pay for it due to growing inflation, energy prices and unstable food supplies.

The Hungarian diplomat slammed the EU leaders for their double standards and hypocrisy, adding: “I can say that the world outside Europe is already really looking forward to the end of this war because they do not understand many things. They do not understand, for example, how it can be that when a war is not in Europe, the European Union, looking down with fantastic moral superiority, calls on the parties to peace, advocates negotiations and an immediate end to violence. However, when there is a war in Europe, the European Union incites the conflict and supplies weapons, and anyone who talks about peace is immediately stigmatized.”

At least two members of the EU and the NATO alliance – Hungary and Slovakia’s new government – are opposed to the absurd military and financial support fueling the war in Ukraine. Both countries want peace negotiations with Russia to be prioritized. There is an unavoidable sense that this common sense dissent will grow into a domino effect because it is the truth and has an unassailable moral force.

What the conflict in Ukraine has demonstrated clearly to the Western public is just how morally bankrupt their governments and media have become. American and European elitist leaders may kid themselves a little longer by pretending there is no weariness and fatigue over their proxy war against Russia. The more they pretend the greater the eventual crash and downfall from public anger.

October 4, 2023 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

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