“Peace is Orbán’s Policy, Peace is His Value”, Writes Czech Blogger

Daniel Sterzik, alias “Vidlák”, is one of the most successful and most read political bloggers on the Czech Internet. In his recent article, entitled “But otherwise they are not sheep at all”, with his typical humor and sarcasm, he contrasts the current Czech diplomacy’s inconsistencies and contradictions with that of the government of Viktor Orbán. We republish a few excerpts from his blog.

“Do you notice how comfortable Orbán is? He is good with Russia, but he has also helped Ukraine on a humanitarian basis. He is good with Israel, but he talks peace in front of the Arabs in a manner that is not embarrassing. He does not have to change his mind, he does not have to pivot. Peace, that is his policy. Peace is his value. Not adding fuel to the fire, that is his approach. Just as he called for peace in Ukraine, he can call for peace now. He did not burn bridges to anyone and he did not let himself be separated from anyone by the conflagration of war.

But at the same time, he did not sit on two chairs. He sat on his own chair – the Hungarian one.

“No, it is not a chair of a great power. Compared to the big countries, it is a pretty wobbly chair. It has not protected Hungarians from inflation. But it is a sovereign chair. Orbán can go and shake hands with the Saudis, the Chinese, the Israelis, the Turks, the Russians… And he gets the occasional gift from them – like a freed prisoner… The most Hungary can do.

“Peace is a far greater value than the great power-games that pass for values. The greater value is simple peace without flags on profiles, without cow-towing, whether to the west or to the east. We do not agree with the war, we will not contribute to it (neither with bullets to Ukraine, nor by paying for “textbooks” for Hamas, nor by agreeing to the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.) We cannot dissuade anyone from the war, we are not a policeman, but we will not join it. We will only ever mitigate the consequences.

“We will not lie to the Ukrainians that they can win, we will not lie to them that our support is absolute and will never go away.

Peace is a greater value than justice. Peace is a greater value than honor.

“We will not give them false hope, because the greatest hatred arises from love gone bad. We will not divide the world into good and evil because it changes too often. We will not forget the past, but we will not exploit it for new wrongs. We will not cheer the making of new terrorists by bombing, just as we will not condone the slaughter of children.

“This is real values politics. You can tell by the fact that nothing much needs to change about it, even if the world around us is changing rapidly. Value is what has proven itself over time. Not what is currently in vogue. Value is what has endured through the ages, not experiments that are self-absorbed. That is why Hungarians do not abolish the family, why Hungarians do not let whoever into the country, why Hungarians do not allow non-profits to teach in schools.

Featured Image: Facebook Viktor Orbán