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Hungary an Inspiration to Americans by Not Being Radical, Says U.S. Commentator

Hungary Today 2023.08.23.

We have to admit that we do not know and understand everything, and that attitude will make us wiser than taking the approach of Biden and his government or Ambassador Pressman, Tucker Carlson told the Hungarian Prime Minister’s political director in Budapest on Tuesday at the MCC After, reports Mandiner.

On August 22, Tucker Carlson, former host of Fox News Television’s Tucker Carlson Tonight political show, was a guest of MCC After, a joint collaboration between Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) and Mandiner newspaper, the name referring to the after event of the MCC Festival that took place in July in Esztergom, Hungary. The MCC After took place on Tuesday at Millenáris, an exhibition space and function venue and park in Budapest.

Tucker Carlson has previously spoken several times on his show about his agreement with the Hungarian government’s policies, calling the country one of the last strong democracies in the West.

According to Mandiner, the prominent U.S. media personality and Balázs Orbán, chairman of the board of trustees of Mathias Corvinus Collegium, discussed the opportunities and challenges facing young people. During the conversation, Orbán asked the commentator what advice he would give to himself if he were a young person today.

Don’t think you know everything, don’t think you are right, and don’t be so quick to judge! It’s easy to judge, but we can’t even understand another man’s marriage, so how could we think we understand another country?

We have to admit that we don’t know everything, we don’t understand everything, and that attitude makes us wiser than if we take the attitude of Biden and his administration or Ambassador Pressman, thinking they know what is good for you,” Carlson replied, adding: “no, you don’t know, you don’t speak Hungarian, go home!”

Carlson said that the world order is changing, NATO is collapsing. He added that America is sabotaging Germany’s energy supply, “the Biden administration blew up the Nord Stream,” and Germans cannot stand up for themselves. America has essentially attacked Germany, which was its most important ally, and the Germans will wake up one day and there will be consequences, continued the U.S. reporter.

He did add that he hoped he would be wrong and NATO would eventually survive.

Hungary is an inspiration to America, first of all because it is not radical, it doesn’t make revolutions, it doesn’t make color revolutions, it knows what it is like, what its values are, what its culture is,”

Carlson noted. He said it is interesting that in America, think tanks “want to stop Hungary at the expense of American taxpayers’ money,” but Hungarian politics is moderate. “Nobody here is trying to kill each other, Hungarian politics is not revolutionary, it’s not crazy, and that’s wonderful, Hungary just wants to be left alone and do its own thing,” he continued.

Tucker Carlson Sends Video Message to CPAC Hungary
Tucker Carlson Sends Video Message to CPAC Hungary

Carlson said in the video that Hungary is "a free and decent and beautiful country that cares about its people, their families, physical landscape."Continue reading

As to what advice he would give to young people, Carlson said they should “read paper books, preferably every day,” because

schools change, universities today are godless places, but books don’t change, good books help you decide what’s true and what’s not.”

There was also a panel discussion between Miklós Szánthó (Director General of the Center for Fundamental Rights), András Pulai (Head of the Publicus Institute), and András Schiffer (lawyer, former Member of Parliament), moderated by Dániel Kacsoh (Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Mandiner), on the topic “The changing world order, Hungary’s place in the world.” Among the questions were whether the Russian-Ukrainian war is a turning point, where Europe’s place in the world order lies, and what Hungarian interests mean in this situation. According to Index,

there was such heated discussion about the Hungarian interest that the moderator had to calm the audience.

L-R: Moderator Dániel Kacsoh, Miklós Szánthó (Director General of the Center for Fundamental Rights), András Pulai (Head of the Publicus Institute), and András Schiffer (lawyer, former member of Parliament) dicussing the topic “The changing world order, Hungary’s place in the world” at MCC After. Photo: Facebook/Mandiner.

According to András Schiffer, the question of what constitutes a turning point in a historical process cannot be fathomed in the heat of the moment, but must be discussed later. He said, however, it is not just a question of a struggle between geographically describable regions, but

there is a wrestling match between global big business and the various nation states also.

András Pulai, head of the Publicus Institute, believes that the outbreak of the war will be seen as a historic turning point, but agrees with Schiffer that it is part of a process and will take years or decades to unravel. The analyst said that

Vladimir Putin will lose the war and his empire, listing Russia among the empires on their way down, together with China.

Miklós Szánthó recalled that “war is bad, peace is good.” He considers it a valid claim that the conflict could have remained local “if Russia had not miscalculated its military capabilities so much and if the West had not reacted so misguidedly and emotionally.” The Director General of the Center for Fundamental Rights also pointed out that the escalating war has made more visible the longer-standing processes that point to the fact that the balance of power that existed for a few decades has been upset, the U.S. near-hegemonic position is in decline, but this is not to say that the U.S. does not remain a superpower, only that it has challengers such as China and other emerging powers.

From this point of view,

Szánthó described the tendency to continue the war and to completely separate Europe from Russia dangerous, because this would push Moscow towards Beijing, which is a dangerous axis that poses a huge geopolitical challenge to a weakening Europe and the United States.

The Hungarian representation is about not looking first and foremost at what is in the best interests of the United States or China, but what is in Hungary’s interests. There is a real danger that a new division will be set in motion in world politics, and Hungary must move skilfully and develop a grand strategy, he added.

Schiffer argued:

I refuse to accept that either Hungary or the European continent should be the plaything of an imperialist empire. This must not be accepted.”

The lawyer wants the European Union to stand on its own feet and become an independent player. He also said that in the next 50 years, regardless of the leadership in Moscow, the future of Europe cannot be independent of the future of Russia, and Hungary has an interest in a strong European Union.

MCC Festival: Debate on the Conflict with the EU
MCC Festival: Debate on the Conflict with the EU

János Bóka noted that the conflict stems from differing views on the nature and functioning of the EU's "political" role.Continue reading

On whether Hungary’s isolation in Europe is an optical illusion, Szánthó said: “definitely.” He pointed out that political positions are changing: for decades, the left was accused of pacifism, the right of militant arrogance, and now he sees on the European political map that Hungary, led by the right, is pro-peace, while “the progressive European choir is pro-war.”

The position on war, multiculturalism, migration, gender ideology are all things the Hungarian right says no to. They are trying to show that Hungary has written itself off, but Hungary has not written itself off, it is still part of the West, it is just that it has remained normal,”

Szánthó said.

He concluded that it was in Hungary’s interest to maintain adequate relations with all political regions and geopolitical centres. Pulai pointed out that Hungary, as a member of NATO and the European Union, cannot remain at an equal distance from the West.

Featured image: Hungary Today


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