This is such an outstanding article. Brilliantly written and thank you for sharing. Extremely thought provoking on an issue that I know little about - polish politics. It’s striking how much influence the EU has upon nations in the EU zone with national matters that go against the EU. Politics is a dirty game.
Viktor Orbán seems to be viewed from the West as either an authoritarian quasi-fascist demagogue or the last hero standing between European civilization and the barbarian hordes, depending. He isn't really either of those.
I live in Hungary, and if anything will lead to Orbán's demise, it will be his own corruption, and that of his own Fidesz party. Even natural supporters (and I count myself as one of those) are starting to get fed up with the diversion of public funds into the hand of his cronies, the wilful neglect of the education and health systems, and the graft at all levels of government.
Even on immigration, the rhetoric is diverging further and further from the reality, with "guest workers" from Asia being brought in on the sly to satisfy industry's demand for cheap labour, while also doling out citizenship to foreigners with deep pockets.
On the flipside, emigration shows no signs of easing up. Since joining the EU, large number have left home for the richer EU nations for essentially economic reasons. However these are being joined more and more by people who leave for political reasons, who are disgusted with the corruption of Fidesz , and the stultifying negativity and lack of any hope that the regime projects. On top of this, the government's attempts to shore up population decline by incentivizing the formation of families have been inconclusive, at best.
I'm sure the global regime is waiting in the wings for Fidesz corruption to become so egregious that there will be a momentum of opposition sufficient for them to swoop and install something or someone more to their liking. It'll be a sad day when it comes, but I probably won't mourn it as much as I should.
It makes me wonder what the EU's response would be if one of its members were to go full Big Chin Man and just reform themselves to be an explicitly non-democratic form of government.
The idea of military intervention is laughable, so the only methods of attack they would have are economic or gay ops, both of which have a history of not working against strong central authority.
Even kicking the offending nation out of the EU might not be a good move for them, since doing so would not only lessen their influence over said nation but could even result in it seeking alliance with the EU's external enemies.
I guess my point is that the EUs seemingly monolithic power would be broken the moment someone who truly wasn't /theirguy/ got his hands on the wheel.
This is such an outstanding article. Brilliantly written and thank you for sharing. Extremely thought provoking on an issue that I know little about - polish politics. It’s striking how much influence the EU has upon nations in the EU zone with national matters that go against the EU. Politics is a dirty game.
Viktor Orbán seems to be viewed from the West as either an authoritarian quasi-fascist demagogue or the last hero standing between European civilization and the barbarian hordes, depending. He isn't really either of those.
I live in Hungary, and if anything will lead to Orbán's demise, it will be his own corruption, and that of his own Fidesz party. Even natural supporters (and I count myself as one of those) are starting to get fed up with the diversion of public funds into the hand of his cronies, the wilful neglect of the education and health systems, and the graft at all levels of government.
Even on immigration, the rhetoric is diverging further and further from the reality, with "guest workers" from Asia being brought in on the sly to satisfy industry's demand for cheap labour, while also doling out citizenship to foreigners with deep pockets.
On the flipside, emigration shows no signs of easing up. Since joining the EU, large number have left home for the richer EU nations for essentially economic reasons. However these are being joined more and more by people who leave for political reasons, who are disgusted with the corruption of Fidesz , and the stultifying negativity and lack of any hope that the regime projects. On top of this, the government's attempts to shore up population decline by incentivizing the formation of families have been inconclusive, at best.
I'm sure the global regime is waiting in the wings for Fidesz corruption to become so egregious that there will be a momentum of opposition sufficient for them to swoop and install something or someone more to their liking. It'll be a sad day when it comes, but I probably won't mourn it as much as I should.
I shall be doing a piece on Hungary also at some point, but I do know of the problems you speak of.
I'll look forward to it!
It makes me wonder what the EU's response would be if one of its members were to go full Big Chin Man and just reform themselves to be an explicitly non-democratic form of government.
The idea of military intervention is laughable, so the only methods of attack they would have are economic or gay ops, both of which have a history of not working against strong central authority.
Even kicking the offending nation out of the EU might not be a good move for them, since doing so would not only lessen their influence over said nation but could even result in it seeking alliance with the EU's external enemies.
I guess my point is that the EUs seemingly monolithic power would be broken the moment someone who truly wasn't /theirguy/ got his hands on the wheel.
I'm afraid the model to follow there would be a Ukrainian stlye colour revolution or a Serbia stlye bombing campaign.
They have done both coups & bombing in Europe since the 1990s.
It's not unthinkable.