What on earth is happening here? It looks to me as though Donald Tusk is either (1) warning Viktor Orban that a flock of cranes is about to swoop down on them, or (2) telling him that the Man Upstairs is not happy with his recent political activities.

I vote for the latter.

It doesn’t require a great deal of insight to reach that conclusion. Orban is well known to be the most Kremlin-friendly of all of the leaders in the EU. He has been selling himself to Vladimir Putin as the person who is best suited to negotiate a settlement of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and has even — without EU knowledge or approval — engaged in some one-man shuttle diplomacy, traveling to Moscow, Kyiv and Beijing to promote his absurdly egotistical notion.

And he has formed a coalition of like-minded fellow EU members, calling themselves Patriots for Europe, to attempt to reformulate a Habsburg-like empire to lead their idea of a new, extreme-nationalist Europe.

Is it any wonder, then, that tensions have arisen among the EU members, and most particularly between Hungary and Poland, which — like most European nations — is a staunch, supportive ally of Ukraine.

Last weekend, Orban threw down the gauntlet to Poland:

“The Poles are pursuing the most sanctimonious and the most hypocritical policy in the whole of Europe. They are lecturing us morally, criticizing us for our economic relations with Russia, and at the same time they are doing business with the Russians and buying oil indirectly, and running the Polish economy with it.” [Vanessa Gera and Balint Domotor, Associated Press, July 30, 2024.]

And the response on Sunday from Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski pulled no punches:

“We do not do business with Russia, unlike Prime Minister Orban, who is on the margins of international society — both in terms of European Union and NATO.” [AP, id.]

Note that, while Poland — like a number of other European nations — was once dependent on Russian energy, it has been weaning itself off of Russian oil and gas for years. [AP, id.]

Orban’s relations with both Russia and China, and his recent unsanctioned travels to both countries, have brought about a boycott by top EU officials of meetings being hosted by Hungary during its current six-month rotating term as president of the EU.

Poland’s Bartoszewski had more to say:

“If you don’t want to be a member of a club, you can always leave. I don’t really understand why Hungary wants to remain a member of organizations [referencing the EU and NATO] that it doesn’t like so much and which supposedly treat it so badly.” [AP, id.]

And so it goes.

*. *. *

When I visited Budapest in 1990, it was a country newly separated from Soviet rule, happily reestablishing itself as an independent, democratic nation. I freely strolled through the city; enjoyed a private tour of the magnificent Parliament building; traveled by boat to the artists’ enclave at Szentendre; ate goulash by the ton; and talked with lawyers and others about Hungary’s bright future.

It is sad to see it now turning in a dangerous direction. But it is still more worrisome to consider the possibility that other European leaders might possibly join with Orban in his misguided attempt to reinvent a failed empire.

I can only hope that the failure will be his.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/1/24