Kiss the Carpathians Goodbye

Viktor Orban,  Hungary's prime minister and  amigo of Donald Trump, requires our attention.  Orban spends large amounts of his taxpayers’ money on nationwide billboard and media campaigns with fearmongering disinformation about migrants, LGBT people and European allies.  But wait - there's more.  Orban's political opponents, get only five minutes on public service TV every four years to talk about their hopes for the future of their country.

And still more.  With his two-thirds majority in parliament, Orban has changed Hungary's constitution 13 times.  Orban has taken control of the country’s media, using it to demonize the opposition and to smear imagined enemies. His crackdown on the media is a direct threat to a functioning democracy.

Corruption is widespread in Orban's Hungary, so much so that the EU froze funds to Hungary, as it became evident that EU funds were misused to award contracts to Orban’s allies. While some of those funds were released in December, a sizable amount remains frozen.  In addition, European Union institutions have initiated numerous legal proceedings against the Hungarian government and triggered a mechanism that could ultimately lead to Hungary being stripped of its voting rights in the EU.

The Hungarian government’s alignment with Russia has put the country on a collision course with the rest of the EU over Ukraine. Hungary tried to block EU support to Ukraine and obstructed Sweden’s NATO membership bid. 

What really hits home with Bodhi is that  Orban reportedly has designs on the Carpathian Mountains,  of the sort Putin exercised regarding Ukraine. - a sentimental longing for the region, once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both sides of my family came from the Carpathians, near the city of Uzhgorod.

Democracy is not, you should pardon the pun, free. It requires constant attention,   Hungary demonstrates how one leader can kick-start the deterioration of democracy.  When it comes to government of, by, and for the people, Viktor Orban is no hero. What has happened to Hungary should be a wake-up call for the U.S.