Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban can’t stop talking about President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine. He appears to have adopted a "wag the dog" strategy to hold onto power by instilling popular fear.
[Ed. Note: This article is part of an experimental DBAN feature based on a mailing by a DB alumni colleague.
The press is under assault from authoritarian regimes and interests around the world. Our intent with this Free Press section is to call out the repressive regimes and report the journalists' stories with links to the sources.
If you have information about repression of journalists, hie thee to thy typing machine and sent us an article (please write first via the contact form with a summary). If you have a screenshot (<1 mbyte please) of the front page of the source, so much the better. We will build an album in our gallery describing the respective publication (PREVIEW). Members' submissions may be credited with a by-line. Naturally all submissions are subject to review and approval by the editors.]
The press is under assault from authoritarian regimes and interests around the world. Our intent with this Free Press section is to call out the repressive regimes and report the journalists' stories with links to the sources.
If you have information about repression of journalists, hie thee to thy typing machine and sent us an article (please write first via the contact form with a summary). If you have a screenshot (<1 mbyte please) of the front page of the source, so much the better. We will build an album in our gallery describing the respective publication (PREVIEW). Members' submissions may be credited with a by-line. Naturally all submissions are subject to review and approval by the editors.]
Just in the past few weeks, the Hungarian strongman called the war-torn country an "enemy" and accused its leadership of blackmail, deception, and election interference. Orban even deployed troops to defend Hungary's energy infrastructure against a claimed Ukrainian threat.
Hungary's leader is "desperately losing" his pre-election fight, Pavel Havlicek, a research fellow at the Association for International Affairs in Prague, told the Kyiv Independent.
To avert defeat, he is "picking external fights," seeking to mobilize Hungarian voters against Ukraine while also pointing the finger at the domestic political opposition, the expert says.
Kyiv Independent