Well, for one, priests and their higher ups. Once they get into politics, they should, nay must lose tax exemption for getting into secular affairs.
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I can not, but is this an English version of the things I would miss about Your idiots because of my missing Hungarian?
People who elect Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene are not careless, they voluntarily want to be as despicable as possible. Hungary is sadly not dissimilar.
What policies make people who support a politician despicable? What crime or human rights violation have these politicians committed. On what basis do you call hundreds of thousands of people you donât know and donât even live near that they are despicable because they have a different belief than you? In our country we believe people have a right to their own opinions and can voice it through their elections. Do you think it despicable that people do not agree that the US should spend larger sums of money than Ukraine even has to help Ukraine? This is called a difference of opinion and they want to fix problems here rather than get involved in yet another overseas war. This is what a democracy is and I find it offensive that you expect everyone to agree on your basic argument and if they donât they are despicable.
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What about the crimes they plead for every day?
Actually they live all around them. He was talking about how many of these people live in his home country of Hungary and in case you missed the news, Hungary is, strangely I might add, the country many far right republicans have praised and lauded for some time now. To him the rethoric is no different to the one at home. If American politicians have something to say about Hungarian politicians, then he is very much at right to say something about it.
Also, itâs not the fact that people are entitled to an opinion that upsets us, itâs that they use it in the most horrific way possible.
The Hungarian goverment is telling its people (and the rest of the world) that they support Ukraine. But they act very much more like an ally of Russia.
What crime are you accusing them of? I know of many sleazy politicians but if you can show me a criminal violation they are saying should be committed please say what it is.
Let me give you an example: the US has laws on its books detailing how you do not cross into our country illegally. Officials in charge of this process ignore the laws. Is this correct? I donât agree with it but it is a policy question being decided by politicians and ultimately courts and voters. Does this make voters despicable? Not in my opinion but what would you say. Again, you are making a serious charge so please back it up.
People are not guilty for thinking a certain way but for acting a certain way. If you want to live in a world with thought police I will speak out against this every time. When someone writes or says something even horrific, refute them, argue with them, ridicule them but silence them?
Sadly this is not unique. Israel professed to be neutral, now they are talking about selling the Iron Dome to Ukraine. Hungary is still dependent on Russia for energy more than other states. Do I like their support for Russia? No, but from where I sit, they may be in a tough spot. Iâm not there so I will not judge them for that. Itâs not like they are shipping weapons or technology to Russia and I believe the EU gave them a waiver on energy purchases.
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That is a good idea when you have little information or motivation about the situation in a country. In case of my country any shortage of information is trumped by motivation. We are in a âtough spotâ in Germany, but watching âdenazificationâ by etnic cleansing and dehousing tells me, that I pay only with money, but the Ukrainians with suffering.
And Akos is right, reading âHungary Todayâ is eyebow raising.
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You know that I am pro helping Ukraine. In fact I would go farther. But in the case of the US I donât ask the question of what but why? This seems to be going backwards to incremental escalation like we did in Vietnam. During the war on Terror, we went with massive shock and awe tactics. I see a practical reason in that we are not actively fighting in Ukraine so we arenât using the weapons the US has prepared. Ultimately I suspect there is a strong element in the US that this is just another gravy train for arms industries. The tactics we are using leads to a bloodier longer and more profitable war. That to me is despicable but itâs not US blood so getting people to care is a hard sell.
Maybe the upshot is no nuclear war. The US tactics would probably force one. Is this worth what Ukrainians are going through? I donât know. I guess or I hope it is their call. I hope they are not just a corrupt puppet at this point. I donât think what we did to Vietnam was justified and itâs hard to argue that any country we have had troops in during the war on terror is in a better place.
I will agree with the OP, sorry for not spelling it out, the change and the fight Ultimately has to be done by Ukraine. God helps the suffering civilians. Oh and welcome to the forum!
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You hit the nail on the hand with your very first question: policies. Nobody whoâs being labeled as a firebrand Republican has ever run on policy, nor they need to. Corporate Republicans take care of actual policymaking, they are there to do political stunts. Among them is praying with a Capitol rioter who turned stateâs witness to actually avoid jailtime.
Actual policy would be if they said that they go to DC for the betterment of their district in a very detailed plan. As for respect of different opinions, voting is one of them, and curtailing that right to people with easy access on a car is not democratic.
Thereâs a geological mountain of difference between being critical of aid to another country and what theyâre doing which is trying to posit the US canât afford it and itâs not your fight. Had NATO existed during Pearl Harbor and Manila, the alliance would have declared war. Article 5 was activated after 9/11 and every member sent what it could. Those very same countries are now bordering a conflict that is at their doorstep in more ways than one. So yes, freedom of sppech allows for questioning why Ukraine should be helped on the condition that people accept lack of help will lead to NATO activel bordering Russia from Finland to Turkey, again.
As for Hungary. To give a historical comparison, for the most part thereâs the myth that Hungary and Poland always fought side by side. That is if you donât mind the 120 years occupation of Poland, or the fact how in 2 world wars they fought on opposing sides. The core question is was it necessary for Hungary to fall first into the Italian than German sphere of influence? We know that history doesnât happen in a vacuum, even allied countries became authoritarian, killing any possibility of trade with later Axis countries.
Yet that ignores the fact how jingoistic nationalism was the basis for the lack of trade. Today, Slovakia is a major trade partner to Hungary on paper. Scratch the surface and if you deduct shipping of automobile parts back and forth, cultural and culinary items used in both countries , thereâs barely any trade left. Meaning, most of this is either guaranteed or being initiated by multinational companies.
In other words the same regime that cared more about deporting Jews to Auschwitz while actively fighting the Red Army and quite a few willingly following them to Austria and Germany was also willing to hitch its wagon with the Nazis. It was not economic necessity. It was ideological.
Todayâs Germany is very much reliant on Russian fossil energy, yet what you donât and will not is faking beiçng neutral while actively avoiding steps against Russia. Beyond that, the government is actively punishing alternative energy. They created a law that forces energy companies to pay less for wind powered electricity than it does for coal, oil and gas. It is nonsense that the maintenance of nuclear reactors has to be done with Russia because nobody else knows. I think you could agree the US and France are very much on the up and up on how competitors work.
They also punish people who use solar panels and wish to redirect the overage back to the electrical system. The national energy company is required by law to shut poeople off from the grid who want to help out others by granting electricity free of charge. Independent small stations are slowly choked out of the market due to a price cap on gas. Rather thereâs a quantity cap too.
There would be no need if the free market existed and companies were allowed to diversify and buy from multiple sources to have at least 90 days in reserves. Ever since Vlad came to power they have ounished Ukraine at every turn when the elected leader wasnât pro-Kremlin. During Timoshevaâs reign in one winter they have completely cut off oil and gas to Ukraine citing alleged late payments.
I might and do disagree on Keystone XL, but at least itâs a try to lessen dependence on OPEC. Doing nothing for 12 years cannot be excused with âyeah these are pipelines we inheritedâ.
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Akos,
I do not want to be inpolite, but today your Germany is Hungary. Germany is not very much reliant on Russian fossils or faking neutral.
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I think Germany is doing as well as they can. I think they are too reliant on a non diverse energy portfolio. Solar is great except when the sun doesnât shine and wind is not good everywhere and sometimes doesnât blow (ask Texas). I believe green energy well maybe also nuclear are the future. You turn off oil and gas now you kill millions and without them you canât build your green technology. Germany doesnât get Russian gas now but they are finding sources that are much more expensive. Germans will suffer for this also
I keep hearing, this winter will be ok. The next winter is the real test.
Germany to me seems to be very committed to Ukraine. They are afraid of escalation though and maybe have German tanks fighting Russians is a picture they donât want the world to see. Germany also has an empty cupboard and canât just give everything. But many countries are helping and Germany is definitely a leader in this.
The Bundeswehr is in permanent contact with the Ukrainian army. Germany is not able to be good enough in support for the Ukrainians, but Germany is not sending overprized junk to make headlines for politicans.
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Not to beat a dead horse but the US has been at war for 20 years and there are a lot of people here who do not see it as our responsibility. They want the peace dividend they were promised. They want to see their problems here addressed. That discussion needs to be had and let the better argument win. Right now we are happily supporting Ukraine. If our recession worsens will it change? I doubt it seriously. We see how the Russians are trying to destroy Ukrainian society and we donât like it any more than Europeans.
You talk about political stunts. Politics has always been theatre way back at to antiquity. They can be ignored, look at the actions. Republicans have called for an audit of money to Ukraine. I hope it happens because corruption and war profiteering are also American institutions and happens every war. I get you donât like politicians making headlines but many of them do echo sentiments out there and many of them desire a time when our government wasnât collecting information on its citizens in the name of security
And itâs ok not to like our pipelines. I like them. It keeps ours and your economy moving. It takes a lot of gas to fill an Abrams or fuel a himars. We are expanding our LNG capacity quickly as Europe is a major customer now.
I hope Hungary is more enlightened than you say. Yes bad things happen in the past but honest and open discussion can only help.
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The displaying of the borders of the Lands of the Hungarian Crown by a Hungarian head of state is mayby honest, but it this is not a helpfull part of an open discusiion.
My sentence supposed to represent that despite how Gazprom Germania was very interested in keeping old Russian pipelines and hand their hand in propagating Nord 1 and Nord 2, thereâs no major drive to also have a deep and close connection to Russia.
Which is why I take no offense, when the Hungarian government willingly goes into bed with white nationalists and despots of failing state, then the shoe fits.
My problem rather is, that much like with WWII, there was no need. Interwar Hungary is sadly known as being a state that openly supported overturning the Treaty of Versailles, as they openly refused to acknowledge the existence of states around them. I wish that they were for actual piece and say they actually do support Ukraine due to shared history of occupation. Instead of what they are actually claiming, falsely no doubt, that Khrushchev was Ukrainian, and it was actually Ukraine that quelled the 1956 revolution. Worse still, Hungarian revolution refugees living in the US parrot the similar, even though they actually fought Russians.
Timothy Snyder, the Yale professor, isnât wrong the war also serves as deflection from inevitable internal changes. The US if for nothing else, but self interest should recognize that should Russia win, they will erect a new empire and the next phase will be claiming the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.
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That makes sense to people who have no clue about the soviet system, or pretending to have no memory.
Russia today declared that they have destroyed all operational Himars again. This has been the 11th time Russia has declared all Himars have been destroyed in Ukraine when in reality not one has been destroyed or even damaged by Russian fire which has been confirmed by the US military.
Even though most experts agree that Ukraine is winning the war it is coming at a high cost in not only lives lost but in those who have been wounded and soldiers and civilians who are suffering from PTSD and are having trouble functioning. Dozens of therapists, physiologists and other mental health professionals from around the world are in Ukraine or treating soldiers from Ukraine in their countries for the physiological effects of war, death of family(wife, children, husband etcâŚ.) the effects of constant shelling, scenes of death and so on. Unfortunately multiple generations will be affected by this war and while for the most part Ukrainians are positive and buoyant the long term effects will be felt for years to come.
For their part the Russians are denying that the mobliks (conscripts) are surrendering en masse. The Ukrainian surrender hotline is overwhelmed with calls not only from soldiers but their families as well asking how to surrender. As of right now the exact numbers are unknown but the Ukrainians had to open another camp to hold the POWs. Some western think tanks believe upwards of 30,000 conscripts and regular duty military have surrendered in the past 4 months.
According to the Red Cross and Amnesty international aside from a minority of cases POWs have been treated fairly and are well fed and clothed. Again numbers are not available but it is thought that when asked if they want to stay in Ukraine or traded back to Russia it is thought 15-25% of Russian POWs accept the offer.
It is rumoured that both Britain and the US are on the verge of sending long range munitions to Ukraine as the Ukrainians are pleading to be able to target military bases and airfields outside Ukrainian territory. Initially this was one of the conditions of western aid in that no western weaponry would be used to target Russian territory and Ukraine has honoured despite the Russian military saying otherwise. Ukraine is monitored 24/7 by NATO AWACS aircraft and they know exactly where and what each missile and trackable drone is doing with analysts pouring over the data round the clock.
The reason Ukrainians are asking for this is because Russia is moving both their command and aircraft out of Ukraine and into Russia and the Ukrainian military has made a good case for asking for long range munitions. According to sources if approved the Ukrainians must prove that they are targeting military targets and not civilian targets.
This could be a major game changer.
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Considering that Russia is using all this long range attacks to target Ukrainian civilian infrastructure to impose maximum hardship I too feel that it is past due to give more long range capability and the ok to target into Russia. Ukraine needs to be able to isolate the battlefield to have success on it.
It seems Russia has finally had some success near bahkmut. I heard that Ukrainian casualties are fairly high there but no word on Russian casualties which I would expect to be quite a bit higher to sustain the offensive. Very much ww1 style warfare. Not so much in static trench charges but in grinding down a side until it breaks and is VERY bloody.
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I have seen videos of the area which look like âNothing new from the western frontâ (Im Westen nichts Neues)
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz believes that Europe can get back to the pre-war âpeaceful orderâ with Russia and resolve âall common security issuesâ after the war in Ukraine, if Russian President Vladimir Putin abandons aggression against neighbouring states
He sounds like Neville Chamberlain proclaiming peace in our times.