Posted on 09/24/2014 10:42:35 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi
Hungary reacted angrily Wednesday after U.S. President Barack Obama singled out the EU member state for trying to muzzle civil society groups.
In a short statement, Hungary's foreign ministry said Obama's comments, made Tuesday in a speech in New York, were "not based on facts."
"The Hungarian people are a freedom-loving people, and would not tolerate any restrictions on their freedom," it said.
Speaking at the Clinton Foundation, Obama had said: "From Hungary to Egypt, endless regulations and overt intimidation increasingly target civil society."
Obama also accused Russia, China, Venezuela, Azerbaijan, and Egypt of intimidating civil organizations.
Since June, Hungarian authorities have investigated some 60 non-governmental organizations funded from abroad and suspected of "meddling in Hungarian politics" and criminal activity.
In July, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been accused of leading Hungary on an authoritarian slide since he took power in 2010, labeled NGOs "paid foreign activists".
Earlier this month the U.S. representative at a gathering of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the probes "appear to be aimed at suppressing critical voices and restricting the space for civil society to operate freely."
I’d bet that some of the organizations to which Hussein refers are sodomite “rights” groups.
Gosh, that actually sounds a lot like his misadministration, must be projection.
What exactly are “civil society groups?”
Dear Hungary,
Our president is an @$$hole. Sorry.
Signed, 1 pissed off American.
They are. Hungary has clamped down on primarily Norwegian NGO’s promoting everything from the FEMEN agenda to child pornography.
To be honest though, I very much doubt Viktor Orban gives a damn what the Obola virus thinks
~Azerbaijan, and Egypt of intimidating civil organizations~
No crap. They dare to oppose Al-Qaeda and Muzzie Bros! Didn’t they know whom Obama promised to stand for?
As the spell-checker would say, what a Buddha pest...
Endless regulations? Overt intimidation?
I remember a little saying from grade school about every time you point three fingers point back at you.
Hungary has also codified the unborn as protected life in their constitution, which really irks the rest of abortion-on-demand Europe.
Orban also just kicked out the IMF from Hungary after paying back their debts on the basis that Hungarian-owned banks can fund Hungary’s economy without international meddling.
Very difficult language! I am trying to learn, but from pronunciation to word construction, you must forget everything you know about other languages.
Precisely. Though the Constitutional Amendment is really just words for now, as abortion remains a wide-scale practice, putting that in the constitution is a precursor to its eventual abolition.
Hungary has bitten the bullet that Greece refused to bite, and prepared itself for a future without the European Union. Its a tough uphill battle, but they are largely through the worst of it now. Orban has done his country a huge favor.
Hungarian is said to be very hard to learn. It is not an Indo-European language so not related to the Germanic, Romance, or Slavic languages. It is distantly related to Finnish and Estonian and to a few obscure languages in Siberia. Very few words look like the equivalent words in most European languages. The English word “coach” derives from the name of a Hungarian town, and the word “goulash” comes from Hungarian. The Hungarian word “nagy” (pronounced “nodge”) means “big” and is sometimes found as a surname, as in Imre Nagy, the hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
It is good to see fellow Magyars posting here!
It's his way of honoring Rosh Hashanah.
Did he ever make that critticism when his Mulim Brotherhood toady was in charge in Egypt and destroying every institution of civil society in sight?
He should have included Washington DC in that based on his administrations abuse of citizens' political rights.
In the United States targeted foreign NGO support comes from the government through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), USAID, and rich leftists like Pierre Omidyar and George Soros.
Szervusz! No need to learn Hungarian, they are eager to learn English.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.