Free Republic

Consider a thought experiment. Imagine the US Congress paid a freshman representative his full salary, gave him immunity from criminal prosecution, and then quietly arranged for him to skip 98% of all floor votes so that no voter could ever discover what he actually believed. Now imagine that same representative ran for governor on the promise that he was “just like the incumbent, minus the corruption,” while powerful institutions spent billions creating the conditions for his victory. You would call that election interference. When the European Union did precisely this in Hungary, the Western press called it democracy. On...

See that guy above? His name is Akos, and I’ve been seeing him around ever since I moved to Hungary. Big man with a big heart, loves Orban. There he was last night at the Fidesz Party’s election gathering, bathed in orange light (orange is the party color), waiting for the first election results to come in. (snip) The thing is, Magyar is not a figure of the political Left, which remains unpopular in Hungary. What he basically offered voters is “Orban, but without the corruption.” On the key issues that infuriate Brussels about Orban’s Hungary — his hardline on...

JD Vance will visit Hungary on Tuesday in an 11th-hour attempt to boost key MAGA ally Prime Minister Viktor Orbán before an all-important election on Sunday, but the U.S. vice president’s trip appears unlikely to swing an increasingly bitter race. Orbán says he is “looking forward” to Vance’s trip, and with a Budapest press conference and a flag-waving rally at a 24,000-seat football stadium on Tuesday will be attempting to seize what momentum he can from it. For the Hungarian prime minister it’s a singular opportunity to portray himself as the Trump administration’s pre-eminent European ally. For the White House,...

Ukrainian forces managed to liberate over 200 square kilometers of territory from the Russian troops last week, marking their most successful breakthrough in 2.5 years, AFP reports. According to the outlet, these gains are confirmed by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Between February 11 and 15, Ukrainian troops recaptured 201 square kilometers from Russian forces. AFP reports that Ukrainian soldiers took advantage of disruptions in Russian access to Starlink terminals.