Tag: Central Europe

Little Fascist Came To Town

Our Beloved Supreme Leader seems to have this unnatural love for authoritarian little toads….PDRK’s Kim, Putin, the Saudi killers and now Hungary’s little fascist, Orban….

Viktor came to town to meet another demagogue in waiting……Trump welcomes a leader that is having a war on democracy….something Trump seems to be trying here in the good old US of A……

President Donald Trump will welcome Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to the White House on Monday, in what sounds like a routine reception for a foreign head of state. In reality, it’s something else: a meeting between two like-minded illiberal leaders, men at the forefront of the campaign to undermine Western democracy from within.

Hungary today looks like a democracy — there are still elections, and dissidents aren’t jailed. But since winning the country’s 2010 election, Orbán has subtly consolidated power and rendered elections almost impossibly unfair. He and allies of his political party, Fidesz, control nearly all of Hungary’s media; he manipulates the state’s economic powers to weaken potential rivals and empower his cronies. Widespread anti-immigrant sentiment, kicked off by the 2015 refugee crisis, has become a key propaganda tool Orbán uses to legitimize his power grabs.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/5/13/18564378/donald-trump-viktor-orban-white-house-visit-2019

Or maybe this look at the dictator-in-waiting……

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/13/cozy-visit-far-right-autocrat-denounced-trump-praises-tremendous-job-hungarys-viktor

This is an interesting piece and food for thought……

What characterizes American government today is not so much dysfunctional politics as it is ruthlessly contrived governance carried out behind the entertaining, distracting and disingenuous curtain of political theater. And what political theater it is, diabolically Shakespearean at times, full of sound and fury, yet in the end, signifying nothing.

Played out on the national stage and eagerly broadcast to a captive audience by media sponsors, this farcical exercise in political theater can, at times, seem riveting, life-changing and suspenseful, even for those who know better.

Week after week, the script changes (Donald Trump’s Tweets, Congress’ hearings on Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, the military’s endless war drums, the ever-widening field of candidates for the 2020 presidential race, etc.) with each new script following on the heels of the last, never any let-up, never any relief from the constant melodrama.

D Is for a Dictatorship Disguised as a Democracy

Birds of a feather crap together!

Was That A Bribe?

AS I was doing my morning reading and research I came across a bold headline that caught my attention……”Poland Offers US $2 Billion”…….after that title I had to breakdown and read the article……

Poland has long expressed interest in securing a permanent deployment of foreign troops from a NATO member nation. The Polish Defense Ministry has confirmed that they are willing to pay the US up to $2 billion if it is an American base.

Defense Ministry officials say that there is a “clear and present need” for Poland to have a permanent US armored division in their country, and that they are willing to help defray the cost of deployment with the money. They say this will make the deployment more “cost effective.”

In reality Poland, like most developing countries, sees a US base as both a guarantee of more US military support, and an economic boon for the surrounding area. They seem to be assuming that President Trump’s long insistence that NATO nations pay a “fair share” will make him amenable to this proposal

http://theantimedia.com/poland-offers-2-billion-military-base/

Okay Poland wants a permanent base, why?

We already have those bases in Germany and Poland is not that far away so why does Poland want the base….for protection?  Why?

There is a “NO” side to this situation…….

What makes NATO the most successful military alliance in history is the cohesion of its members. Any policy that risks undermining that should be examined with a highly critical eye.

Establishing a permanent U.S. military presence in Poland, as has been reportedly requested by the Polish government, is exactly one of those cases. Such a move should only be taken if consensus can be achieved among all our allies that it would enhance deterrence and improve the overall security situation for NATO.

That is unlikely to happen — and with good reason.

https://www.politico.eu/article/dont-put-us-bases-in-poland/

I agree……… I do not see the need for another base in Poland….plus I do not like the idea of a bribe to  influence our foreign policy……as bad as it is these days.

Should the US accept the bribe and put a permanent deployment of American troops in Poland?

What Happened To Czechoslovakia?

This country no longer exist….after the fall of the Soviet Union this nation soon divided along ethnic lines into the Czech Republic and Slovakia….but before that it was a proving ground for nations.

It became an independent country after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War One.  Form a couple of decades Czechoslovakia hummed along as an independent nation and then Hitler pops up and starts dismantling the country pieced by piece until it was swallowed by Hitler’s growing little empire………and then the Nazis were defeated and Czechoslovakia once again was an independent country but not for long….the Red Army liberated the country and it came to pull the nation into the sphere of Soviet influence.

Could the US have saved Czechoslovakia from the horrors of being A Soviet satellite?  Good question with an answer…..

It is often taken for granted that all European nations involved in the early Cold War, save Germany, fell naturally onto one side of the Iron Curtain or the other. Yet Czechoslovakia was not pre-ordained to become part of the Soviet sphere. There were multiple opportunities for the United States to influence its position on the political map of Europe.

Czechoslovakia emerged from the Second World War unaligned. Hitler and Stalin had not allocated it in the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Stalin and Churchill had not included it in their secret 1944 ‘percentages’ deal, which designated spheres of influence in eastern and southern Europe. The victorious Allies had not discussed its orientation at Yalta or Potsdam. Both the Soviets and the Americans had liberated it. But whatever cards Washington had to play, diplomatically and militarily, it gave most of them up in 1945.

https://www.historytoday.com/benn-steil/who-lost-czechoslovakia

As you read Czechoslovakia was not inevitably going to be part of the Soviet sphere….it took America to play fast and loose with the destiny of another country.

The Pendulum Swings

Does anyone remember the Cold War?

The year is 1968–I was on my first tour of duty in Vietnam (9th Inf Div, Mekong Delta) and another event was taking place……the Prague Spring as the MSM had labelled it….

In 1968, with their political, economic and social problems reaching critical mass, the communist party of Czechoslovakia replaced Novotny as Party Leader with Alexander Dubcek. Dubcek pushed practical reforms across the board, not only for Czechoslovakia but for the Warsaw Pact (the Soviet answer to NATO) as well. Dubcek’s reforms would, as he put it, put “a human face” on socialism. He established “a humanistic socialist democracy which would guarantee, among other things, freedom of religion, press, assembly, speech, and travel” Dubcek also pushed to improve relations with every nation in the world, regardless of the social and political affiliations; as a result, Dubcek’s popularity with the people of Czechoslovakia grew immensely. His popularity, however, did not extend to the other nations of the Warsaw Pact.

On the night of August 20, 1968, troops from Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria, East Germany, and Poland occupied Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovakian government immediately declared that the “invasion was a violation of socialist principals, international law, and the United Nations Charter.” (1) During the occupation, those who initiated and supported the liberal reforms were forcibly removed to the Soviet Union in secrete and “were compelled to sign a treaty that provided for the “temporary stationing” of an unspecified number of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia.”1 On April 17th 1969, Dubcek was replaced as First Secretary by Gustav Husak and later was, along with many of his followers, stripped of party affiliation in a purge that slashed party membership by over a third.

http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/CzechoslovakiaUprising.asp

You see Ducek had wanted to install more democracy and some economic reforms to his country…..the USSR took exception to these changes and invaded and occupied and the reforms died an instant death.

I bring this history lesson light because the democracy pendulum is beginning to swing again this time to the LEFT.

Prague in the Czech Republic is experiencing the swing….the Communists are making head way in the politics…..

When the United States, Britain and France bombed Syria earlier this month, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis showed support for his Western partners one day before rowing back the next.

The military strike turned from “inevitable” to an act described as changing nothing after Babis was rebuked by the far-left Communist party, showing the fine line the billionaire businessman is walking as he tries to form a government.

Babis is aiming for a pro-Western administration but political fragmentation in October’s election means he needs the pro-Russian Communist party to either support it or abstain, ending the party’s pariah status since communism fell in 1989.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-czech-politics-communists/new-dawn-or-swan-song-czech-communists-eye-slice-of-power-after-decades-idUKKBN1I11BF

Interesting how the political pendulum is swinging to the Left…..fascinating…….

Is Hungary Shaking The Pillars Of The EU?

There is a row going on in Central Europe among the member of the EU and NATO…..Hungary is in the process of having its elections……

With Hungarians headed to the polls on Sunday to vote in parliamentary elections, most analysis of the country’s political situation has revolved around the country’s alleged turn away from Western-style democracy. Yet while the debate rages on at institutional and political parties level, public opinion research indicates that the reality is far more complex.

While many assume that the turn toward populism and warmer relations with the Kremlin under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is bringing Hungary into Russia’s orbit, a recent poll by the International Republican Institute indicates that the majority of Hungarians continue to support key transatlantic institutions like the EU and NATO.Alhough the key to the country’s political alignment ultimately remains in the hands of its national elite, the preservation of the status quo is to some extent up to the West, which must redouble its efforts to keep Hungary in the transatlantic fold.

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/hungarians-head-polls-will-european-allegiance-suffer

With the election finalized and the winner is Orban….what will there be for the future of Hungary?

Viktor Orbán’s victory in Hungary’s recent parliamentary election was not fair and he is not going to play nice in his third consecutive term. Those who are worried about the fate of democracy in Hungary have to get used to that reality and get to work quickly.

Protest marches in Budapest, like the one we saw on Saturday, might fulfil an important therapeutic role but they are no substitute for effective political action.

Although Mr Orbán is a talented and ruthless politician, his takeover has been more than helped by the opposition’s divisions, incompetence and lack of leadership. Mass protests ring more than a bit hollow considering that a few days ago Mr Orban’s Fidesz party gained a two-thirds majority in a free and non-fraudulent (though unfair) parliamentary election, at a record-high turnout.

https://capx.co/hungarys-opposition-face-an-uphill-battle-against-authoritarianism/

The EU is calling for sanctions against Hungary…….

The EU should launch a sanctions procedure against Hungary because of a “clear risk of a serious breach” of the bloc’s basic values, a draft report by a European Parliament (EP) committee published on Thursday (12 April) said.

The report detailed the curtailed rights of the constitutional court, stricter control over the courts, the curbing of freedom of expression, a biased media council, the financing of newspapers through state advertisement, the threat to academic freedom, and the rights of migrants as some of the issues where the report concluded a serious deterioration in fundamental rights and the rule of law.

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/content/draft-eu-report-calls-sanctions-hungary

Hungary bears watching for future events and situations…..

A “Trojan Horse”

Remember the gag gift the Greeks gave the Trojans?

Every deceitful move in conflict studies is called a “Trojan Horse”…..a way for a war to start from a not so important event….

The M-IC is using some war games the Russian will do in September to push a narrative…..

Russia is staging war games in Belarus in September, but US officials and US allies in the area are concerned the country’s real aim is to bring military equipment into the country and leave it there. “People are worried this is a Trojan horse. They say, ‘We’re just doing an exercise,’ and then all of a sudden they’ve moved all these people and capabilities somewhere,” the head of US Army forces in Europe tells Reuters. He says NATO officials will be watching the Zapad 2017 exercise closely for that reason. Some allies think the exercise will involve nuclear weapons training and could utilize more than 100,000 troops, which would make it the largest such exercise since 2013, the Guardian reports.

The official did note that there are no indications Russia really is planning such a “trojan horse,” but called for more transparency from the country as to the size and scope of the war games in order to ease concerns. A senior Russian diplomat says Moscow has no plans to leave military equipment in Belarus, and says the concern from NATO is just “artificial buffoonery” over routine war games that is “aimed at justifying the sharp intensification of the NATO bloc (activities) along the perimeter of Russian territory.” NATO is also keeping a close eye on war games in the Baltic Sea taking place July 24-31; Chinese warships were to join the Russian navy there Friday.

There is NO proof that this is a Trojan Horse plan….but the war hawks will make sure that it is highlighted….I am sure there will be requests for more resources during the time period of the games….

Words and then actions…..is the US and Russia headed to a confrontation?

The situation may have to get worse before cooler heads start to prevail.

What happens when an under-staffed, under-experienced, and under-managed presidency, under siege by domestic opponents, is faced with an escalating crisis with a nuclear superpower? We could well find out soon, because powerful forces in both Russia and the United States appear to be itching for a fight.

Source: Are Russia and America Headed for a Showdown? | RealClearWorld

Stuff like this is what keeps Americans worried about another conflict in which we must participate.

Women in the North Caucasus Conflicts: An Under-reported Plight

I have been watching the events unfolding in the Caucuses….if war is to come then this will be a good place for the world to try the 2 failures of the past once again….

Women have it tough around this globe and few seem to care little about their plight…..

Women in the Russian republic of Chechnya have never been under such pressure as they are today. Yet not much has been written about their role, their place in society, and their rights in Chechnya and in other North Caucasus conflicts.

For more than two decades since 1994, the armed conflict between Russian federal forces and the insurgencies of the North Caucasus has been among Europe’s deadliest, churned by a vicious circle of unresolved religious and ethnic tensions, brutal counter-insurgency, lack of democratic procedures, social inequality, and bad governance. Instability and war resulted in a dramatic erosion of state capacity, weakened state institutions and the increased prominence of traditional and religious practices and intolerant ideologies.

Source: Women in the North Caucasus Conflicts: An Under-reported Plight | Crisis Group

If you fight for women’s rights then fight for all women…..

Regional Conflict Brewing in Azerbaijan, Armenia

I love to use the 4 most beautiful words in the English language…..”I told you so”…..

I have written en op-ed for my friends at Legationes about the region in question…..which is a paper that I researched several years ago……and it is good to see that my predictions are getting close to realization…..well not good but rather interesting……(read more)…..

There is a theory in international relations called the linchpin theory….basically, it is an occurrence, a small occurrence, that could explode into a society ending situation……a couple of good examples are WW1 and the Arab Spring…..

Source: Looking for the linchpin – Legationes

By Brandon Turbeville Regardless of which side you choose to listen to in the Armenian/Azeri conflict, one thing everyone can agree on is that the ceasefire is not holding. The regularly ignited di…

Source: Regional Conflict Brewing in Azerbaijan, Armenia

The events in this situation are starting to accelerate…..the question is….how much damage will this event do?  Could this becoming a wider conflict?  Will the major powers become involved?

Could this be the linchpin I have been looking for or is it just a minor thing that will get worked out in the end?