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What is happening in Brussels today is a tune-up for Europe's entry into war, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday on Kossuth Radio's Good Morning Hungary programme. Orbán described the strengthening of the country's self-defence capabilities as a necessity.
The Prime Minister said that he has been reading the memoirs and diaries for several months now and finds the similarity of the current situation to the preparations for the First and Second World Wars alarming; politicians and the media played an active role in them then.
"What is happening today in Brussels and Washington - perhaps more in Brussels than in Washington - is a kind of tuning up for a possible direct military conflict. We can call it a series of preparations for Europe's entry into war," he said. At the same time, Orbán was of the opinion that the existence of armies is a necessity that does not in itself lead to war, because the cause of most wars is weakness. He said that if a country believes that another country, whose territory and economy it seeks, is not capable of defending itself, it may be overwhelmed by the instincts and desires to acquire the territory and economic resources of that other country for itself. There is only one remedy for this, he continued, the country that has been chosen as a victim must be strong enough to defend itself, and therefore force - an army - is necessary to prevent war. He added that this is why it is said that if you want peace, you must prepare for war; not to wage war, but "to keep the peace." The Prime Minister therefore stressed that we need an army, soldiers, preparations and strengthening of our self-defence capabilities. He said that it is a big enough problem that Hungary has not had them for a long time, and even now our capabilities are not yet complete, because our national army is not yet strong enough, but they are well on the way to being strengthened.
Orbán raised the question of whether Russia will stop when it defeats Ukraine. The Prime Minister is of the opinion that the Russian army is waging a serious and difficult war against the Ukrainians and is unable to defeat them; that is, it is a long-term war. According to him, NATO's strength cannot be compared with Ukraine's, "it is a hundredfold, but it can be a thousandfold". "So I don't think it's a logical assumption that Russia - which is not even capable of defeating Ukraine - would come out of nowhere and engulf the entire Western world," he said, adding that the chances of anyone daring to attack a NATO member state are very small.
He stressed that NATO has made it clear that it is a defensive alliance and will not tolerate any military action that would violate the sovereignty of any NATO member state. Orbán sees the references to the Russian threat as preparatory manoeuvres in preparation for Europe or the West entering the war. The prime minister pointed out that instead of seeing the conflict as a war between two Slavic nations and isolating it as such, Western Europeans identify the conflict as their own. He added that the changes in the German attitude illustrate how month by month we are getting closer and closer to war. There is now talk in some countries of destroying Russian military equipment in Ukrainian airspace or stepping, if not onto the front line, then onto Ukrainian territory, he noted.
In the light of European history, this is a communication operation in preparation for a war campaign, he affirmed, pointing out that no one is able to say the length or cost of the path that would lead to the success of a European strategy linked to war. How long are we going to do this, how many more weapons and money are we going to send, he asked. This will slowly lead to a clash between NATO, the European Union and Russia, which is a nuclear power, he warned, adding that it raises "the darkest visions".
According to him, Hungary is in an extremely difficult situation at the moment; we are a country that insists on respecting the NATO treaty and the public consensus defining NATO's mission. NATO is a defence alliance that was created so that if one of its members is attacked, the others will come to its aid, he recalled. There is nothing in the treaty about NATO conducting military operations outside its territory or engaging in war with countries outside the alliance, he stressed. At the same time, everyone seems to be in some other future, and today military planning is underway in Brussels. There are teams working hard to work out how NATO could take part in a Russian-Ukrainian war, Orbán said.
Describing the situation in Hungary, the Prime Minister said that we are on all these committees as a member of NATO, but we do not agree with their activities. We do not want to be involved in the conflict either financially or with arms support, even under the auspices of NATO. He noted that a new term has been invented in NATO for the Hungarian position; it is called 'non-aligned'. He added that we have not yet opted out, because if we did, our involvement in the NATO military structure would change.
Mr Orbán said that he did not know how long this situation could be maintained; Hungary must therefore redefine its position within the military alliance. He indicated that he was trying hard to determine how Hungary could exist as a NATO member without participating in NATO operations outside the military alliance. Hungarian diplomacy must find a solution, and this is "a question of art", a new description, a new definition must be created, the prime minister stressed.
In a radio interview, Orbán also spoke about the fact that the Hungarian people believe that the upcoming European elections will be about war and peace. Of course, it will also be about migration and traditional family values, but the issue of war is taking precedence over all other important issues, he added. The Prime Minister warned that posterity could say that this European election was the one that decided the issue of war and peace, adding that in addition to the European elections, the November elections in the United States would also be such an election.
He noted, however, that war not only causes suffering, but also brings profits to the war industry and arms dealers. Behind the pro-war forces there are also those who have insider knowledge of the war and who speculate - meaning venture capitalists - rather than producing weapons, and this is where George Soros "excels", he suggested. There are politicians who can be bought, such as members of the Hungarian left who receive money from the West in every election campaign - coming from pro-war money pipelines, Orbán said, adding that it is no wonder that the Hungarian left is - contrary to the will of the left-wing voters - pro-war. However, he does not understand why similar views are shared by the leaders of major European countries.
The roots of the most serious problems of life in Europe - such as demographic decline or the issue of migration - can be traced back to the wars. In fact, he said, every European cotton wool is also a Europe-wide civil war in which white Christians exterminate each other. No wonder the European Christian world, which once had a dominant influence on the rest of the world and was able to resist migration, is now unable to do so, he noted, adding that tens of millions of people are missing from the European continent because our soldiers have died in wars. In the last 100 to 150 years, every European war has caused losses to pretty much everyone, he recalled.
When asked how to compete with the circles that are interested in continuing the war, the Prime Minister replied that the people are, the voice of the people is the last resort, because Europe is a democracy after all. He also pointed out that today, if someone does something that is good for the people, it is immediately branded as populist on the European stage, because in Brussels politicians are expected to espouse ideologies. He added that high ideals are necessary, but they cannot be more important than the people themselves.
Hungary is basing its strategy on the assumption that the number of people who want peace and do not support their own governments in their ongoing war campaign will increase in the upcoming European elections. He stressed that he would be satisfied if people could at least stop - with their votes - the process towards war. At the same time, he was of the opinion that this was only half the job, because "the other half will have to be accomplished so that the same thing will happen in America", and then perhaps the Western world could "stop before it reaches the edge of the abyss".
According to Orbán, the European Commission's decision that Hungary will have to pay six million forints a day to Brussels for not being ready to accept migrants is not only shocking, but it is making his blood boil. "How dare anyone tell Hungarians who to let in?" He added. "That's impossible. Absolutely impossible," the prime minister said, pointing out that while Hungary is protecting Europe and has already spent billions of euros on border protection, "Brussels is shooting it in the back". There is only one answer to this: we must tell the European leaders who take such decisions to go to hell, the prime minister said.
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