#Xi Jinping and Orban

[politikapolka]

[lgbtally4ever]

In case you’ve been living on Mars—

NEWS FLASH:

Trump admires dictators and covets their dictatorships!

And, PS:

NATO is the only thing standing between these dictatorships conquering Democratic countries outside their boundaries!

For Putin, Ukraine is only the beginning!

Xi Jin Ping would take over Taiwan (next).

Kim Jong Un wants to attack S. Korea and Japan.

These are dangerous times when an American ex-President, (and current, Presidential candidate), would end our ties with NATO, if he gets into the White House, again!

[bopinion]

Groundhog day political statements

Volodymyr Selenskyj thanks for solidarity - and asks for more heavy weapons.

Joe Biden demands that the Senate finally stops blocking.

Viktor Orban sees Hungary at a disadvantage.

Any German politician says LNG is only a temporary solution.

Vladimir Putin accuses the West of colonial aspirations.

Recep Erdogan says he doesn't feel taken seriously.

António Guterres makes desperate call for more climate action.

Xi Jinping forbids Western interference in Chinese affairs.

Boris Johnson says it's not his fault.

Ted Cruz has the opinion that... humm - who cares?

[head-post]

Xi celebrates warm relations with Hungary during latest stop on European visit

Chinese President Xi Jinping said mutual political trust provides a “solid foundation” for strengthening China-Hungary ties at a joint press conference with his host Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday, NBC News reports.

The two leaders signed 18 agreements with a focus on infrastructure projects. Xi and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held talks in the capital Budapest on the final stop of the Chinese leader’s five-day European tour, during which he also visited Serbia and France. In a press briefing after the talks, Orbán praised the “constant, uninterrupted friendship” between the two countries since he began his tenure as prime minister in 2010 and promised that Hungary would continue to welcome Chinese investment. Orbán said:

I would like to assure the president that Hungary will continue to provide fair conditions for Chinese companies investing in our country, and that we will create the opportunity for the most modern Western and the most modern Eastern technologies to meet and build cooperation in Hungary.

Xi said on Thursday that he and Orbán agree that the Belt and Road Initiative is “very much in line with Hungary’s strategy of opening up to the east” and that China supports Hungary to play a bigger role within the EU to promote China-EU relations.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó later said in a Facebook video that initial discussions had begun on China’s development of a freight railway bypassing Budapest and a rail link between the capital and Budapest’s Ferihegy airport.

Orbán noted during the press conference that three-quarters of investment in Hungary last year came from China and spoke about Beijing’s role in the changing balance of power in the world.

Read more HERE

[theculturedmarxist]

The principal news items on Russian state television this evening were the reception Vladimir Putin was given by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and the succession of meetings that he had with other heads of state who are participating in the 10th anniversary celebrations of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

You won’t find a word about the Russian President’s visit to Beijing in this evening’s online New York Times, but the paper’s editorial board is slow to post news about Putin, probably waiting for the State Department to suggest the proper ‘spin.’ However, The Financial Times online gives Putin ‘front page’ coverage in two articles: one is an overview of his scheduled meetings and the other focuses on his talks with one leader in particular, prime minister Viktor Orban of Hungary.

Let us stop for a moment to consider what the FT wants us to know about Putin in Beijing.  And after that we can come back to the Russian coverage, which not only casts a different light on what you read in FT but provides a good deal more factual information to take in.

                                                                 *****

In keeping with its regular propagandistic journalism, the FT cannot print an article about Putin without reminding its readers what a pariah he is, a man pursued by international courts, a man who is isolated and weak. The title itself already sets the tone: “Vladimir Putin visits Beijing for first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Yes, they concede in the first paragraph that he arrived in China “for a high-level meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping,” but then take the air out of that by saying it was the Kremlin which described Putin as the ‘main guest’ at the event, not their own reporter on the ground in Beijing.

Two lines down we read: “The Russian leader cut back his foreign travel after the war in Ukraine began and until last week had not left the country since a war crimes indictment from the International Criminal Court in March.”  We are reminded that Putin skipped the G20 meetings in Indonesia and in India in September.

Thus, almost half the article is spent telling us about where Putin has not traveled to and nothing about this visit to Beijing.

Moving on, the authors speak about how “Russia had become increasingly dependent on China as an economic lifeline” ever since the launch of its Special Military Operation and imposition of sanctions by the West. This is a quote from a former political adviser at the European parliament who is now with a university in Taiwan. The same expert completes the downgrading of Russia by explaining that it is the ‘junior partner’ in the relationship with China.

After kicking the tires of the Belt and Road Initiative in general for having to renegotiate or write off $79 billion in bad loans, the authors give us four lines at the end that actually contain some news, of which I quote two below:

“Putin met Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban and Vietnamese president Vo Van Thuong on Tuesday, ahead of further meetings with Thai, Mongolian and Laotian leaders.”

The space allotted to the close-up photo of Putin and Xi smiling complacently to one another at the head of the article is six times bigger than the actual news in the text of the article.

The separate article “Orban meets Putin in bid to ‘save everything possible’ in bilateral relations” might be said to be marginally better journalism though the same Max Seddon in Riga is a co-author of both. The editors have done their best to spoil everything by giving it the subtitle “European head is first western leader to meet Russian president since issue of war crimes warrant for his arrest.” Once again the big photo of Orban and Putin, clasping hands at their meeting, tells more than the text.

There are some of the same general reminders here of Putin’s alleged isolation and pariah status, but they are given more force by a quotation from the U.S. ambassador to Hungary condemning the meeting: “…Orban chooses to stand with a man whose forces are responsible for crimes against humanity in Ukraine…” 

The only neutral remarks in the article catalog the common business interests of Russia and Hungary, including natural gas supply and a nuclear power plant under construction by Rosatom.

                                                                 *****

Russian television news support the view that Putin is the main guest at the BRI gathering in Beijing by videos showing the entry of the participants to the state banquet this evening:  the procession is led by Putin and Xi side by side. Just behind them is Xi’s wife and Kazakhstan president Tokaev. The several dozen others follow behind.  Similarly in the video of all the leaders lined up for their group photo, Putin and Xi are together in the very center chatting to one another.  Questions anyone about who is who, and what is what?

Perhaps the Russians go overboard in stressing the great demand of other participants for one-on-one time with Putin at the large residence which the Chinese made available for holding these tête-à-têtes in discrete luxury. Pavel Zarubin, the host of the Sunday evening program Moskva, Kremlin, Putin is a master at showing off details like the line of limousines of leaders waiting outside for their time in the sun with Putin.

Aside from footage from the meeting with Orban, Russian television presented to viewers the public part of Putin’s meeting with the president of Laos, who opened the conversation speaking passable if heavily accented Russian. As we learned, he was studying at Leningrad University during the same years as Putin, though in a different department.  The Vietnamese president also made reference to studies in the Soviet Union in their opening remarks for the cameras.  His talks with Putin were likely about energy first of all since Gazprom is fairly active in the country. Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller is in the Russian delegation.  As for the meeting that Putin had with the interim president of Pakistan, who is an English speaker, we know that they discussed energy projects and deliveries of more than a million tons of Russian grain to Pakistan, presumably paid for in yuan. With the Mongolian president, Vesti tells us they discussed a new gas pipeline which apparently is intended to supply Mongolia itself and not only serve as a transit route to China.

However, from the Russian perspective these side meetings with other BRI Forum participants are small beer. What they are awaiting with great anticipation is the several hours tomorrow that Putin and Xi will spend one-on-one and then are joined by their respective delegations. We know that the situation in the Middle East is at the top of their agenda, with a secondary focus on the Ukraine war and remaining time devoted to further development of economic ties.

The one tantalizing tidbit that Russian news (Sixty Minutes) threw out to viewers is that whereas Putin returns to Moscow tomorrow evening, Foreign Minister Lavrov flies to North Korea for a meeting with Kim.

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2023

[tomorrowusa]

If a candidate says he wants to be a dictator, pals around with dictators, and quotes dictators – don't be surprised when he acts like a dictator if elected.

It's not some "woke liberal" who is blowing the whistle on Trump's dictator lust but retired General John Kelly – Trump’s former chief of staff.

To Donald Trump, Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán is “fantastic,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping is “brilliant,” North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is “an OK guy,” and, most alarmingly, he allegedly said Adolf Hitler “did some good things,” a worldview that would reverse decades-old US foreign policy in a second term should he win November’s presidential election, multiple former senior advisers told CNN. “He thought Putin was an OK guy and Kim was an OK guy — that we had pushed North Korea into a corner,” retired Gen. John Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of staff, told me. “To him, it was like we were goading these guys. ‘If we didn’t have NATO, then Putin wouldn’t be doing these things.’” Trump’s lavish praise for Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán while hosting him at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, just days after all but sealing the Republican nomination on Super Tuesday, shows it’s a worldview he’s doubling down on. “There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán,” Trump said, adding, “He’s the boss and he’s a great leader, fantastic leader. In Europe and around the world, they respect him.” The former president’s admiration for autocrats has been reported on before, but in comments by Trump recounted to me for my new book, “The Return of Great Powers,” out Tuesday, Kelly and others who served under Trump give new insight into why they warn that a man who consistently praises autocratic leaders opposed to US interests is ill-suited to lead the country in the Great Power clashes that could be coming, telling me they believe that the root of his admiration for these figures is that he envies their power. [ ... ] “He’s not a tough guy by any means, but in fact quite the opposite,” Kelly said. “But that’s how he envisions himself.”

Trump REALLY admires Hitler.

“It’s pretty hard to believe he missed the Holocaust, though, and pretty hard to understand how he missed the 400,000 American GIs that were killed in the European theater,” Kelly told me. “But I think it’s more, again, the tough guy thing.” Trump’s admiration for Hitler went further than the German leader’s economic policies, according to Kelly. Trump also expressed admiration for Hitler’s hold on senior Nazi officers. Trump lamented that Hitler, as Kelly recounted, maintained his senior staff’s “loyalty,” while Trump himself often did not. “He would ask about the loyalty issues and about how, when I pointed out to him the German generals as a group were not loyal to him, and in fact tried to assassinate him a few times, and he didn’t know that,” Kelly recalled. “He truly believed, when he brought us generals in, that we would be loyal — that we would do anything he wanted us to do,” Kelly told me.

Trump apparently thought being around generals would make him look strong and that his strength would ensure their loyalty to him.

But all of those generals except Mike Flynn, the QAnon nut who lasted 24 days, were more loyal to the US Constitution than many of Trump's staff with no military background.

Our senior military officers who grew up and were trained in a constitutional democracy have a radically different background from Hitler's generals who mostly were commissioned under the Kaiser and often came from Junker families.

Among other things, Trump just doesn't get constitutionalism.

Trump’s former advisers say he most consistently lavished praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin. (John) Bolton recalled a comment from Trump during the 2018 NATO summit. Following sometimes tense encounters with NATO leaders, Trump said his meeting with Putin, the leader of America’s great power adversary, “may be the easiest of them all. Who would think?” “He says to the press as he goes out to the helicopter, ‘I think the easiest meeting might be with Vladimir Putin. Who would ever think that?’” recalled Bolton. “There’s an answer to that question. Only one person. You. You are the only person who would think that. The shrinks can make of that what they will, but I think it was ‘I’m a big guy. They’re big guys. I wish I could act like they do.’” “My theory on why he likes the dictators so much is that’s who he is,” Kelly said. “Every incoming president is shocked that they actually have so little power without going to the Congress, which is a good thing. It’s Civics 101, separation of powers, three equal branches of government. But in his case, he was shocked that he didn’t have dictatorial-type powers to send US forces places or to move money around within the budget. And he looked at Putin and Xi and that nutcase in North Korea as people who were like him in terms of being a tough guy.”

Donald Trump and Joe Biden have now won enough delegates to secure their parties' nominations. But you can count only on the latter to leave office when his term is over if elected.

[mariacallous]

In an extremely online age, insulting foreign governments is a superhighway to fame and notoriety. Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have already proved handy tools for such provocateurs. Those autocrats’ skin, though, seems positively rhino-like compared with what may be coming our way from China. Planned new legislation will make it illegal to offend “the Chinese national spirit” or hurt “the feelings of the Chinese people.” The proposed legislation is a recipe for diplomatic disputes with the West—especially in a social media culture where provocation has become a course for fame.

2023 has already been the year of the foreign policy-focused provocateur, who has gone straight for the ego of overseas leaders. At the beginning of the year, Sweden—where nothing less than accession to NATO is at stake—turned out to be a perfect staging ground for Danish agitator Rasmus Paludan, who realized he could get massive attention by burning a Quran just as Erdogan was weighing how to view the Swedish NATO application.

The same set of circumstances also made Sweden a perfect staging ground for pro-Kurdish activists, whose protests—including hanging an effigy of Erdogan in front of Stockholm City Hall—got vastly more attention than pro-Kurdish protests can ordinarily hope to get. Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, an unknown until earlier this year, has become an international household name and generated TikTok income by burning Qurans in Stockholm—thus harming Sweden’s NATO application and its relations with Muslim countries.

Swedish opposition politicians, meanwhile, have used Orban in demagoguery, comparing Sweden’s peaceful prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, to the Hungarian strongman. This has so angered the Hungarian government that it threatens to derail Sweden’s NATO accession even more. And in Japan, an American named Ramsey Khalid Ismael, aka Johnny Somali, has made trespassing and being arrested a performance for social media.

Enter Chinese President Xi Jinping. In late August, China’s rubber-stamp parliament discussed draft amendments to the Public Security Administration Law, which would ban behavior, clothing, and speech that offend the Chinese people or government. Offenders risk a fine of 5,000 yuan (about $685) or up to 15 days in prison—but the proposed amendments don’t specify offensive actions, words, or clothing. That’s much like China’s recently amended espionage law, which covers all “documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests” but doesn’t define national security and interests.

The move wasn’t directed at foreigners; instead, it seems to have been a reaction to a series of nationalist temper tantrums online about people wearing traditional Japanese clothes and other perceived offenses. Its sloppiness prompted immediate pushback on the Chinese internet, with even nationalists and conservatives condemning the law. That doesn’t mean it won’t eventually pass—under Xi, China has added more layers of legal constraint every year. “The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] can always decide on its own what you can do and not do—they don’t need a law for it,” noted Oscar Almén, a China analyst at the Swedish Defence Research Agency. “With this planned legislation, there’s the expectation that authorities should be proactive.” And Alicia Hennig, a China specialist and interim professor at the Technical University of Dresden, told me that “if the proposed changes to China’s public security law are enacted into law, they will also affect the foreign communities still in China, including expatriates, students, and even foreign visitors.” She added: “A fine of 5,000 RMB or up to 15 days’ imprisonment for a statement or action is not trivial. But what actually constitutes this crime is far from well defined. It is essentially another catch-all phrase that allows the government to punish people arbitrarily.”

While working as an academic in China several years ago, Hennig conducted interviews with expats and found that “people were already very cautious, turning off their phones altogether even when topics were not highly critical. What happens when cameras, ubiquitous in major Chinese cities, listen in even when phones are switched off? What happens when students have a more critical conversation in one of Shanghai’s bars? Or when a foreign tourist snaps at a waitress? These changes will only increase the feeling of being constantly watched—of being part of the CCP’s panopticum.”

Enter Western provocateurs and adventurers. If you have the mindset of a Rasmus Paludan, you’re willing to cause harm simply to gain fame or notoriety. And you can gain even more fame by taking your stunts to a dangerous realm, all in the safe knowledge that your home country will move mountains to rescue you if you get into trouble. China’s planned legislative amendment, in fact, creates a new and tantalizing opportunity for thrill-seekers to expose themselves to a bit of geopolitically infused harm without having to be very creative.

All you need to do is walk the streets of, say, Beijing wearing clothing the police deem offensive. Why would anyone expose themselves to such risk? you may ask. Just remember Miles Routledge, the 22-year-old Briton who traveled to Afghanistan “on vacation” during the evacuation two years ago and secured a prized spot on an evacuation flight, broadcasting it all on social media. He then returned this year and was captured by the Taliban, leaving U.K. diplomats with another case to try to resolve. Or consider the unfortunate case of Otto Warmbier, who in December 2015 traveled to North Korea, where he was arrested after allegedly stealing a propaganda poster. The U.S. government made extraordinary efforts to get him back—and succeeded, only to discover upon receiving the student that he was close to death. And this week, two months after sprinting into the country, U.S. Army Pvt. Travis King was released by North Korea—the result of massive diplomatic efforts involving not just the United States but Sweden and China as well.

Today, such prospects matter in China, too, because in the past few years China and its fellow great power Russia have joined countries, such as Iran and North Korea, that are not embarrassed to use Western citizens for geopolitical purposes. Iran has seized not just a host of dual nationals on espionage charges but also some foreigners, including Swedish European Union official Johan Floderus, who went to Iran as a tourist last spring and is approaching 530 days in captivity. The two Michaels, Canadian citizens detained by China when Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. arrest warrant; the basketball player Brittney Griner; and the reporter Evan Gershkovich are hardly the only Westerners seized by Russia or China on flimsy charges. Western citizens, for their part, are so accustomed to globe-spanning travel that many eagerly keep turning up in increasingly hostile or dangerous countries. And today, doing so means they risk creating foreign-policy dilemmas for their home countries.

Of course, Chinese law has always provided any excuse to arrest people, from hazy charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” to jumped-up claims of espionage. But the new atmosphere creates even greater potential for a feedback loop between potential provocateurs, angry home audiences, and authorities looking to build their own nationalist credentials. Combine that with the post-COVID resumption of air travel to China and the opportunity to gain fame and social media revenues through ill-considered stunts and you could see why provocateurs may soon be booking flights to Beijing or Shanghai.

In addition to thrill-seekers, there are, of course, also ordinary Westerners who may have no intention of hurting “the feelings of the Chinese people” and will definitely not wear any Winnie the Pooh merch. Even they, though, could discover they’ve committed an offense only when they’re charged with it. The proposed legislation is certain to create never-ending foreign-policy headaches for Western countries, which adds to the dilemmas created by China’s amended espionage legislation.

Given such developments, it’s good news that Western tourism to China has slumped in recent years: In the first quarter of 2023, 52,000 people visited China on overseas trips organized by travel agencies, down from 3.7 million during the first quarter of 2019. But under the proposed legislation, every one of them—and every Westerner who otherwise visits China or lives there—is at risk of arrest. With China often making extraterritorial use of its laws, the offense amendment could even be used against visitors who have committed allegedly offensive acts while abroad. And, Almén noted, for the same reason it would put Chinese citizens living abroad in even greater peril, as China applies its laws to them regardless of their whereabouts. And their home governments are already overstretched trying to find an equilibrium with Russia and China and a modus operandi with Saudi Arabia and other rising powers, creating better relations with India, helping their companies to friendshore, and assisting Ukraine, not to mention tackling climate change.

COVID-19 already struck a blow to the freedom to travel, and the growing dangers of speaking freely—or provocatively—in many parts of the world may do more damage. The U.S. government already advises citizens to “reconsider” travel to China, but large European countries issue no such specific instructions, and no Western countries ban citizens from traveling to the country. North Korea is in the U.S. State Department’s Do Not Travel category. Such strong warnings may become inevitable for China. “We can’t always rely on our embassies to support us,” Hennig said. “I have learned from personal experience that the consulate of my home country was unable to help me when I had problems with my employer, a Chinese university. Another thing I have learned is that when you’re in China, it is better to keep your mouth shut. Today, however, it seems increasingly necessary to understand our own personal risks before traveling to China, whether as an expat, a student, or a tourist.” Ordinary Westerners’ reluctance to spend time in China under such circumstances may not be bad news for Beijing, Almén told me. “This is just the latest law making it more difficult for foreigners to go to China and interact with people. Considering such a law demonstrates how insecure the regime feels. And limiting Westerners’ interaction with Chinese citizens may also be what the Chinese government wants,” he said.

To be sure, China remains a crucial trading partner, and those involved in business or other essential work there should clearly be able to enter the country and expect consular support in emergencies. Those wishing to visit the country for less essential reasons, though, should have to sign a waiver declaring they’re aware of the dangers and won’t expect consular support. Today, geopolitics is so sensitive that there’s no place in it for pranksters, not even accidental ones.

[politikapolka]

[dwestfieldblog]

ABOULIA

So, God save the King eh? At 100 million pounds, his cosplay bash was well worth the moolah…indeed, my bosom swelled with pride to read that Take That, Lionel Richie and two of the Muppets were there to aid the celebrations. Nothing but the best for GB. A few houses around here still have massive British flags hanging down from 2nd floor windows, one has a long string of pennants attached down to a broken wall. Nice metaphor. Those against the monarchy were arrested outside the coronation whether or not they had padlocks, rape alarms and superglue with which to protest. Peaceful protest in a democracy? Stay at home and rant quietly lest thy neighbours report thee. Had a chat with a woman up the street about Brexit and patriotism…who said; ‘The Scottish are Scots, the Welsh are Welsh, the Irish are Irish but the English are British’.

Imagine this mentality multiplied on similar themes all over the world, and we get the current Russian war, Sudan, racists, Arab wars, Trump fans, Chinese ‘communists’, fundamentalists etc, etc. THIS group, OUR group are the most important, enslave the others and if they disagree with such inhuman bondage, punish until pliant or just kill them. Behold, the Elite have become as Gods. Robert Anton Wilson said that he had always taken the viewpoint that sure there was an elite running the world…and it was him and his friends. A more optimystic viewpoint to have, good humour is better for the immune system than hatred, says Dave, arf arf.

Very glad to see Finland join NATO in April, Turkey and Hungary continue to hum and haa over Sweden assession as the former are moaning about Kurds and the latter because of the suspension of EU funds, cancelled due to its dodgy practices…Orban is not really a big fan of democracy…the Trump of Eastern Europe, still trying to stay mates with Vlad. As is Erdogan. Massive human rights violations under him ensured Turkey won’t be getting into the Good Guys club (arf) of the EU anytime soon. However, they are both in NATO (Turkey has the second largest army) and should know far better than to kow tow to Putin on any level. Let’s hope the May 14th election will up seat Racip Tayyip. Get him out, peacefully but surely.

An American parent complained that a school history trip featuring Michelangelo’s statue of David was ‘pornographic’ and suddenly the principal is sacked. One parent. Of a 12-year-old. A modest, circumcised stone penis and testicles is offensive? Must have been a ‘christian’. The western world 2023; Art is pornography now. And Kali bless the NRA. People should be aggressively tested for intelligence before they are allowed to have children. Especially in America. How do these ‘adults’ function on this planet? What next, Mona Lisa veiled because of the curve of her breast and suggestive smile? The masses are dumb partly because they pander to the minority of the dumber.

Apparently, the international arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Belova (Children’s Rights Commissioner (sic) for Baldhead) are ‘outrageous and unacceptable’. Invasion, murder and mass kidnap deportations of children for reprogramming are not decent legal reasons? Ok. Foully rotten to see the two Ruscist slapheads Prigozhin and mad Vlad dick measuring over ammunition and dead bodies. And today, the glorious May Day Victory parade in Moscow featured one tank. Not quite Beijing or Pyongyang standards. ‘The world is at a turning point’ said Vlad, still ranting about the ‘nazis’ in Ukraine. That would be the nazis who democratically elected a Jewish actor as their president. Seems likely huh? And again with ‘the West wants to destroy Russia’ rhetoric. No they don’t Vlad, just you and your band of criminals. You are not Russia.

Xi Jinping in Moscow, still slyly giving tacit and very complicit support for the War as they don’t much approve of areas seeking to remain independent of big brother. (Witness also, their keen support for the mass murdering Myanmar junta) Winnie the Pooh, leader for life just like Putin. Tik Tok/tick tock you bastards. At least Xi seems to have chosen his successor…Surely Mad Vlad is not loopy enough to think the appallingly insane Medvedev could take over? Lock them all together in a bunker with one pistol.

Meanwhile the West must utterly excrete (I said excrete not execute) Trump and Boris. Might just be possible (please Shiva) but unlikely the East will ever get shot of (I said shot of not shoot) Putin and Pooh. As said before in other formats by my hand, the West might be decadent liars and killers but those in the East make us look like clones of the Dalai Lama. How will the world ever move forward into love, peace and net zero? AI has the solution…remove the need for any humanity whatsoever. Or improve and evolve them. Now there’s an idea, quick, trap it, regulate it, drive it underground to build in supressed power…

Boris Johnson swore to tell the whole truth about Partygate but did he FK? He needs to be swamped with lawsuit after lawsuit just like his brother in harm Trump. The perfect empty reality tv stars of the West with Megan Markle as their Victim Queen. Risible Sunak goes to school giving a lecture about the importance of Maths, failing to appreciate the bitter irony of his mis handling of his previous job and the billions lost due to foul pandemic deals, cronies and Brexit. And his own extended family getting business deals via policy….

Conservatives Thatcher and Major led the country for 18 years and the government was a brown shower of corruption by its end, leading to a landslide victory by Tony Blair which kept the Labour party in power (don’t count Gordon Brown) for 13 years, also ending in scandal and corruption. This current gang of criminals and morons of the Tory party have now been in power for 13 years. And this country has been irrevocably ruined by them. (Opinion based on stats and business reports.) There is no possible way Labour can shore up the finances, employment, and health care system of this country in a term or two unless some type of V for Vendetta type crackdown (but this time for real) is enforced. So we will be treated to the sight of bullshitter Boris et al ridiculing the new Government as they wade through a swamp of sewage which they will inherit. Much the same way as the Republicans did when Obama took over the massive deficit they had created and for which they then blamed him.

The holy DAO…a decentralised autonomous organisation free of governmental control and hierarchies, sounds good? As usual, depends on the character of the humans involved. Hierarchies always develop according to variations on the food chain and even an equally skilled pack (animal or man) working as a team will allow pragmatic nature to select a top dog. The round table still reserved the biggest chair for the king. Use nationalism, religion, fear, a cocktail of all three. Never fails. Never will. Kill for your country, protect your family and uphold the common values. (But Sir, what if the common values are based on wilful ignorance due to obviously selectively released information and encouraged prejudice? Questions a timid voice from the back of the class.)

Politicians are advised of underling psychology and act accordingly.  The constant daily manipulation of the millions who are seemingly unable to think for themselves, apparently prefer the clearly corrupt to control their reactions for them. Stir the mass, wind them up and watch them go, basing reactions on whipped up emotion rather than actual facts. Country after country, group after group. Still blaming the Bignoses (or, if you are Russian, the Bignoses AND the Nazis, not quite yet understanding their own current actions and words are in no way dissimilar to Nazis.) What are all these poor little racist didums going to do when Soros departs for higher planes? The good Christians will have to get louder about Bill Gates or the dodgy android Zuckerberg. Or Elon…

(Musk says Artificial intelligence is a dangerous thing, while buying into it. ‘Civilisation destruction’ a strong possibility he said, while buying into it. After all, who wants to be left behind in the race to destroy humanity and make money? Loved the beautiful press release from Elon’s people that his spaceship Starship (arf) experienced a ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation’. I will call my next mental breakdown that. Unless he has copywritten it already.)

‘If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers’ Thomas Pynchon Gravity’s Rainbow. The West and East will never stop their chosen methods of manipulation, why should they when they work so well? Millions’ noisy addictive focused attention on the dreams of fake lives in fame and glamour and millions more afraid of the totalitarian knock on the door. Almost all avoiding the question of ‘Who are these whorepigs governing us? ‘And ‘Can any among us truly rule fairly when man lacks consistent self-control?’. The instinct to survive turns into greed, More ! is never satisfied, so faster and faster swirling into the void of absolute entropy upon which leaders have tried to enforce control, but have failed (and will continue to do so) because they have spent centuries hollowing the centre.

‘Democracy is indispensable to socialism’. Lenin, hmmm, he also said: ‘It is true that liberty is precious; so precious that it must be rationed’. Easy to say when your boss has all the gulags. ‘A lie told often enough becomes the truth’, and don’t the leaders on all sides just believe that as an immutable fact? Whereas when one repeats a provable fact, it maintains its structural integrity in the face of unbelieving ridicule That said, even E=MC squared is only a pixel in the cosmic landscape. It is the thoughts of ‘God’ which are the sub atomic particles transforming to waves, once observed by the individual which flow through mirrors of ‘neural pathways’ in all dimensions.

This is me sober, just on Alta Rica coffee in the afternoon, listening to The Stargazers Assistant, Mirrors and Tides, Shivers and Voids on headphones. With a crunchy red apple, just before a colossal rain storm. And a day later with Popol Vuh’s  beauty on speakers, trying hard to avoid the crushing aboulia which is now constantly at the door of the heart. Dopamine circuits malfunctioning. When my respect for someone ends, they are Done, never been afraid to cull dead weight and now…it has come round to me. Like best friends, I have given myself many extra undeserved chances but now as Leonard said ‘the evidence accumulates’ and has become overwhelming…Need to do a couple more decent things with a new Will once the overlong and criminal process of inheritance tax is over months from now and then let go.

A lady up my road lost her husband last month to rapid onset dementia; I had met him some weeks before and had a fine thirty-minute conversation on many topics.  He had been a gunner in bombers in the second world war and adored music, but during his last two weeks when his wife brought him tapes to the hospital of Mozart et al, he ordered her ‘Turn that noise off’. I had always thought that however ill I would get in the future, as long as I could hear music, there would be still be joy in life. Never occurred to me how the brain can change its mind so definitively about what was Loved. 

Shivered.

‘I dream of a government that resembles jury service’. Jaz. Damn right. People who want to serve and improve/evolve society. A group only in temporary power for a fixed length of time before being replaced by similar albeit individual minds. Not years of lying greedy scumbags changing laws to suit their needs and handing out contracts to their mates before checking they can actually deliver. The flaws in this idea remain large and revolve around finding humans who are actually steadfast but flexible, rationally intuitive, good hearted without being wishy washy and strong enough to remain incorruptible by vested interests. Hmm, seems verrry likely. So, just allow nuclear war by arseholes or AI to breed humans the right way. A Matrix Terminator future. Or?

Happy springtime rising into summer, stay healthy, be free, realise in glimpses.

[chinemagazine]

La Chine et la Hongrie définissent un nouveau projet de coopération et de développement

La Chine et la Hongrie vont élever leurs relations au rang de « partenariat stratégique global de tous les temps pour la nouvelle ère ».

Par CGTN – La Chine et la Hongrie ont décidé le 9 mai d’élever leurs relations bilatérales au rang de « partenariat stratégique global de tous les temps pour la nouvelle ère ». Cette décision a été annoncée lors des entretiens entre le président chinois Xi Jinping, en visite, et le premier ministre hongrois Viktor Orban. Poussant les relations bilatérales vers de nouveaux sommets, les deux…

[tv4euro]

NATO ally endorses China's Ukraine peace plan as Beijing applauds 'model' of European diplomacy

The visit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian President Viktor Orban ended with glowing praise from both parties as Xi labeled his counterpart a “model” for diplomatic relations with Europe, while Orban endorsed Beijing’s Ukraine peace plan. “Today, Europe is on the side of war,” Orbán said Thursday during a joint press conference.  “The only exception is Hungary, which calls for…

[aurevoirmonty]

Visite de Xi Jinping : La Hongrie et la Serbie font entrer l’Europe dans le monde multipolaire, la France passe son tour.

«Il y a vingt ans, nous vivions dans un ordre mondial unilatéral, nous vivons aujourd'hui ordre mondial multipolaire», a constaté Victor Orban aux côtés du président chinois.

L'un des piliers de ce nouvel ordre mondial est la République populaire de Chine.

Apportant son soutien à l’initiative de paix en Ukraine portée par une Chine, «qui détermine aujourd'hui le cours de l'économie et de la politique mondiales», le dirigeant hongrois a fermement positionné son pays dans le sens de l’Histoire.

Ce qui le place en opposition frontale avec Bruxelles, qui refuse obstinément de changer de logiciel quitte à mener le contient au bord d’un conflit majeur avec la Russie, dans le fol espoir de sauver l’Empire américain de l’effondrement.

Mais aussi de la France de Macron, qui a de son côté rejeté la main tendue par Pékin (https://t.me/kompromatmedia/5458), qui - comme la Russie - l’invite à devenir le moteur européen du monde multipolaire.

La Chine s’appuiera donc pour l’heure sur la Hongrie mais aussi sur la Serbie, avec qui elle entretient un lien particulier depuis le bombardement de Belgrade, événement qui a soudé à vie les deux pays contre l’hégémon américain.

Après avoir reçu Xi Jinping avec tous les honneurs, Belgrade vient de signer (https://twitter.com/Renardpaty/status/1788502745005064498) un partenariat renforcé avec Pékin, notamment dans le domaine de la défense.

Avant de se rendre (https://t.me/kompromatmedia/5245) au sommet des BRICS en octobre prochain.

[delicatenutlady]

Xi Jinping attended the welcome ceremony held by Hungarian President Šuyuk and Prime Minister Orban and wished that China-Hungary friendship will last forever

[decaffeinateeg]

Xi Jinping attended the welcome ceremony held by Hungarian President Šuyuk and Prime Minister Orban and wished that China-Hungary friendship will last forever

[oksister521]

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok inspect the guard of honor in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. Xi attended a welcome ceremony jointly held by Sulyok and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban here on Thursday.

[mariacallous]

Hungary will always prioritise its shared goals with Serbia over any interest it has in maintaining relations with Kosovo.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s realist and pragmatic approach to international politics and trade was on display last week as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Hungary to sign off on 18 cooperation agreements, adding to the billions already invested in the country.

Orban’s approach has increasingly drawn him towards the East, where he fraternises not only with Xi’s China, but also Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the autocracies of Central Asia.

In his relentless pursuit of his self-termed governance ideal, the “illiberal state”, Orban likewise showcases versatility in his relations with the countries of the Western Balkans, whose EU accession prospects he has systematically supported.

Among the six EU hopefuls, however, Serbia stands out as Budapest’s preferred partner, which, perhaps not coincidentally, was Xi’s stop before arriving in Hungary last week.

Hungary’s close relations with Belgrade, cemented upon strong political, economic and social ties, frame a major share of its approach to EU enlargement.

In light of this privileged partnership, several concerns emerge with respect to Hungary’s relations with other countries in the region – the most critical case being Kosovo.

Hungary finds itself at a crucial juncture between Serbia and Kosovo, where it benefits from carefully nurtured ties with the former and holds cordial diplomatic relations with (and recognises) the latter. However, the balance is set to tilt in favour of Belgrade, as Hungary will follow a policy supportive of Serbia’s domestic and international goals, even if this jeopardises Kosovo’s national interests and calls Hungary’s recognition of it into question.

Three dimensions to Hungary’s Balkan stakes

Orban’s vision of an enlarged EU has been primarily oriented towards the Western Balkans, as Hungary seeks to keep its southern flank stable and prosperous, not least as an external EU border. Budapest’s vested interests in the Western Balkans span trade and investment, the protection of national minority rights, and energy security.

However, three main dimensions arguably articulate its favourable position towards the region’s EU accession: the economic, the security and the ideological. In this equation, though, not all countries hold the same significance, partly explaining why Hungary’s relations with Serbia and with Kosovo have not been cultivated with the same carefulness.

Hungary’s three dimensions of interest find their most powerful expression vis-a-vis Serbia, the economic field being particularly important. Hungary is Serbia’s fifth-largest trade partner globally while Serbia is Hungary’s seventeenth, their trade exchange amounting to 3.6 billion euros, five times higher than a decade ago.

Strong cooperation prevails also in the energy realm, enhanced by Russia’s war in Ukraine and by the decision of most EU member states to shift away from Moscow’s energy supplies. Both Serbia and Hungary reject such boycotts on pragmatic grounds. “Serbia and, I believe, Hungary have no special affection for the origin of gas and oil. It is only important for us to have them. Our citizens cannot live and heat on promises,” said Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic.

Regarding Kosovo, the economic dimension appears significantly weaker for Hungary; even though bilateral trade has almost tripled since 2015 and is expected to reach an all-time high this year, Kosovo remains a relatively marginal partner in Hungary’s trade relations.

In the security dimension, Budapest and Belgrade showcase a sizeable degree of convergence. Both capitals interpret the struggle against illegal migration and asylum seekers as a very fight for existence, a narrative that Orban has traditionally exploited. He sees the ongoing migration flows into Europe as a common threat and even “a matter of survival”, in which Serbia plays a crucial role and shares Hungary’s fate.

Budapest’s decision in 2015 to erect a fence along its border with Serbia to stop migrants was met with bitterness from Belgrade, but the Serbian government never enacted any retaliation against Hungary, indicating that Serbia was determined to keep reaping the benefit of Orban’s friendship in their joint crusade.

Regarding Kosovo, the security convergence reached its peak during the 2015 refugee crisis, with Kosovo’s location as a transit country along the “Balkan route” reinforcing its role in Budapest’s anti-migrant fight. However, Kosovo, unlike Serbia, was seen as a less relevant transit country, which limited Pristina’s leverage towards Hungary. Furthermore, Kosovo’s status as a country of origin itself for thousands of asylum seekers has tempered Budapest’s enthusiasm for Pristina.

The ideological dimension is well engraved in Hungary-Serbia relations through the political identity of their leaders. Orban and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic cemented their leaderships almost in parallel, both regaining power in the early 2010s, barely two years apart. They share a right-wing populist, Eurosceptic, nativist approach to politics, and have mirrored each other’s illiberal policies in the realms of media freedom, human rights and the rule of law.

Vis-a-vis Kosovo, the ideological convergence is less clear, reflected not only in the open support that most of Kosovo’s political parties manifest towards the EU, but also in the country’s relatively volatile political system, which has reduced the potential for concentration of authority in the hands of a single party or leader. ​​The consistent crushing majorities that Orban’s Fidesz party has won over the last almost 15 years have granted the premier carte blanche in domestic and foreign policy at the expense of the rule of law and the liberal-democratic architecture.

Diplomatic imbalance

Hungary’s well-established diplomatic ties with both Serbia and Kosovo have not been an obstacle to weaving a visibly triangular, though uneven relationship. While Serbia occupies a fully convergent position on Hungary’s priority list in the economic, security and ideological axes that grants short- and long-term benefits to both allies, Kosovo fails at this exercise. In the current geopolitical context, one might wonder how Hungary’s strategic axis between Belgrade and Pristina will play out in the future. However, the several instances of diplomatic revelations over the last 15 months have revealed omens that, in order for Serbia to rise, Orban might have to let Kosovo fall.

One of these instances is Hungary’s approach towards the turbulent events that framed the development of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in 2023. The local elections in the four Serb-majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo, the ensuing episodes of violence against KFOR troops, among which over 20 Hungarian soldiers were injured, and the abduction by Serbian forces of three Kosovo police officers were topped off by the armed attack by Serb gunmen on the Kosovo village of Banjska on September 24. Budapest performed subtle games of leverage and obstruction in favour of Belgrade during these events: from Orban’s request to release the three police officers, which allowed Hungary to come off as an instrumental mediator, to shielding Serbia from EU sanctions following the Banjska episode.

However, the most explicit instance can be found in Kosovo’s ongoing application to the Council of Europe (CoE), the continent’s leading human rights organisation. The Hungarian government pledged to Serbia in early 2023 that it would reject any attempts by Kosovo to join European bodies, a move that was enacted in April 2023 as Hungary voted against Kosovo’s membership once in the Committee of Ministers, and again a year later in the CoE Parliamentary Assembly. As Kosovo comes gradually closer to obtaining full membership in the body, it has become clear that Hungary is willing to endure Kosovo’s diplomatic fury so as not to let Belgrade down. It is a vivid reminder that recognising Kosovo does not necessarily mean supporting it at all costs.

Ahead of Kosovo’s future steps towards the CoE and towards the EU, for which an application was submitted in late 2022, Budapest maintains that the country will need to set its relations with Serbia straight before it can integrate into European bodies.

Illiberal futures: from Budapest with love

As Hungary’s defining EU role comes to realisation – a spot in the hall of fame of political obstructionism at the heart of the EU’s decision-making and political machinery – today’s shifting international sands is rendering the whims of rogue member states increasingly critical in a 27-member Union that usually fails to react in time. Unless the EU democracies step up their ambitions, the Serbia-Kosovo ordeal is set to consolidate as a battlefield of entrenched illiberalism.

The EU and its member states currently lack the initiative to enact sanctions against Belgrade, from which Hungary clearly benefits. Budapest’s opposition to sanctioning Serbia is, at the same time, what the EU uses to excuse its own inability or unwillingness to hold Belgrade accountable. As time goes by, Hungary is further cementing its friendship with Serbia within the context of mutual protection where both Orban and Vucic are sure of their impunity thanks to one another, while Hungary’s pledge not to compromise its ties with Serbia serves as its leverage reinforcement over other member states. The greatest victor from the EU’s overall incapacity is none other than Orban himself.

The triangular relationship between Serbia and Kosovo, with Hungary strategically placed at its juncture, is one of asymmetry and mistrust. While the Hungary-Serbia connection – the strongest end – will blossom in an international realm of rising authoritarianism, Kosovo – the weakest link – is bound to struggle without more and better support from the EU’s democracies.