Orban party Fidesz wins election in Hungary

Orban should send a thank-you card to the Mayor of Munich for helping him to consolidate his base with that rainbow UEFA stunt.

Ultimately unsurprising. He's gerrymandered his way into power by exploiting his popularity in rural areas and the war did him a big favour in the polls. He's not Putin, but not a democrat either in how level the playing field is for other parties. It will be interesting to see how his relationship with the EU goes post-war. He's smart enough to back the sanctions but based on his track record to date that relationship can only get worse.

...and who says 'democracy' doesnt work!

narcissists' be narcissing!

Given Trudeau recently addressed the European parliament about 2 weeks ago... - and he is lauded continually by the European esp irish press and politics ( oddly little comment on his recent adventures into the realm of "emergency powers") - so more than you think or more that you are willing to consider cos I think your response is a lame attempt at derailment rather than any reasonable comment.

But I said "more trudeaus" as in his type of individual not particularly him - but you knew that .

As for not knowing what the WEF is .... educate yourself or ask better questions...

When that moron Trump got elected a few years ago, I was appalled but I thought "The American system is constructed primarily to inhibit the introduction of tyranny. It doesn't prevent the country from being badly wrong (there was majority support at various stages of the American republic for slavery, segregation, racial hierarchy, and all manner of other evils and their supposedly "freedom-loving" second amendment is something that the rest of the democratic world resolutely refuses to emulate) but it does greatly diminish the chances of an autocrat having carte blanche to impose his or her will on the public without inhibition. Let's put our faith in that."

Ditto for the EU and clowns like Orban. It can't invalidate the elections there. It can certainly point out the democratic deficits and insist, under pain of sanction, that they adhere to the minimum standards required of an EU member state. So fine: the people of Hungary voted for Orban. Good luck to them. They made their bed and they can lie on it. But if they want to stay in the EU they have to meet the minimum requirements of independent judiciaries; basic human rights; freedom of movement of people etc etc

That's what we can hold the Hungarians to account for and we should.

...so the Hungarian's are well looked after under this chap?

I'm taking a wild leap of presumption here and guessing that your name implies you have a strong admiration for the Fox "news" network (my parenthesis) which is after all a "mainstream media" outlet.

Your demonisation of other media organisations whose values you so fear is quite pathetic in this day and age. Traditional media has never been less powerful. With social media and the atomisation of fact gathering and opinion presentation the likes of Google, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram are far more influential than the staid old Irish Times and state media broadcasters such as RTE and BBC.

You want to make an argument? Then make an argument but whinging on about the Big Bad Wolf of the MMM is idiotic.

Thinking Orban is some kind of good guy is pretty much a textbook case of stupid binary "The enemy of my enemy must be my friend" thinking.

It's perfectly possible to be strongly critical of the EU and still recognise that he's a real scumbag.

hahahaha, he was yea!

every election the west (or the interests groups in the west) don't like are rigged.

but the ones they do like - Biden for example - are definitely fair.

Rigged votes happen for sure but it's it surprising the only one where the moaning gets much traction are the ones the usual suspects don't like.

wild presumption indeed.. my handle is a play on F*CK SAKE.

I can accept that criticism but it's misguided - I don't really pay huge heed to MMM but it does drive conversation or at least initially drive on the internet to a large degree and that is where I connect with it.

The MMM also gets a free pass from Google and other big Tech in terms of censorship controls.

also politicians who drive so much in our lives don't often interview on podcasts (for example of new tech ) they interview for BBC, Sky and in Ireland RTE and Virgin. MMM never has been less relevant (agreed!) but still has huge relevance.

Irish politics are in the sewer, but nowhere near half as bad as Hungary.

About as insightful as the first post but I expected no less. Still not seeing a need to drag in Trudeau but I guess he's an issue for you and that's fine. I'm good on WEF, clearly my ignorance of what it is will have no material effect on my life.

Charles Stuart Parnell caught up in another sex scandal.

Read the links...plus 50 percent of the media is effectively pro government mouthpieces.

Are you hinting at something like that being shown in Ireland?

Tbh I am not a huge fan of RTE but they have at some stage pissed off every party in the country...that is probably a sign they aren't that biased...in a weird way...

Generally not sure what to make of Orban. He likes the strong man image. But now that Putin is a leper, can he be a strongman around Putin? While he may be an ultra or zealot conservative on social and civil rights matters, is he not more of an extreme Nationalist?

Wonder what the Hungarian view of the EU is now or maybe they'd be better off leaving if they'd prefer a Moscow orientation. Which is bizzare, considering the uprising of '56. Recent polls have the Hungarians with positive views of the EU. So it's a strange one. Possibly they'd prefer the older EEC model than further unification of Europe.