The Only Sensible Voice in Europe
Hungary's Victor Orban is a rare voice of sanity amidst a sea of warmongers.
I recently stumbled upon an interview in the German newspaper Bild with Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban. The interview centered on the Russo-Ukrainian war and Hungary’s approach thus far in the conflict. Orban elucidated in a clear manner his positions on the war through the lens of peace and reality, two things that do not seem to be on the minds of his fellow European leaders.
Indeed, since the early stages of the war, Orban and his government have been consistent proponents of peace talks as a means to enact a ceasefire or end the war permanently. This position has created an evident rift between Hungary and other Western countries. What has further distanced Orban from other leaders around him is his ability to deviate from blindly following U.S. interests. In late February, the Hungarian government demanded a “full and proper investigation” into the “scandalous” attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, one of the only serious countries in Europe to do so. Additionally, Orban once advocated for a “European NATO” without the United States.
It is not hard to see why the West despises the conservative Orban and his “Hungary First” mentality. First and foremost, he wishes to keep Hungary out of a war that could very well destroy it. Unlike the leaders of the various nations surrounding him in Central Europe, he understands the Russian system and government. Orban also understands that the Western approach in Ukraine is a catastrophe destined for horrific failure. But above all, Orban has chosen to put the interests of his homeland first.
The Orban Interview
Asked about whether the recent Wagner revolt had any meaningful significance to it, Orban said he thought at the time that the Russians would “manage it soon,” adding that he did not “see any major importance to that event.” Orban, contrary to most European leaders, said Russia’s response “was a signal of being strong.”
With respect to Putin, Orban stated that there was no legitimate threat to his power and that his popularity more or less remained the same. “He’s stable. He’s an elected leader of Russia,” Orban said. “And he is popular, and the structures behind him are rather strong. So we have to take the whole Russian complex seriously.” According to Orban, the prevailing narrative in the West that Putin is unstable is “just propaganda.”
As for the war itself, Orban declared that “nobody knows” how it will ultimately end. Underscoring the importance of the war from the Hungarian perspective, Orban said that “everything which is going on right now between Russia and Ukraine is bad for the Hungarians.” He added, “It’s dangerous for the Hungarians. We lost lives. Hungarian minorities are living there. Danger coming from the war is in Hungary’s neighborhood.”
“I’m always arguing for peace, peace, peace,” Orban stressed. Though his peace-driven policy defies Kyiv and its Western backers, Orban and Hungary have stood firm amid a constant onslaught of criticism and denunciation. “I would not like to appear as somebody who does not hope that the Ukrainians have a chance to survive,” Orban clarified. “But I am standing on reality. The reality is that the engineering of that cooperation between Ukraine and the West is a failure.”
Orban blasted the strategy of the West, saying that attempting to defeat Russia is a “misunderstanding of the situation” and “impossible” to achieve. “I’m speaking about the outcome of the war. And the problem is that the Ukrainians will run out of soldiers earlier than the Russians,” he said. “And that,” Orban continued, “would be the decisive factor in the end.”
Speaking on the need for the Ukrainians to negotiate with Moscow, Orban asserted that unless they bring themselves to the negotiating table soon, “they will lose a quantity of wealth, and many human lives, and unimaginable destruction” will occur. Orban stressed that “peace is the only solution at this moment.”
“But what really counts,” Orban said, “is what the Americans would like to do. Ukraine is not a sovereign country. They don’t have money. They don’t have weapons. They can fight only because we [the West] support them,” he added. “So when the Americans decide that they would like to have peace, there will be peace.” According to Orban, the conflict is ultimately “in the hands of the Americans.”
On diplomacy, Orban lamented the severe lack of negotiations and dialogue both at the beginning of the war and at present. “If there had been negotiations at the very beginning,” Orban suggested, “there would not have been so many lives lost” and Ukraine “would not have been destroyed.” The “war should not have happened,” Orban said. “It was a mistake of diplomacy” and a lack of communication that it commenced. Now, diplomacy “is the only way to save lives at the moment.”
The Hungarian leader further ripped the Western policy in Ukraine, this time on the issue of levying sanctions against Russia, saying:
So what we have done is just a failure. We said that sanctions will be good for two reasons. First, because they will force Russia to its knees. Second, they will bring us closer to peace. None of that happened. What kind of engineering of sanctions is that? So again, clarity: that’s what we need. Clear-cut arguments. What the target is, how we would like to reach it. Unfortunately up to now, sanctions are not a good way to reach our targets. That’s what I have seen.
Regarding Kyiv’s potential ascension into NATO, Orban rejected the idea. Ukrainian membership is “not in our mind,” he said. In addition, Orban declared that the NATO rules state “clearly that if somebody is at war, they cannot be a member of NATO.” Hungary’s firm rejection of potential membership for Ukraine in NATO has been yet another policy that has sharply divided Kyiv and Budapest.
In the end, “It’s not our war,” Orban asserted in the latter stages of the interview. “It’s the war of the Ukrainians.” He spoke about the immense influence the Biden administration has on its partners in Kyiv. The war will not end “until the United States wants to have peace,” he maintained. “We would like to save Ukraine. And the only way to save it is for the Americans to initiate negotiations with the Russians.”
Orban is winning. The West is losing.
Despite enormous backlash from the West over his Ukraine war stances, Orban continues to be a popular leader inside Hungary and a model for true conservatism. In truth, his antiwar position has made him all the more liked among his fellow constituents who want no part in a war with Russia. While leaders such as Joe Biden periodically jettison insults at Orban for these positions, Budapest remains unphased and sticks true to policies it deems to be in the best interests of the Hungarian people.
In the meantime, Hungary is a powerful dissident voice both inside NATO and the EU, consistently objecting to the craziness that every now and then emanates from those institutions. Although Budapest has sometimes relented on issues, it continues to oppose further escalation in the war and persists in being an invaluable voice for peace and stability. As of right now, Hungary is the only serious European country to actively promote diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine.
Victor Orban is a rare and sensible voice amidst a sea of warmongers. Similar to his stance on the migrant crisis in Europe, his “Hungary First” policy regarding Ukraine makes him unpopular on the outside and popular on the inside. As the West continues down the path of insanity in Ukraine, Orban has chosen a path based on reality. In the end, Orban is doing what any true leader should do, which is to put his country first.
We need brave leaders like Orban in our country. Ukraine is losing this war and I’m afraid the U.S. will start sending our men and women over there. And for what?? What a waste of lives, resources,and money. It’s all about power and control over Russia and it’s not going to happen! If we were so worried about Crimea why didn’t we do something about it when Obama was in office? The Ukrainian government was corrupt then and still is!! Nothing will change until our leaders and American citizens WAKE UP!
He has the courage to say NO!