Orbán: if the left wins, Hungary will immediately send weapons to Ukraine
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What is at stake in this Sunday’s general election is no longer whether Hungary should go forward or backwards, but the choice between peace and war, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to news portal Origo on Thursday.
The Hungarian left “poses a serious risk to peace”, while ruling Fidesz guarantees peace, Orbán said. The prime minister said the current election was a strange one because its stakes had changed along the way. “Even I haven’t seen something like this happen before,” Orbán said.
He said that at the start of the campaign, Fidesz’s opponents held a primary election and it had become clear that the stakes of the election would be whether “the pre-2010 era would make a comeback or if we can keep going”.
But in the middle of the campaign a war broke out in Hungary’s neighbouring country, Orbán said. It is not like the second round of the Yugoslav Wars in 1999, which was bloody and cruel but involved countries smaller than Hungary, he said. Now it is Ukraine and Russia who are at war, Orbán said, adding that
“one of them is a nuclear power”.
The campaign has been “cut in half” by an unprecedented event, he said.
But in spite of the war “we can have a sense of security, because although Russia is a nuclear power and its strength can’t be doubted, NATO is stronger,” Orbán said. There is a war going on in Hungary’s neighbour that involves a global power, but if that global power wanted to advance beyond Ukraine’s borders, it would run into NATO’s defences, “and that’s what will protect us”, he said.
Concerning last week’s NATO and European Union summits, Orbán said the meeting had been about competing strategies.
It is clear that there is a group of countries that want NATO to play as big a role as possible in this conflict, the prime minister said. They don’t see a Ukraine-Russia war but Russian aggression against Ukraine that will eventually target the world of NATO, he said, adding that these countries believed it was impossible to avoid being drawn into the war.
The other stance is the one represented by Hungary which says NATO should not send weapons or troops into the conflict. “Our position is currently the majority view, therefore NATO has decided not to participate in this military conflict,” Orbán said. “It’s not sending troops or weapons.”
“However, if the war drags on — and there are signs of this happening — then this strategic dilemma will keep coming up at every single NATO summit,” Orbán said. NATO members will next meet in Madrid in June, Orbán noted, adding that
he expected the question to come up again if the war was not over or if an extended ceasefire was not declared by then.
Gaslighting galore. Where to start. Let’s just do one: “Christian traditions”
All of our shops are open on a Sunday, as opposed to lots of countries in Europe, where their Christian beliefs decide to keep them closed?
“The Hungarian Left will start sending weapons!” – just like almost all individual NATO and EU countries and many outside (including even Australia as well as neutral Sweden and Finland). For NATO members, NATO’s Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC), based in Pápa, flying planes with Hungarian registration marks, actually takes care of some of the deliveries.
And no – nobody, NOBODY wants to send troops (although Mr. Orban does love keeping that myth alive – “Only I can protect you!”)
Sending weapons to Ukraine is only going to produce more death and suffering.
Only a psychopath would keep this conflict going, like Zelensky is. Truly heartbreaking to watch.
But many countries is doing the wrong thing here, sadly. Just adding to the suffering.
Some have the backbone to stand up for what’s right. Like Victor.