Hungary"s Ruling Party Hands Out Book Targeting George Soros

Authored by Jacob Bojesson via The Daily Caller,

Hungary’s ruling party is stepping up its campaign against billionaire investor George Soros by distributing a book that accuses the financier of pursuing a plan to flood Europe with migrants.

The book, titled “George Soros,” is written by Andreas von Rétyi - a German author known for pushing conspiracy theories about UFOs and what caused the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the U.S.

 

Fidesz, a conservative party led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, plans to distribute 5,000 copies to local politicians across the country.

 

“The book is a detailed and accurate piece,” Fidesz spokesman János Halász told broadcaster RTL Klub, according to newspaper Die Welt.

The Orban administration launched an anti-Soros campaign in the spring to halt the Hungarian-born investor’s operations in the country.

The streets of Budapest were filled with posters and billboards of the Hungarian-born billionaire with the caption “Don’t let Soros get the last laugh!”

Hungarian government poster portraying financier George Soros and saying "Don"t let George Soros have the last laugh" is seen at an underground stop in Budapest.

The campaign claims that Soros wants a 1 million refugee influx to Europe per year.

“The Hungarian standpoint is that illegal migration is clearly a matter of national security,” Orban’s spokesman, Zoltan Kovacs, told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a recent interview.

 

“We shall mobilize the political and legal power of the Hungarian state against anyone who undermines the security of Hungary – regardless of their origins, religious affiliation or wealth.”

Soros struck back at Orban by describing his “mafia state” as “one which maintains a facade of democracy.”

"Meddling"? The US State Department"s New Program To Take On Hungarian Media

Authored by Daniel McAdams via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

Hypocrisy may be the only consistent guiding principle of US foreign policy.

Here"s a prime example of the "do as we say, not as we do" that is the core of how Washington does business overseas: In the same week that the the US Justice Department demanded that the Russian-backed RT America network register as a foreign propaganda entity or face arrest, the US State Department"s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DNL) has announced that it is launching a program to massively interfere in NATO-partner Hungary"s internal media.

So the US Justice Department is cracking down on RT America for what it says is manipulation of US domestic affairs while the US State Department announces a new program to manipulate Hungary"s domestic affairs.

The State Department"s new program would send three-quarters of a million dollars to Washington-selected Hungarian media outlets to "increase citizens’ access to objective information about domestic and global issues in Hungary." On what authority does the United States pick winners and losers in Hungary"s diverse media environment? Since when does one government have the right to determine what news is "objective" in another country? Hungary is not a country to be "regime-changed" -- it is a full democracy where the will of the people is regularly expressed at the ballot box and where the media competes freely in the marketplace of ideas.

Washington"s Hungarian media project is clearly meant to interfere in that country"s domestic political environment. Here are the stated objectives of the US government"s Hungary program:

The program should improve the quality of local traditional and online media and increase the public’s access to reliable and unbiased information.

 

...

 

Projects should aim to have impact that leads to democratic reforms, and should have the potential for sustainability beyond DRL resources. (emphasis added)

The State Department"s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor identifies its mission in this call for grantees as "promoting democracy and protecting human rights globally." So what is it doing in Hungary? Hungary has had nearly three decades of democracy since 1989 and hardly needs the United States to tell it what kind of media is allowed (subsidized) and which kind should be suppressed.

In reality this is a US government program to ensure that the Hungarian media follows Washington"s policy line. Hungarians are all too familiar with this kind of toxic interference from an outside superpower: it was called the Soviet Union. Does Washington really seek to take on that role?

Stab in the back

This US government intervention in Hungary"s internal affairs must feel like a stab in the back to Orban and his government. Orban was an early -- and rare -- supporter of candidate Donald Trump among his European colleagues. Indeed, where Brusssels saw Trump as a gauche loudmouth, Orban openly admired the soon-to-be-president"s position on immigration and particularly on the mass immigration of mostly Muslim "refugees" that has proven to be disastrous for so many European countries. Likewise, Viktor Orban"s Fidesz party has managed to retain a high level of popularity through two election cycles by embracing and promoting the kind of nationalism that characterized Trump"s successful campaign.

Orban"s early support for Trump appeared to have paid off. Where Fidesz had struggled to make any headway at all under GW Bush or Obama"s State Departments, both of which were openly hostile, one of President-elect Trump"s first moves was to invite Orban to the White House. Orban, for his part, hailed Trump on inauguration day, welcoming in an era where national interest takes precedent over multilateralism.

As recently as last month, President Trump praised Viktor Orban, saying that the "strong and brave" Hungarian Prime Minister is "on my guest list.”

Then Trump"s State Department launched a program to undermine Hungary"s national sovereignty by interfering in the Hungarian media market. It seems national sovereignty is a one-way street for Washington no matter who occupies the Oval Office.

Hypocrisy...or policy consistency?

But perhaps it"s inaccurate to accuse the US government of hypocrisy in this case. After all, pressuring RT America with the intent of silencing the news network and spending our tax dollars propping up US-friendly media outlets in the Hungarian countryside are actually two sides of the same coin: the US government will tell you what kind of media you are allowed to consume.

If you are a media network in the United States that allows voices who oppose Washington"s neocon-dominated foreign policy they will shut you down. If you are a news outlet in the Hungarian countryside that spews the US party line, they will prop you up. Both cases are the same: your media will toe the US government official line or else.

*  *  *

Note to Washington: This is not 1950. Hungary has been a fully free and democratic country with plenty of free elections under its belt. It does not need you to come in and attempt to manipulate its newspapers and broadcast media. What would you do if China sent in a few million dollars to prop up US publications who agreed to push the Beijing line? What about if Tehran sent some money to publications pushing the Ayatollah party line? You cannot even tolerate RT America -- which is largely staffed by Americans but dares to feature prominent Americans who challenge the neocon foreign policy line. Hands off Hungary!

Note to Viktor Orban: You risked arrest -- and worse -- in June, 1989 when you directly confronted the communists who were occupying your country. Now that Hungary"s freedom has been won -- in no small way due to your efforts -- do not allow Washington"s neocons to take it away from you! If you do not confront this violation of Hungarian sovereignty, the neocons will continue to increase the pressure. The neocons want you out! Just this week, neocon commentator Anne Applebaum wrote that you are a "neo-Bolshevik" who has "little to do with the right that has been part of Western politics since World War II, and...no connection to existing conservative parties." Do a little research and you will notice that Applebaum is a member of the International Advisory Council of the Center for European Policy Analysis -- the organization your own government funded for a big conference this summer! Neocon knives are out for you. You"d be smart to make a better assessment of who are your friends and enemies in the United States...before it"s too late.

Orban Launches Intelligence Probe Into George Soros" "Open Society" Network

Apparently, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban thinks his propaganda campaign to discredit Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros - Orban’s political archnemesis - hasn’t been sufficiently effective.

As Orban’s ruling party gears up for parliamentary elections in April - where it is the prohibitive favorite to win largely thanks to its refusal to accept refugees under a plan devised by the European Commission - the prime minister has instructed his intelligence services to map what he described as the networks run by the billionaire financier’s “empire” targeting his country, Bloomberg reported.

Intelligence agencies will help evaluate what he sees as efforts by Soros to get Hungary punished by EU institutions pursuing a “mixed-population” continent, Orban said in an interview with Kossuth Radio on Friday.

The Associated Press added that the investigation will also focus on alleged Hungarian members of the network.

Intelligence agencies will help evaluate what Orban sees as efforts by Soros to get Hungary punished by EU institutions pursuing a “mixed-population” continent, Orban said in an interview with Kossuth Radio on Friday.

Orban speaks often of a coming split in Europe between “migrant-free zone” and those in the west who refuse calls to “haul” undocumented migrants away.

The unraveling of the friendship between Orban and Soros in some ways mirrors the falling out between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US-based cleric Fehtullah Gulen in terms of the extent of the deterioration.

Three decades ago, billionaire financier George Soros paid for a young Viktor Orbán to study in Britain. And as recently as 2010, Soros donated $1 million to Orbán’s government to help the cleanup effort following the infamous “red sludge” disaster.

But the once-warm relationship between the two men has deteriorated substantially over the past seven years, as Orban has drifted further to the right. In 2014, the leader of Hungary’s Fidesz party declared he would seek to model Hungary’s government after “illiberal” democracies like the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In response, Soros this summer denounced his former protege and accused him of creating a “mafia state” in Hungary.

One of dozens of billboards around Hungary bearing anti-Soros messaging...

Orban responded by accusing Soros"s network of using the European Union to achieve its own aims, including the promotion of mass migration into Europe.

Orban was no doubt provoked to launch the probe by reports Soros has donated $18 billion from his family office to his “Open Society” foundation, his primary tool for influence policy throughout the west. The group funds a network of dozens of organizations that fund liberal, globalist causes throughout Europe and the US. At times, recipients of funding have included Black Lives Matter groups, and even Antifa.

But will Orban’s investigation morph into a full-on, Turkey-style purge of anyone with ties to Soros’ linked organizations, regardless of their actual complicity? That, of course, remains to be seen.
 

Hungary Launches Anti-Soros Political Campaign

Three decades ago, billionaire financier George Soros paid for a young Viktor Orbán to study in Britain. And as recently as 2010, Soros donated $1 million to Orbán’s government to help the cleanup effort following the infamous “red sludge” disaster.

But the once-warm relationship between the two men has deteriorated substantially over the past seven years, as Orban has drifted further to the right. In 2014, the leader of Hungary’s Fidesz party declared he would seek to model Hungary’s government after “illiberal” democracies like the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Since then, Orban has elicited horrified condemnations from his peers in the European Union and NATO over his purported drift to the far right. His government constructed a border fence in defiance of the European Commission’s plan to evenly distribute migrants across Europe. His opposition to accepting refugees and Muslim immigrants has drawn accusations of Islamophobia. And his crackdown on domestic political opponents has also raised hackles with the Amnesty International set.

And now, some of his domestic critics are levying accusations of anti-Semitism, as his political battle of wills with his former mentor has morphed into an all-out propaganda campaign playing out on billboards across Hungary.

As Bloomberg points out, Orban’s Fidesz party has targeted Soros, whose “Open Society” organizations work to spread democracy and globalist values across Eastern Europe, in a nationwide, taxpayer-funded billboard campaign that’s been criticized as anti-Semitic. Soros’s image has been splashed across billboards, where he stands accused of being a political puppet master. 

The campaign is just the latest salvo in the feud between the two men, which spilled into public view earlier this year. Back in June, Soros famously accused Orban of transforming Hungary into a “mafia state” and of using Soros’s visage to scare Hungarians into supporting his party.

“He [Orbán] sought to frame his policies as a personal conflict between the two of us and has made me the target of his unrelenting propaganda campaign,” Soros said.

As Bloomberg adds if Orban’s call for Europeans to “take back control of their nations” from Brussels resonates, it could be a sign that ties are rapidly eroding in the former communist east.

Of course, Hungary isn’t alone in its rejection of western values: Poland is undergoing a historic fallout in political relations with the EU, of which it is a member. In Austria, a 31-year-old anti-immigration candidate led his party to victory in Parliamentary elections earlier this month. In the Czech Republic, a populist tycoon named Andrej Babis who’s been described as the “Czech Donald Trump.” Babis led his party to a landslide victory, making him the frontrunner to become the republic’s next prime minister. Italy"s two richest regions overwhelmingly voted for autonomy over the weekend, and so on.

That said, with his unlimited financial resources, Soros is more than capable of striking back against Orban. The billionaire financier donated $18 billion in assets from his family office to his “Open Society” foundation, which oversees a network of dozens of nonprofits that seek to promote Soros’s political values. Incidentally, the final showdown - financial or otherwise - may be not between Soros and Orban but Soros and Putin whose wealth, according to some estimates as much as $200 billion, is orders of magnitude higher than that of Soros.