I admit that I was not surprised by the speech of the Hungarian General Gabor Borondi.
Let us not forget that the Chief of Staff of the Hungarian Army, in a televised interview, described the German aggression against Poland in 1939 as a “local war”. He then went on to say that World War II broke out of this “local” war, all because of a lack of will to conduct “peace negotiations”. Of course he said all this to compare that situation with the situation in Ukraine.
In other words, it seems that, according to the Hungarian general, World War II would not have broken out if only Poland or the West were willing to negotiate with Hitler. So it follows that the Poles were somehow complicit in the outbreak of the world conflict. This is the message of the Hungarian general’s speech.
This historical revisionism fits perfectly with the current policy of Viktor Orbán’s government, which aims at only one thing: to present its compromises with Russia as a peaceful and common sense policy.
It is a strategy to which everything else is secondary, including the historical ties between Hungarians and Poles. As you can see, the days of Pál Teleki, who refused to help Hitler invade Poland, are long gone. Today’s Hungarian military and political leaders look at Poland and the Poles in a completely different way.
After the general’s speech, other Hungarian officials attempted “damage control”.
The head of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s cabinet, Gergely Gulyás, said that “Poland is the biggest victim of the Second World War”. Hungarian President Katalin Novák tweeted that “historical debates and interpretations are better left to historians”.
These efforts to improve the situation are certainly to be welcomed. However, I think we should nevertheless realize one thing: Warsaw and Budapest are currently on diametrically opposite strategic sides. And it is possible that this gap between them will widen.
After all, there are no indications that Orbán will redefine his policy. On the contrary.
In the region, Serbia, the main pro-Russian player in this part of Europe, became its main ally. This partnership is getting stronger and has different dimensions. Orban’s policies were also secondary to Pope Francis’ recent visit to Budapest and his pronouncements on the need for peace in Ukraine. Indeed, the Hungarian government presented it as a confirmation of its attitude towards Russian aggression, which, as I have already written, is presented as “peacemaking”.
At the same time, Orban, through his people, is running a strong public relations campaign in the United States, especially in those conservative circles who, like him, believe that Washington is too involved in the war in Ukraine. It is roughly the same circles that describe Polish politics as “madness” and the government in Warsaw as “war hawks”. Influential intellectuals from these circles, such as Rod Dreher or Gladden Pappin, professionally associated with the institutions of the Hungarian government, write eulogies about Orban in the American media.
In other words, Viktor Orban’s government is linked to all the powers in Europe and across the Atlantic waiting to return to cooperation with Russia. On business as usual.
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I know that as a Croat I have no right to interfere in the deep historical and political relations between Hungarians and Poles. I know all about the brotherhood between these two nations.
Nevertheless, I must write: we must be aware that the Hungarian general’s statement was not an extravagance. It well reflects the current state of consciousness of much of the Hungarian political elite.
It would be good if the politicians in Budapest treated the general’s blunder as an opportunity for reflection.
Like an alarm that warns them that they are going in the wrong direction. And that they still have time to come back.
Source: wPolityce