Obviously, Viktor Orbán has warm relations with Vladimir Putin. He is probably Putin’s closest ally in Europe, if you don’t count Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian dictator. But Orbán has warm relations with China and Iran, too. More on that in a moment.
In 2017, Orbán said, “We all sense — it’s in the air — that the world is in the process of a substantial realignment.” This was when Putin was making a visit to Budapest. For his part, Putin hailed Hungary as an “important and reliable partner for Russia in Europe.”
That it has been. While other European nations have weaned themselves off Russian oil and gas, for example, Hungary has strengthened its energy ties with the Kremlin. ...
About Viktor Orbán and us, so to speak, there is a great deal more to say. Do you know about the case of the Lyubishins, father and son? Vladimir Sr. and Vladimir Jr.? I wrote about it here. (The case didn’t get much play in the Republican media.) The Lyubishins are Russian arms dealers. We, the United States, asked for their extradition. Instead, Orbán sent them back to Putin.
I would remind Orbán’s fans in America of a slogan: “America First.”
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