US Embassy cautions Hungary against ‘moving apart’
October 20th, 2022The leading pro-government daily describes as ’scandalous’ the US embassy reaction to ‘anti-American remarks’ by government and government-funded commentators. Meanwhile, a pro-government TV Station ’responds in kind’.
In its Twitter video, the US Embassy quotes statements by pro-government outlets and two Fidesz politicians (Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén and Parliament Speaker László Kövér) severely critical of the United States. In a quiz format, the video invites viewers to guess whether the remarks were made by Viktor Orbán loyalists or by Vladimir Putin. The video concludes with the following commentary: ’In recent weeks, several senior Hungarian government figures and government-funded commentators have made harsh anti-Western and anti-American statements. Hungary and the United States are Allies. As Russian aggression threatens us all, we must stand together, not move apart.’
Magyar Nemzet reproduces the video without commentary, but qualifies it as ’scandalous’ in its headline.
HírTV, on the other hand, posts five questions in the same style asking whether (1) blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipeline was an act of terror (2) whether it was Vladimir Putin or Joe Biden who threatened to ‘blow up’ Nord Stream (in its headline HÍRTV quotes President Biden verbatim as saying – last January – that ‘there will be no North Stream’ in case Russia attacks Ukraine); (3) who gave the Hungarian opposition billions (of Forints) in support ‘to overthrow the government’ – Putin’s oligarchs or American Democrat circles; (4) who is the biggest winner of the war (in Ukraine) Europe or the United States?; and (5) who sells European natural gas at four times the domestic price, America or Russia?
Tags: Biden, diplomacy, Putin, US Embassy