EU proposes suspending billions in funds to Hungary
From the communist leaning, EUSSR friendly Deutsche Welle
The European Commission wants to withhold €7.5 billion amid graft allegations concerns over Hungarian democracy. The move is the first of its kind in a long standoff between the EU and Budapest.
The European Parliament had brandished Hungary under right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban as an ‘electoral autocracy’
The European Commission on Sunday recommended suspending €7.5 billion ($7.5 billion) in funding to Hungary, Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said.
Hahn said the proposal is in response to allegations of corruption and rule of law violations against the government led by Viktor Orban.
“Today’s decision is a clear demonstration of the Commission’s resolve to protect the EU budget, and to use all tools at our disposal to ensure this important objective,” said Hahn.
Where Did Your Picture of Viktor Orbán Come From?
Most readers will have seen some of those videos that collect multiple instances of identical or nearly identical news clips found on local media sites or cable networks. The topic is usually one that is important to the globalist Narrative: immigration, gun control, the normalization of abnormal sexual activity, etc. Somehow the talking heads on all these different outlets in far-flung locations end up saying exactly the same thing.
The following article (originally in German) provides some indication of how all this happens — there really is a concerted effort to turn out uniform copy and deliver it to multiple media outlets so that most of our sources of information remain “on message”. The author focuses on George Soros and Central Europe, but I’d be willing to bet that a similar methodology is operational throughout the Western world.
Many thanks to Anton for translating this essay from Vera Lengsfeld’s website:
Where did your picture of Viktor Orbán come from?
by guest author Ursula Prem
“Europe will have to endure Orbán for another four years,” headlines a guest article by Anton Pelinka online at ZEIT. Orbán is working on his “vision of an illiberal democracy” in Hungary, the reader learns from the teaser. The “quality of democracy” in Hungary has been falling for years; the following text quotes an “Analysis of the Sustainable Governance Indicators (SGI) of the Bertelsmann Stiftung”. If you click on the link provided by ZEIT at this point, you will find a nearly identical article entitled “Viktor Orbán: weakened, but sure of victory?” on the domain bertelsmann-stiftung.de. According to the author in ZEIT, he is professor of political science and nationalism studies at the Central European University in Budapest.
If you research the donors of the Central European University Budapest, then you learn that the CEU was founded in 1991 by investor George Soros and funded by him with a total of 420 million euros. George Soros can thus be regarded as the regular breadwinner of the author of the article. The Hungarian government accuses George Soros of destabilizing the country with the help of numerous NGOs, and is preparing a comprehensive package of laws against the illegitimate influence of Soros. That no great medium, not even DIE ZEIT, has seriously investigated the allegations against Soros, and instead publishes articles such as those mentioned above with beautiful regularity, surely has a reason, because: If the writer of an article directed against Orbán were on the payroll of their greatest opponent, this would have had to be made transparent. In any case, neutral reporting can not be expected in this constellation.
Strong and superficial
Those who find out about Viktor Orbán the person in several major online portals can easily see that all content-rich articles are largely similar in content. The journalist Keno Verseck wrote for SPIEGEL online on January 1, 2017: “Right-wing governments in Eastern Europe have a new public enemy: the billionaire George Soros. Because he supports civil rights organizations, he is subject to massive anti-Semitic hostility.” This is followed by a very critical report on the new offensive of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his ruling party Fidesz against non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and especially against those funded by Soros’ Open Society Foundation.” In fact, Keno Verseck on SPIEGEL Online is something of a specialist on all Orbán questions. In typical alarmist style he writes on January 24, 2018:
The 87-year-old billionaire, Orbán has claimed for months, has a plan to destroy Europe’s Christian character and the ethnic-cultural identity of its nations. To achieve this, Soros promotes an “invasion” of Europe by millions of illegal migrants, mostly Muslims. Orbán wants to thwart this alleged “Soros plan” with the “Stop Soros” law package.
In reality, there is much more to it: the provisions of the three bills of the “Stop Soros” package can restrict the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), associations and citizens’ initiatives — because they are one of the last remaining controlling bodies of power in Hungary.
None of the many articles by Verseck published by SPIEGEL on the topics of Hungary, Orbán and Soros ever deal with background. They all remain opinionated and superficial. What are the real reasons for Orbán to insist, for example, on transparent funding structures of NGOs? Only so much: he has a lot of reason! However, the explanations would lead us away from the topic of this article.
“As an agency we provide well-researched stories”
Those who google the name Keno Verseck not only encounter other clients, such as the ZEIT, where he sees an era of a sinister “pseudo-democracy” rise in Hungary in 2013 with his contribution “Back to Blood and Home”, but also to one Eastern Europe magazine called ostpol. A total of 87 articles by Keno Verseck are listed there since 2011, many of which revolve around the person of Viktor Orbán. Whether his sports promotion (“questionable”) or his electoral success in 2014, which he owed to “his confrontational rhetoric and a weak opposition”: Orbán has “a very strong personality,” which is why we are concerned about the “threatened freedom of the media.”.
For those who have not yet heard of ostpol: The magazine is produced by n-ost. According to the website, this is a “media NGO“ that has set itself the task of “qualifying journalists and bringing media professionals from various perspectives into dialogue about themselves and the world.“ At the same time, n-ost also presents itself as a supplier of finished articles: “As an agency, we provide well-researched stories on-site — and thus offer an alternative to news tickers. We always have an eye on what and how the media report.” And: “Our network gathers more than 250 journalists and media activists from all over Europe. Their country knowledge connects them with subject-matter expertise, journalistic professionalism and commitment.“
Non-governmental organizations — a sham
That so much commitment costs money is clear. This is where the “Sponsors and Clients” come into play, which n-ost.org also names on its website. In addition to state-owned German funding sources such as the bpb (Federal Agency for Civic Education), the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, other sponsors include the Open Society Foundations — the foundations of George Soros. Let’s be clear: Whoever works for ostpol, is, at least in part, remunerated from the funds of the bustling billionaire. He receives additional funds indirectly from the public purse, whereby the term “NGO“, by which n-ost is headed, becomes a sham, since it means “Non-Governmental Organization”.
The fact that the journalistic content of these alleged non-governmental organizations promoted by Soros and the German government finds its way into many mainstream media may also be due to the support that n-ost receives from another benefactor: the ZEIT Foundation. In fact, there is a great chance of finding the contribution of an ostpol author when trying to find out about Orbán or Soros from major media outlets. Another example of this is the article “This is how Viktor Orbán changed Hungary” from the Süddeutsche Zeitung. It has the same line of reasoning as Keno Verseck’s articles, so it’s simply not worth reading about it in both media. Needless to say, the writer Matthias Kolb also worked for ostpol. The fact that the journalists from the network of this agency complain so much about the supposedly dwindling pluralism in the Hungarian media landscape is arguably just a joke.
The club of ostpol journalists
Krisztián Simon also appears in the Club of ostpol journalists. “Oligarch Mészáros: Orbán’s man for money” is the title of the report written by Simon together with Tibor Racz and Ákos Keller-Alánt for ostpol. In the same cast for the subject, the team probably had a similar article, which it wrote back in 2017 for the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Also from 2017: an article by Krisztián Simon for Cicero, in which once again, as so often, Orbán’s alleged ingratitude to Soros is discussed. The fact that Simon is presented as a “scholarship holder of the Robert Bosch Foundation in Berlin“, a patron, who is also in the sponsor list of n-ost, is certainly just a coincidence.
“What threatens Europe after another Viktor Orbán victory?”
The journalist Stephan Oszvath , an experienced ostpol employee since 2006, reported on deutschlandfunk.de about an “attack on academic freedom“, while an additional member of the large ostpol family in the HuffPost “How Europe is threatened by another Viktor Orbán victory”.
Also on ostpol: Michał Kokot , who writes on TIME Online about Orbán on the day of the election in Hungary: “Success through incitement against refugees”.
Soros interviews Soros
A very special treat is served up on April 5, 2018 in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, three days before the election in Hungary. Under the heading “The German car industry must stop being abused by Orbán“, ostpol member Matthias Kolb once again enters the ring. “The political researcher Thorsten Benner from the think tank Global Public Policy Institute closely monitors the developments in Hungary”, one learns in the teaser. Followed by an interview with Thorsten Benner, who appeals to the German automotive industry to distance themselves from Orbán, the indirect hint of a veritable scheiss-storm including:
There is no campaign by non-governmental organizations calling for: “Mr von Klaeden, stop courting Mr. Orbán.” I am really surprised that this important issue is ignored in this country, because it is clearly campaign-worthy.
Anyone who informs himself about the think tank Global Public Policy Institute will find on its website under the tab “About” — subsection “Funding” the sponsors of the institute in question. It is where Soros’ Open Society Foundations and Soros-funded Central European University meet, among others. Thorsten Benner is thus contaminated by the money and the enemies of Orbán, and thus in no way are they to be considered neutral observers. The Süddeutsche does not seem to dispute this: It lets a journalist with ostpol credentials interview an activist of GPPI. Proposal for the next edition: George Soros could simply interview himself to create more transparency.
Pseudo-pluralism — the intermediate step to totalitarianism
The samples presented show that even a seemingly diverse media landscape quickly shrinks to a few actors when it comes to enforcing the power of interpretation on a topic. ZEIT, with Anton Pelinka, Keno Verseck and Michał Kokot, has allowed three authors to speak but has “forgotten” to mention their economic connections with Orbán’s archenemy. The same lack of transparency applies to SPIEGEL: “Keno Verseck works for an NGO supported by George Soros and your inclined German government“ — unfortunately, one looks for this information in vain. Rather, it may be assumed that the majority of journalists from the ostpol network today shape the image that the West is getting of Viktor Orbán. People who certainly show more talent for gratitude than the headstrong Hungarian Prime Minister. In the article by Krisztián Simon it states: “Orban used to have a friendly relationship with Soros. His political career would probably not have taken off easily without Soros, because it was Soros who made it possible for Orban to study at Oxford on a scholarship where he could polish his English. Those English skills would help him in later years, when he became acquainted with foreigners abroad and tried to present himself as a Western-minded politician“ — For Simon it seems to be a foregone conclusion that one pledges lifelong loyalty to the donor when receiving a scholarship.
Is the key to today’s media crisis in such unspoken commitments and expectations, in which wealthy patrons, ministries, NGOs and political foundations select according to their ideological fit, who in the future may belong to their circle and present their findings to the world via the major media? Which of those, who hang on the fishing line of the do-gooders, wants to present themselves as stubborn, obstinate or even ungrateful? Is that why almost every new article in the mainstream media reads the same way, while its content in many cases seems tragically wrong and almost grotesque when scratched on the surface by random personal researching?
“The government is constantly faking an alleged “Soros Plan”, from which it protects Hungary. Of course, there is no evidence of this alleged plot,“ writes Anton Pelinka in DIE ZEIT. To the supposedly missing evidence one can only say: The man should have just looked in the mirror. Or in the MIRROR [Spiegel]. Or another big newspaper.
Join now!
ostpol shows that it is possible to bring together many journalists of the “right” mindset by means of private and/or state funding, to bring them into line and to ensure that they all write almost the same thing. Critical reading is therefore the order of the day, whether it’s about small blogs or major media. Maybe someone of you feel like continuing the research and linking the results via a comment here? I have already discovered a possible starting point:
In 2016 the journalist Anja Reschke presented the Grimme Online Award to the creators of the portal “decoder — decoding Russia”, editor-in-chief: Tamina Kutscher. Tamina Kutscher is also a member of ostpol. My question: If almost every piece of information we receive from the leading media about Viktor Orbán comes from ostpol, and ostpol has shaped our image of Orbán: what about Vladimir Putin? Is the new Cold War that is just beginning to be the result of a single will that has not even been democratically elected? That there are probably many things to criticize about both Orbán and Putin: absolutely! Of interest to me is only the question of whether we receive the information about both persons from neutral sources or not. Does anyone have time and desire to deal with this question?
This article first appeared on the blog of Ursula Prem.