"Hungary's slow-motion transformation into a soft-authoritarian state may appear to Washington and Brussels as a provincial concern on Europe's periphery. Yet Mr. Orban looks with admiration to Vladimir Putin—and harbors Putin-like aspirations. Hungary has in recent years granted citizenship to ethnic Hungarians in neighboring states, and the goal of resurrecting a Greater Hungary stretching beyond the country's post-World War I borders is no fantasy for many nationalist elites.
More broadly, Mr. Orban's illiberal candor is a warning that free markets and free societies need more forceful defending. The West's victory in the Cold War led to a complacency that the liberal idea was triumphant—that it was "the end of history," in the fashionable phrase of the day. But authoritarians are always lurking to seize on democratic weakness."
"Mr. Orban clearly believes he runs no risk. The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, needs to respond with more than the usual admonitions and hand-wringing. The commission could start by reducing the 21.91 billion euros (about $29.33 billion) the European Union has allocated to Hungary to finance infrastructure development from 2014-20. It should also begin proceedings to invoke Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, which allows the suspension of voting rights of a member state that is at serious risk of breaching the values listed in Article 2, including the rule of law, freedom, democracy and respect for human rights. The commission would diminish its credibility if it fails to take steps to sanction Hungary for systematically breaching these values."
"When the Cold War ended, Hungary occupied a special place in the story of the revolutions of 1989. It was the first country in the Soviet orbit to abandon communism and embrace liberal democracy. Today it is again a trendsetter, becoming the first European country to denounce and distance itself from liberal democracy. It is adopting a new system and set of values that are best exemplified by Vladimir Putin’s Russia but are finding echoes in other countries as well."
"Amerika hosszú évek óta leköpi az összeset. Amikor megfigyeli, lehallgatja nemcsak a saját állampolgárait (az is égbekiáltó bűn!), hanem bárkit a világon. Az maga a liberális szabadságjogok felszámolása. Amikor tárgyalás és ítélet nélkül tart embereket fogva leírhatatlan körülmények között Guantánamón, az a liberális szabadságjogok felszámolása. Amikor megengedi, hogy kínozzák a foglyokat, az a liberális szabadságjogok felszámolása."
