Peter:
I have a Hungarian cousin, who escaped Hungary after the 1956 revolution and now is living in Los Angeles, very much dedicated to saving humanity from itself and inspired by his father who was on the same mission. In his last email he said he was very worried about fascism. It was not clear to me if he meant in the USA or in Hungary. I have no interest in Hungary but I do appreciate the heritage, a small country that has produced a large number of very successful people including Robert Oppenheimer and Peter Lorre at the other end of the spectrum. Since I’m much more interested in the leader of the free world I replied that I was much more worried about socialism.
Strange situation, considering they are EU members since 2004… tricky … where do “they”, or should I say “Orban” want to go… the wedge between Putin and the west.
If you approve of Brexit think of it as trying to break free from Brussels which can be seen as economic colonialism by Germany but with dictatorial inclinations that even tried to control British bangers! To which power can Hungary look for support, Russia? The USA? There are few alternatives. I’ve only heard Orban once and it was about refugees. He did not want Brussels to dictate to Hungary taking a very nationalistic stance. I see nothing wrong with that.
Portugal seems to take a good middle of the road attitude. It’s getting lots of EU financing for public works which solves the unemployment problem (as Rómulo Betancourt discovered after he stopped the Pérez Jiménez ‘white elephant’ projects). Portugal also exports lots of labor to the EU. While still a poor country by EU standards the people seem quite content, there are lots of imported cars on the road (no local production), and the Metro has lots of German escalators. Just now they are building two new extensions to the Metro, one in Porto and another in Vila Nova de Gaia. Still living there, low population density quasi suburban town with dozens of new residential buildings sprouting up all over. They are rebuilding a road that looked good enough to me. Updating public squares, repairing roads, changing street lights that worked just fine. Supermarkets well stocked. Friendly people. Hardly any beggars and homeless people. Covid testing stations all over. Handouts for the poor. It works!
Cheers!
The Captain