People tend to underestimate the enormous success of the EU. It can be seen in the economical developments of Poland and the Baltic states. Ukraine saw it and wanted in on it. Russia knowing that if Ukraine too would ‘fall’ to democracy, Russia itself would inevitably follow. So Navalny needed to be killed, Ukraine invaded, the EU sabotaged. Hungary was their pawn. Not only could Hungary halt EU decision making through veto’s, they could also be used in propaganda. How can Putin be all bad if even this EU country sympathizes with him? The EU will now be very inclined to make Hungary as succesfull as they can. It’s too early to celebrate, the Hungarian government will still be filled with lots of Fidesz bureaucrats. And the new government may still be inclined to use its ties with Russia. But the past decades have proven that the cheap Russian oil can’t compensate for the corruption that comes along. Magyars anti-corruption stance is pretty much saying: we want to model our country towards the EU examples, not Russia. Lets hope Magyar succeeds and other countries follow. Lets hope that eventually Belarus and Russia will rejoin the European family. The world has much to win here. The US not understanding why they need to support Ukraine tells us they don’t care much for democracy anymore. It’s understandable that if your government fails to supply you with decent living conditions, you won’t be inclined to support helping out other countries on the path towards decent government. But both can be done at the same time: focus on sorting out your own government, while simultaneously supporting other countries on the same path. The EU has been the driving force behind multilateralism. If we want a rules-based order, if we want to save the planet, if we want a better future, we want a strong EU leading the way. We want to support nations in their striving for democracy.
People tend to underestimate the enormous success of the EU. It can be seen in the economical developments of Poland and the Baltic states. Ukraine saw it and wanted in on it. Russia knowing that if Ukraine too would ‘fall’ to democracy, Russia itself would inevitably follow. So Navalny needed to be killed, Ukraine invaded, the EU sabotaged. Hungary was their pawn. Not only could Hungary halt EU decision making through veto’s, they could also be used in propaganda. How can Putin be all bad if even this EU country sympathizes with him? The EU will now be very inclined to make Hungary as succesfull as they can. It’s too early to celebrate, the Hungarian government will still be filled with lots of Fidesz bureaucrats. And the new government may still be inclined to use its ties with Russia. But the past decades have proven that the cheap Russian oil can’t compensate for the corruption that comes along. Magyars anti-corruption stance is pretty much saying: we want to model our country towards the EU examples, not Russia. Lets hope Magyar succeeds and other countries follow. Lets hope that eventually Belarus and Russia will rejoin the European family. The world has much to win here. The US not understanding why they need to support Ukraine tells us they don’t care much for democracy anymore. It’s understandable that if your government fails to supply you with decent living conditions, you won’t be inclined to support helping out other countries on the path towards decent government. But both can be done at the same time: focus on sorting out your own government, while simultaneously supporting other countries on the same path. The EU has been the driving force behind multilateralism. If we want a rules-based order, if we want to save the planet, if we want a better future, we want a strong EU leading the way. We want to support nations in their striving for democracy.