During Tucker Carlson’s recent visit to Budapest, where he gave a speech apologizing for the “disgusting” behavior of the US Ambassador to Hungary, the former Fox News anchor sat down with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Orbán – Hungary’s longest-serving prime minister – knows a thing or two about Russia (having grown up under their occupation, and been arrested and thrown into jail by Russian-backed police for his efforts to liberate the country) and Ukraine (a nation with which is shares a border), and so Tucker sat down to ask him – what exactly is going on in Ukraine right now (given the propagandic opacity of news in America).
“It is not just a misunderstanding, it is a lie,” Orban begins, when asked about the fact that American media continue to claim that ‘Ukraine is winning’ the war.
He suggests that the Biden administration misunderstands Russia, and attempting to remove Putin could lead to dangerous instability.
“To understand the Russians it’s a difficult thing, especially if you have an ocean between you and Russia.”
Orbán points out that Western political conversations often center on freedom, while Russian conversations focus on keeping the country together, and warns against the dangerous implications of the U.S. strategy, particularly for countries like Hungary that are geographically closer to the conflict.
“Don’t misunderstand the Russians. So they’re not going to get sick of Putin and throw him out, come on, it’s a joke.”
He criticizes Vice President Kamala Harris for suggesting that Ukraine could join NATO, saying it was an unrealistic proposal that escalated tensions.
Instead, the Hungarian PM urges a new security architecture that respects Ukraine’s sovereignty but doesn’t include NATO membership.
Seemingly for his unwillingness to simply acquiesce to every talking point provided by Washington, and instead to put his nation’s people first – and their energy and food needs – Orbán has been called a “fascist” numerous times by western media, a ‘puppet of Putin’ and ‘friend of Russia’..
Carlson asked Orbán, “are you worried about being crushed by the US?”
“It’s dangerous,” replies the Hungarian PM, recognizing that “I am not the favorite politician of the liberals, but nobody’s perfect.”
But, he adds that he doesn’t care because there are more important values required to uphold a civil society:
“There are certain things that are more important than me, than my ego: family, nation, god.”
“To be Hungarian is to be very proud of it. We love the nation, we love the country, and we are proud of it. It’s not every much mainstream thinking, political thinking of a western society.
But in Hungary, we are still very patriotic and Christian and committed to those values. Not from an ideological level, but on the streets everyday,”
The Hungarian approach is simple, he explains, “Washington is far away, Russia and Ukraine are close,” noting that decisions made in the US can have immediate impacts for his nation.
“It’s dangerous is my answer. So we should not neglect the importance of that fact and when the United States and this administration does not like you, or considers you as an enemy or a having a backtrack, it’s dangerous in international politics,”
Reflecting on NATO’s stance in the Ukraine war, Orbán exclaims:
“this is a bad strategy, we have to stop it” adding that “we cannot beat [the Russians], we will not kill their leader, they will never give it up, they will invest more.”
“What finally will count is boots on the ground, and the Russians are far stronger.”
Orbán then makes the ultimate mistake among global leaders, he praises former US president Trump:
“Call back Trump. That’s the only way out. Call back Trump,” Orbán said.
“Because you know, you can criticize him for many reasons. I understand all the discussion. But the best foreign policy of the recent several decades belonged to him. He did not initiate any new war. He treated nicely the North Koreans and Russia, even the Chinese. You know, he delivered a policy which was the best one for the Middle East, Abraham Accords. So he had very good foreign policy.”
“He’s [Trump] criticized because he’s not educated enough to understand foreign policy. This is not the case,” Orbán told Carlson.
“Facts count and his foreign policy was the best form for the world in the last several decades I have seen. And if he would have been the president at the moment the Russian invasion started, no, it would not be possible to do that by the Russians. So Trump is the man to save the world and probably the human beings in the world as well.”
Additionally, commenting on the fact that the US government is currently indicting the former president, the Hungarian leader frowns and says:
“…using the justice system against a political opponent… in Hungary, that’s impossible to imagine… that was done by the communists.”
His most ominous warning comes last:
“This is a very dangerous moment now,” he concludes, adding that it should be obvious to everyone that “the third world war is knocking on our door.”
Watch the full interview below:
This post was originally published at Zero Hedge