Hungary: A Weimar for the 21st Century?

[Foucaulf]

This is a fantastic thread. I didn't think Orban would act so quickly after the elections a few months ago; I guess I was wrong.

This does seem to be similar to Russia, with the three top parties being unpalatable?

But in Russia, the Kremlin has neutered any opposition with its staged opposition. And Orban is not as calculating as Putin. The political situation in Hungary seems more like a government descending further into far-right rhetoric due to its complete inability to add confidence to the economy.

Hungary's debt as % of GDP is near-Britain levels; its bonds are being valued as junk; and there's no EFSF to bail them out. On top of that, the government is cutting harshly but keeps flip-flopping between going to the IMF or walking out. At least Russia has its oil and gas. Hungary just has no idea what it's doing.

You mean, like this?

Surely this is a facsimile of this...

[Foucaulf]

Um, going back to the original post:

More a turn to the center-right.

I think giving a party a constitution-amending majority signifies a bit more than a "turn". But it's all semantic quibbles at this point.

And we have seen lots of far-right wackos in that part of the world, remember Romania Mare or more Recently Attack! in Bulgaria.

To my limited knowledge, the rise of those parties is mostly a protest vote phenomenon. The establishment did not change their ways, and the protest vote dissipated eventually. In light of its incompetence, the Orban government is coercing the far-right. It's disturbing when the establishment is coaxing clueless Islamophobes, but Jobbik is straight out of the Interwar years.

There is also no need for Jobbik to moderate its obvious fascist undertones. Taking advantage of this political upheaval, the party has maintained its identity and is still rising in the polls!