@luisgprado.bsky.social
Author of "Budapest Twilight: Hungary in the Time of Orbán" https://tienda.cyberdark.net/budapest-twilight-hungary-in-the-time-of-orban-n256079.html
🧐One of Viktor Orbán's MPs and a Hungarian government commissioner just shared a bizarre AI-generated image suggesting it’s over for Ursula von der Leyen and that “the Patriots have arrived.”
A drunk trio of Orbán, Babiš, and Fico ring her doorbell—with Fico barely managing to stay on his feet.
Great reporting on the contagion risks of the Trump presidency, drawing in parts on insights from the @disintegrationerc.bsky.social project.
08.10.2025 06:22 — 👍 40 🔁 17 💬 1 📌 2I still need to watch this myself, but the newest innovation from Orbán's workshop is a movie about the 1241-42 Mongolian invasion that killed almost half of Hungary's population, depicting Batu Khan as a peacenik converted by wise Hungarian leaders and a papal legate as a scheming Western traitor.
07.10.2025 16:20 — 👍 8 🔁 6 💬 2 📌 1In the US & Europe we only hear how "successful" Orban's democracy-ending playbook is. Not enough about how it inevitably leads to decay of living standards and public disaffection. Thanks @bironagyandras.bsky.social & policy solutions for finding the facts!
05.10.2025 07:25 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
💥🌈Despite the Orbán government's ban under the homophobic “child protection law,” thousands joined today’s Pride march in the Hungarian city of Pécs. Far-right protesters showed up, but police protected the march—just as they did when 100-200K defied the Budapest Pride ban this summer
📸: 444.hu
In coming full circle, though, Trump is also copying a page from Orban's media playbook in Hungary. As @zecsaky.bsky.social explained here, in addition to the right-wing outlets they already owned, Orban's pals bought up opposition outlets and turned them into regime mouthpieces.
(Gift link.)
💰Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz and their proxies spent six times more on Facebook ads than all Czech parties combined. In Czechia, it was an election campaign; in Hungary, it wasn’t. The Orbán camp' paid content is still live on Facebook and YouTube despite a new ban.
Source: @HungarianSunday on X
💥 In Copenhagen, Donald Tusk trolled Viktor Orbán, who claimed Europe’s real danger isn’t Russia (which is too weak, he argues) but “economic stagnation and lost competitiveness.”
Ironically, those are Hungary’s biggest problems due to Orbán’s failed economic policies, and rampant corruption.
💥🔎 On X/Twitter, Visegrád24 became famous for its anti-Muslim and anti-migration stance as well as waves of disinformation. A recent report brings to light people, funding and political actors tied to their Central Europe-based but international network. @vsquare.bsky.social
03.10.2025 06:59 — 👍 121 🔁 65 💬 4 📌 4
The monograph about illiberal gender politics is out/ kèsz a könyv. Kapható a LIRA online shopban ès könyvesboltokban. 📘📙📗📕⤵️
01.10.2025 05:32 — 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Soros is as close as the world’s strongmen get to a cross-border demon. Hundreds of human rights groups, investigative journalists, democracy advocates and other disobedient types have received Soros grants. No global philanthropist comes close to Soros’ $32 bn funding of such cases.
01.10.2025 06:51 — 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 4 📌 0
I’ve been travelling in Ukraine with EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, who visited minority communities in Uzhhorod as Hungary continues blocking progress on Kyiv’s accession bid.
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
☝️The European Commission once again has a Deputy Director-General of Hungarian nationality. Ildikó Horváth has been appointed DDG of DG Translation. Since the Orbán government began its ongoing conflict with Brussels, no Hungarian citizen has been given such a high position in the @ec.europa.eu
30.09.2025 11:25 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
The Hungarian leader said it doesn't matter if a few Hungarian drones flew over Ukraine, since he doesn't consider Ukraine an independent, sovereign country.
#EuropeNews
Poor Hungary. Thought everything would be easy after Trump got elected (and he has lavished praise on Orban & eased ESTA conditions). But, last week he decides EU countries should not buy Russian oil. Now, he is going after one of Hungary’s few “prestige” export industries (film production).
29.09.2025 14:19 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
#Hungary blocks 12 #Ukrainian media outlets in response to Kyiv's earlier ban on several foreign, including Hungarian, publications over Russian narratives, Hungarian Cabinet Minister Gergely Gulyas said kyivindependent.com/hungary-bans...
29.09.2025 15:44 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
⚡️BREAKING: Viktor Orbán’s government says Hungary will block Ukrainian news sites in response to Ukraine’s earlier ban on pro-Kremlin Hungarian-language portals. Orbán’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyás announced it—auto-translation on the pic, and here's the original: www.facebook.com/gergely.guly...
29.09.2025 10:26 — 👍 42 🔁 18 💬 5 📌 2‼️Hungary's NATO allies should pay attention: Asked if he considers what would happen if NATO’s Article 5 is invoked, Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán said he spends much time on war issues but refused to say if Hungary would respect Article 5.
He’d reveal his stance only if the “situation arises.”
4 NGOs have written to the @ec.europa.eu demanding infringement procedures against #Hungary for breaching the EU’s AI Act ban on real-time facial recognition to police public places. Orbán’s government threatened to use the technology at a banned Pride event over the weekend, @politico.eu writes 🌈
29.09.2025 05:36 — 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1Everywhere you look, the EU is busy figuring out how to bypass the Hungarian veto. Yesterday it was about using frozen Russian assets, today it’s Ukraine’s accession. They’re focused on legal formulas, not action against #Hungary — there’s no majority for that. Welcome, EU-26! 🤗
29.09.2025 06:14 — 👍 43 🔁 13 💬 3 📌 1⚡️PM Viktor Orbán said on Monday that 2-4 Hungarian drones “either crossed or not” into Ukraine’s airspace, but added “Ukraine is not a sovereign country” and Hungary is not their enemy, so it doesn’t matter.
🚀Ukraine’s army said one Hungarian drone incursion on September 26 reached 20–30 km deep.
However chaotic Romanian politics can be it is still worth noting how Romania's economic miracle since 2000 has not just drawn Moldova deep into the EU system but might also exert a growing effect on Hungarian politics as well
29.09.2025 07:38 — 👍 196 🔁 37 💬 6 📌 3
“The real opponent of Orbán is Hungary’s cost-of-living crisis.”
In Szabolcs Dull's podcast, I argued: if the campaign is about social reality, Péter Magyar & Tisza have the edge. Fidesz’s strategy? A “we could live worse” narrative.
🎥 Full interview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoJL...
Post Orbán Viktor W @PM_ViktorOrban 0... Hungary is a member of NATO and the EU. Ukraine would have collapsed long ago without the support of these two organisations. President @ZelenskyyUa, with all due respect, stop harassing us!
More whining.
27.09.2025 18:05 — 👍 149 🔁 24 💬 15 📌 1That HU disrupts the functioning of the EU’s internal market comes as no surprise, nor that it manages state aid schemes flawlessly to the benefit of foreign companies. But that NL investments lend their support to Orbán’s authoritarian regime becomes undeniable when reading this @fd.nl analysis
27.09.2025 16:38 — 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
💥After Viktor Orbán's foreign minister Péter Szijjártó dismissed Zelensky as “becoming an insane Hungarian-hater” for claiming Hungarian drones crossed into Ukraine, here are details from Ukraine’s army on the airspace violation by the “drone-type object” on September 26.
27.09.2025 07:56 — 👍 43 🔁 15 💬 2 📌 1
“The goal [in Copenhagen] is to gather sufficient support from other countries to isolate Orbán,” an EU diplomat said on the condition of anonymity to speak freely. “We’re in the gray area.”
27.09.2025 05:21 — 👍 69 🔁 17 💬 0 📌 1Hungary can use non-Russian oil — claims to the contrary are government propaganda. Cheap Russian crude fuels massive profits for MOL the country’s oil company, which then bankrolls Fidesz allies. Oil could just as easily come via Croatia. Don’t buy the lie.
27.09.2025 06:06 — 👍 18 🔁 9 💬 0 📌 0This could be huge. Ukraine says it suspects Hungarian “entities” of conducting reconnaissance on Ukrainian targets and then passing intel to Russia.
Hungarian drones were tracked in Ukrainian border areas shortly before a Russian cruise missile site on a plant.
As expected, Trump is very understanding with Orbán's refusal to stop buying Russian oil. "Hungary is landlocked. They don't have a nice ocean. (...) They are married to one pipeline. I just don't want to have people go blaming them"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3ur...
