This is a little exercise in compare-and-contrast. A lot more could be said on the topic (two topics, actually), but we’ll start with this simple comparison.
First, French President Emmanuel “Toy Boy” Macron, who really, really seems to want a direct military confrontation with Russia. From Sky News:
Europe should prepare for war if it wants peace, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.
In an interview on French national television, Mr Macron said Vladimir Putin’s Russia was an adversary that would not stop in Ukraine if it defeated Kyiv’s troops.
“If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility will be reduced to zero,” Mr Macron said.
He added: “If war spread in Europe, Russia would be to blame.
“But if we decided to be weak, if we decided today that we would not respond, it would be choosing defeat already. And I don’t want that.”
He went on to say Europe’s security was “at stake in Ukraine”.
Mr Macron said it was important for Europe not to draw red lines, which would signal weakness to the Kremlin and encourage it to push on with its invasion of Ukraine.
But he refused to give detail on what a deployment to Ukraine might look like.
Mr Macron also reiterated his position on sending Western troops into Ukraine should not be ruled out but added that today’s situation did not require that.
“We’re not in that situation today,” he said, but added that “all these options are possible”.
Europe’s security is “at stake in Ukraine” only in the sense that interfering with what Russia considers its existential security issues is VERY bad for the security of the EU.
Time was, European political leaders (think: Bismarck) had a very well-developed sense of Realpolitik, of what was possible, and what might be accomplished within the constraints posed by the strengths and weaknesses of the competing great powers. But nothing remotely like that is in evidence today. Western leaders seem to fall all over themselves to strike a match next to the pool of gasoline that the Ukraine war represents.
There is a lot of speculation about why Mr. Macron is engaging in this flagrantly inflammatory rhetoric. One theory holds that he (and other EU leaders) are aware that the USA is about to cut its losses and bail on Ukraine, leaving the Europeans holding the bag. The collapse of the Ukrainian project will have devastating political consequences for the European Union, the full ramifications of which are not yet visible.
OK, that was the boy. Now consider one of the few adults on the European political scene.
The following report gives a representative account of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán from the point of view of the Western establishment — specifically, the media component of the Deep State known as The Washington Post. For many years I have assiduously avoided reading the WaPo, but I suppressed my gag reflex long enough to read this article in order to get an idea of the Conventional Wisdom on Mr. Orbán.
Some excerpts:
In a blunt speech Thursday, U.S. Ambassador David Pressman accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of acting to “undermine trust.”
“This is not a government that is responsive to dialogue, and démarches, and offers to work together to constructively address problems,” Pressman said in an interview ahead of a speech marking the 25th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to the NATO alliance. For that reason, the United States is committed to “unflinchingly” calling out Hungary, he said.
In the speech, Pressman criticized Budapest for cronyism, muzzling opposition voices and the takeover of independent media — in effect expanding on an assertion by President Biden last week that Orban is “looking for dictatorship.”
Hungarian officials had already taken strong offense to that comment, with Hungary’s Foreign Ministry urgently summoning the U.S. ambassador on Tuesday.
Biden made the remark during a protocol-breaking trip to the United States by Orban last week. An avowed nationalist who has led Hungary since 2010, Orban did not receive an invitation from the White House or meet with any administration officials, but instead visited former president Donald Trump — walking a red carpet, flanked by U.S. and Hungarian flags — at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Afterward, Orban hailed Trump as a “ president of peace,” adding in a post on the X social media platform, “We need him back more than ever!”
Pressman said in his speech, “Prime Minister Orban, who on one hand baselessly claims the United States government is trying to overthrow his government, publicly calls for the political defeat of the President of the United States.”
[…]
Hungary has taken an unforgiving approach to foreign policy, repeatedly dragging its feet on multilateral efforts to support Ukraine and sanction Russia. Orban delayed approval of Sweden’s entry into NATO for nearly two years.
While isolating Hungary from many of its allies in the European Union and NATO, his railing against progressive globalists has won him fans among U.S. Republicans and inserted the Central European nation into U.S. domestic politics.
[…]
The United States has also restricted access for Hungarians to its visa waiver program amid concerns that foreign nationals have fraudulently obtained its passports, saying Hungary has not responded to security concerns.
So Hungary is accused of “cronyism, muzzling opposition voices and the takeover of independent media” — that description would fit ANY member state of the Western Alliance. How about arresting and murdering opposition politicians, banning opposing political parties, and persecuting religious minorities? Oh, wait — it’s Ukraine that does those things. Never mind.
Mr. Orbán is said to be pursuing “dictatorship”, but what that means in this context is acting against the diktats imposed by Washington and Brussels.
Viktor Orbán is simply exhibiting a quality that is sorely lacking in most Western leaders these days: prudence.
It is prudent for a Hungarian leader to step carefully around Russia. Hungarians have shown that they are willing to stand up to the Russians when the situation requires, as they did in 1956, but they are not inclined to tweak the Russian bear just for the heck of it. Prudence would counsel the careful nurturing of a bilateral relationship that is mutually beneficial to both parties.
One reason that Hungary is able to follow an independent path is that it is unconstrained by indebtedness to the International Monetary Fund. That gives it room to maneuver that most Western nations lack.
It’s one of the circumstances that helps Viktor Orbán act like the adult in the room, leaving most of the rest of the EU to run around screaming and hollering like preschoolers in daycare.
If the Micron loves war so much, why doesn’t he put on a uniform and go and fight for Ukraine.
Better still, why doesn’t the Micron challenge Mr Putin to a bare knuckle fight?
I would pay for that.
In the roman Coliseum with Thunderdome rules:
Two enter, but only one leaves alive.
@john in cheshire
Re: “If the Micron loves war so much, why doesn’t he put on a uniform and go and fight for Ukraine.”
Ninety or so years ago, retired U.S. Marine Corps General Smedley Darlington Butler – a rare two-time Medal of Honor recipient who valor under fire and military pedigree were beyond reproach – penned a short-but-potent book entitled “War is a Racket,” which is still in print today.
Butler, who had retired in 1931 after failing to be selected as Commandant of the Marine Corps, reflected upon his years in uniform and concluded that much of them had been spent as an enforcer for big money and other special interests. Becoming late in life something of a pacifist, he penned the book and embarked upon a nation-wide speaking tour.
The book has many famous quotes, but one which stands out can be paraphrased as: “War is the ultimate racket, one whose profits are measured in dollars, but whose costs are measured in blood.”
Men like Macron posture as strong, tough leaders in their thousand-dollar suits – but when they inevitably start yet another unnecessary war, they are never the ones to do the fighting, bleeding or the dying. They send others to do that in their place. There’s an important message in that.
Macron is a scion of the Rothschild banking dynasty, many of whose members are multi-billionaires. Answer this question, please: Why does a billionaire need more money? Because I sure can’t figure that one out!
And that’s what all of those young men would be dying or being maimed to do – add more zeroes to their already massive fortune.
“Better still, why doesn’t the Micron challenge Mr Putin to a bare knuckle fight?”
One of the many things wrong with the post-modern West is that virtually none of its leaders or members of its ruling class have “skin in the game” where wars are concerned. They neither fight themselves, nor do any of their relatives, friends or associates. They thus have little incentive to curb their aggressiveness or willingness to wage war, since they profit from them while socializing the costs to others.
In ancient times, kings and emperors may have started wars, but at least they had the integrity and courage enough to fight in them alongside the men of their armies. Indeed, they often led such armies into battle. Perhaps it is time for such ancient traditions to be revived. Those who wish to lead a nation or kingdom must first prove their mettle by leading men in battle and fighting alongside them.
As for President Macron, I seriously doubt if that guy has ever been in a scuffle on the playground, let alone in more-serious danger. Allowing such an individual to hold political power is quite problematic in that respect – indeed, he is no man but de facto, a boy.
We got away from dueling at our own peril, there would be a lot less problems if one has pain in the game and there are consequences for running your mouth.
[Roths]children of WW3[psyop]
Little boy Macron should be forced into the front line, where he can wage war on the Russians in person. Just leave the rest of us alone. In reality, I think that, at this stage, most people in Western Europe would welcome the Russians as liberators.
France is already defeated – by invasion from across the Mediterranean. This is bluffing to distract from reality. Logically, Putin doesn’t want to try to manage these invaded chaotic Western European countries.
Never thought that Russia invaders would be saving us, but it’s starting to look that way.
Russia considers the Elbe an existential requirement. Eastern Europe does not agree.