Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned of the danger of World War III and urged early peace in the Russo-Ukrainian war in an interview with American media personality Tucker Carlson, which appeared on Carlson’s social media site X at dawn on Wednesday, Central European time. He also talked about: we should agree with the Russians on a new security architecture in order to “provide security and sovereignty to Ukraine”, but not NATO membership.
“We live in very dangerous times. The Third World War could be knocking on our door,” said the Hungarian Prime Minister, adding: that’s why you have to be very careful. “This is what I always tell America, for example at the NATO summit: be careful!”
He explained: if any Western country sent soldiers to the battlefield, it would mean a direct war between the West and Russia, and then “we would immediately find ourselves in a third world war.” So this is a very dangerous moment, he added.
Arguing in favor of peace, Viktor Orbán highlighted that a significant Hungarian minority of more than 150,000 lives in the territory of Ukraine. “Hungarian soldiers die for Ukraine as Ukrainian citizens. (…) the Hungarian nation, we also lose lives every day,” he said.
He also touched on: NATO as an institution that says exactly “what we say”; so there is no participation and “we have to do everything for peace”. At the same time, NATO also says that the member countries should do everything in their power to support the Ukrainians, he added, noting that it is, therefore, necessary to clarify what is currently happening, that is, for example, that the foreign policy of the United States supports and finances the Ukrainians, is not NATO policy, but US policy; that’s a big difference.
Viktor Orbán confirmed his position that the strategy of the current American president, Joe Biden, who “wants to crush the Russians in some way”, will not work. He explained: according to this strategy, Ukrainian soldiers fight, and certain NATO member countries finance it with money and support this fight with military means. “We Hungarians have made our position clear from the very beginning: this is a bad strategy; and now, after a year and a half of war, it is clear that this is a bad strategy,” emphasized the Prime Minister.
He declared: in the end, the number of soldiers will count on the battlefield. And the Russians are much stronger in this, there are much more, much more than the Ukrainians, he added.
“We have to understand that we cannot defeat them with the current method. Impossible. They will not assassinate their leader. They will never give up. They will keep the country together and protect it,” he said about Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Viktor Orbán stated: the only solution is peace.
If the United States wanted peace, there would be peace the very next morning. If money and equipment do not come from the West, especially from the United States, then the war is over, said the prime minister, emphasizing: “the solution is in your hands”; only the United States can do this, no one else, the Ukrainians cannot solve this. Of course, it’s all about the Ukrainians, they cannot be ignored, and they must be included, but the real factor is not Ukraine, but the will of the United States, emphasized the Prime Minister.
“Let’s call Trump back! This is the only way out,” declared Viktor Orbán, comparing the foreign policy of Joe Biden and his predecessor and challenger, Donald Trump.
His was the best foreign policy of the last few decades. He did not start any new wars. He handled the North Koreans and the Russians well, even the Chinese. He pursued a policy that was the best possible for the Middle East – explained to the Hungarian prime minister about Trump.
He also stated that if he had been president at the moment the Russian attack began, the Russians would not have been able to do this. “So Trump is the one who can save the Western world and maybe humanity on the whole Earth. This, this is my personal belief.”
To Tucker Carlson’s suggestion that “it seems clear that the Biden administration blew up the Nord Stream, either directly or indirectly”, Viktor Orbán reminded: when it happened, “we classified it as a terrorist attack”. This was rejected by Germany and the West.
This is actually a clear proof of the lack of sovereignty. But this is the Germans’ business, “I don’t want to criticize them”, said the Prime Minister.
Regarding the South Stream, on which gas arrives from Russia via Turkey, Bulgaria, and Serbia, he stated: that together with the Serbian Prime Minister and the Serbian President, we “made it clear” that if anyone were to do the same to the southern corridor as they did to the northern, then it would be a reason for war or we would “consider it a terrorist attack and react immediately”; therefore it is better not to attempt this.
The Prime Minister also stated that the Hungarian economy is strong enough to survive the current difficult period and grow.
“The situation is not easy, as it would be much easier to cooperate with the United States government. The prospects are much better if the relations are good, but we can get by without them, we can survive this period and we can also grow,” he said.
He mentioned that while the US government canceled the existing double taxation agreement between Hungary and the United States, the agreement between Russia and the United States is still alive. In other words, “even though we are NATO members and allies of the United States, they still treat us worse than the Russians,” he underlined.
When asked whether the Biden administration used American taxpayers’ dollars for a campaign against the Hungarian government during the last election, Viktor Orbán stated: “They paid a large amount.” And to the suggestion that “most Americans don’t know that the tax dollars they paid were spent to defeat you in Hungary”, the Prime Minister replied: “That’s exactly the case.”
The prime minister also spoke about how the word liberal originally meant freedom. “But currently in Europe, the word liberal means that you are an enemy of freedom, because you set hegemonic expectations of society regarding values and concepts related to people. So liberals are against freedom. ”
He added: the Hungarian constitution focuses on community, on how family, nation, and God belong together. In Hungary, the majority of society is made up of such people, but this view “is completely out of fashion in Western European societies,” he believed. “In Hungary, we are still very patriotic and Christian, and we are also committed to these values. Not on an ideological level, but on a daily level, in our daily lives,” he said.
Viktor Orbán also spoke about how the United States is still the world’s number one superpower. “If you criticize someone, you have to be very careful about how you handle it,” he said, adding that the current democratic government “regularly does this” to Hungary. However, this is “not the voice of America, but the voice of the United States government, not all Americans judge the situation in the same way as the government,” he stated.
He stated that “the Republicans are much closer to us in terms of values”, and the previous president, Donald Trump, “is a friend of Hungary on the basis of values, historically and wholeheartedly”.
Speaking about the ongoing legal proceedings against Trump, he said: “It is unthinkable in Hungary (…) that the justice system is used against their political opponents”. He believed that “if we start on this path, there is no chance of uniting the nation. If the nation is not united, then it is not possible to set great goals”.
Political competition is fine, but it must be fair, and legally unquestionable. Otherwise, one sacrifices one’s country and the future of one’s country for personal success, which is not acceptable, at least not in Hungary,” emphasized Viktor Orbán.
(MTI)
Opening photo: In the photo published today by the Prime Minister’s Press Office, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (j) gives an interview to American media personality Tucker Carlson in the Carmelite Monastery on August 21, 2023. The interview appeared today CET on Carlson’s social media site X. MTI/Prime Minister’s Press Office/Benko Vivien Cher
