The problem I see with this scheme is the same problem there is with any country where dissident Westerners might want to go to get away from extreme liberalism (including Hungary, where I've lived): namely, that if you don't already speak the language, how are you going to be able to find work to support yourself? Does this new type of residence permit even allow foreigners to take Russian jobs, or is it solely for residence? I haven't seen that specified in any of the articles about it so far. If you can't find a job in Russia to support yourself, then unless you're independently wealthy, your only recourse would be to do some sort of remote work. But if you're a Westerner, how are you going to get paid for such work when Russia has been decoupled from the entire Western financial network? It seems to me that Russia's motivation in making this announcement is the same as Viktor Orbán's was when he made a similar pronouncement a few years back: enticing rich, moderately conservative Westerners to come and live there while bringing all their cash. But also like Hungary, they surely don't want penniless Right-wing dissidents from radical spheres, who might criticize the government or otherwise say things that run contrary to the government line or go against official proscriptions on race and so forth, to move there.
It depends on what you want out of the country. If you’re content to live in the center of Budapest, where most of the expats are concentrated and most places cater to tourists, you can certainly get by with English. But if you’re thinking of living in a village or in the countryside, Magyar will be essential. And of course one cannot get the full advantages or the depth of experience that one can attain in living there without knowing the language, not to mention that it makes certain everyday things harder. If you’re seriously considering Hungary, however, you should also note that the government tightened up the immigration laws just a few months ago and it’s now very difficult to get a permit to live there as a non-EU citizen without either having a job offer or admission as a student somewhere, or unless you’re willing to invest 250,000 euros in buying property, which gets you the “golden visa.”
I always urge Western Rightists not to buy into the image of Hungary that is given in the Western media, where the country is depicted as some sort of bastion of conservative values (and which the Hungarian gov't is more than happy to bolster). As Mr. Slavsquat has said about Russia, the reality is quite different. Hungary has a lot to offer in its own right, and comparatively it's certainly better off than Western Europe, but no one should go there expecting to find some sort of refuge from the modern world or a Right-wing haven. In fact I've often said that Putin is basically Orbán with nuclear weapons. The sort of rhetoric that both leaders employ, and the distance between that rhetoric and the reality of the country, are very similar.
The way I understand the decree, those who are granted this residence permit are indeed entitled to work and/or start a business. Also see this link: https://ecominded.net/Putins-decree
As to Orban's Hungary, I somehow agree with you. Two years ago I spent a couple of weeks in Hungary, and the social landscape I saw was no different from what you can see in any other European country. Admittedly I didn't talk to any Hungarian, so I don't know what or how they think, but "by their actions you'll know them".
On the other hand though, I personally find Orban's speeches/rhetoric sensibly more convincing and sincere than Putin's, and he's going through a lot of pain and punishment for trying to maintain a reasonable set of values in his country, effectively rejecting indiscriminate immigration and LGBT indoctrination. Were he in fact just another progressive liberal, what would be the point for the disguise? What's the benefit, either for him personally or for Hungary, of head-on opposing the EU?
Thanks for the information. As for Hungary, you didn't specify where you spent your two weeks in the country, but if you did as most tourists do and spent it mostly in the city center of Budapest, then I can see why you would say it's socially no different from any other European country. (Not that Hungarians anywhere are living in some sort of time capsule that shelters them from wanting to live in their time.) If you didn't talk to any Hungarians, anyway, then you definitely don't have a good picture of what it's like there.
Orbán says many very good things, but if you watch what he actually does, he's not really all that different from any other sensible centrist politician. He is very careful to go up to but not go over the line that would see Hungary kicked out of the EU or NATO. I don't blame him for this, as Hungary is a small, poor, and weak country, and it doesn't have the strength to go out on its own. But people should see it for what it is and not see Orbán as some sort of anti-Brussels hero. The same goes for the alleged "values" Orbán propagates. Hungarians on the whole tend to be more conservative than most Western Europeans - not because Orbán made them this way, but simply due to their longstanding cultural proclivities and isolation within Europe - but that is rapidly changing as time passes, and within a couple of decades I doubt there will be much of a difference. And Budapest certainly is home to a lot of decadence. And as for "rejecting indiscriminate immigration," that's mostly for show. Hungary has not in fact done very much to curb even illegal immigration (as Austria has complained), and in fact last year Orbán legally opened the door for hundreds of thousands of Third World workers to come to Hungary. So it's mostly just rhetoric. What's the benefit, you ask? It allows Orbán to seem like an important man on the world stage, and also Hungarians like it when their leaders act like gadflies with foreigners, given their inherent dislike of them. But one shouldn't see it as anything more than what it is: mostly a show. It may be a very good show, but in the end Hungary is on the exact same course as the rest of Europe.
Half the time in Budapest, the other half in Veszprém.
"Time capsule" and "wanting to live in their time" sounds as if the present, Western mainstream way of life was the only sensible lifestyle one might want to lead. Of course Orban does not make Hungarians conservative, but quite probably the other way around: conservative Hungary made him that way. Now, if he is not an anti-Brussels hero, then he maybe is a puppet or worse than that, a villain, because the Brussels "punishment" and economical fines/sanctions to Hungary are very real; a high price the citizens have to pay for Orban's show.
I'm glad you actually took the trouble to see something of the rest of the country. Most tourists don't.
". . . sounds as if the present, Western mainstream way of life was the only sensible lifestyle one might want to lead." -- It isn't, but certainly the vast majority of ordinary people in every European country, including in Hungary, want to live that way.
"Of course Orban does not make Hungarians conservative, but quite probably the other way around: conservative Hungary made him that way." This is a very good insight that I'm fond of pointing out myself.
"Now, if he is not an anti-Brussels hero, then he maybe is a puppet or worse than that, a villain, because the Brussels "punishment" and economical fines/sanctions to Hungary are very real . . ." Certainly many on the Hungarian Left and radical Right would agree with that statement, ha.
The reason that Orbán keeps winning elections isn't because most Hungarians are enthralled by the image he projects to the rest of the world and his base, but simply because he is seen as more competent than anyone in the opposition. The reasons for this are complex, and I've written about Hungarian politics at length at Counter-Currents in the past, but in brief, the Hungarian Left completely discredited itself in the 2000s by bankrupting the country and then lying about it, and they've never managed to recover from this. People trust him to run the country more than the liberal Left. This means many are willing to accept the EU's admonishments and withholding of funds, as Orbán is seen as standing up for Hungary's sovereignty and sticking it to the foreigners (although certainly many Hungarians do grumble about it).
Orbán is very pragmatic, and he will do what he thinks is best for Hungary (or at least the Hungarian elite) even if it runs opposite to what the US and the EU think he should be doing. Thus, his rhetoric about Russia is genuine in the sense that it is in Hungary's interest to get along with Russia, and that should not be seen as merely a show. However, as I already said, Orbán will always stop short of doing anything that would actually endanger Hungary's continued membership in the EU and NATO. He couldn't even survive politically if he were to try to take Hungary out of them, as polls consistently show that a solid majority of Hungarians want to stay in. Moreover, Hungary's economy is entirely dependent on the German auto industry and would collapse if they were to lose that business. The game is very much two-sided, however: For as much as they continually scold Hungary, the Germans don't want to kick Hungary out of the EU, either, for the same reason: They want to continue to be able to milk the cheap labor and resources they get from having their factories in Hungary, which is only possible due to the EU treaties, and of course Germany runs the EU. So the idea that there is some sort of life-or-death conflict going on between Hungary and Germany over "liberal values" is a fantasy. It's all a show. Orbán gets to look tough and like a big player to his constituents, and Germany and its political allies in the EU get to endlessly virtue-signal against Hungary while continuing to get everything they really want to squeeze out of the country. It's really a perfect marriage. This extends to immigration, LGBTQ, "conservative values," and so on -- none of which Orbán has done very much about except on paper.
The true Right-wing voice of Hungary is the party Mi Hazánk and its leader, László Toroczkai.
I guess in the end it all boils down to contrasts and expectations. Patriots expecting Orbán (tilde added) to totally fence Hungary off illegal aliens and cultural marxism are more likely to get disappointed and to not consider him a hero, whereas when compared to other EU leaders he is certainly defending his country's interests more efficiently. This last is my approach. Getting along with Russia would be better for all of the EU; however, only Orbán within the 27 struggles for that. I see this as infinitely better than what the rest is doing. A comparatively competent PM who opposes EUS's directives/speech for his country's best interests, and regulates (even if only on paper!) against immigration and "EU values", looks like a hero to me. I wish all other European PMs did half as much.
As to immigration, in order to get a proper idea of the facts (namely how Hungary's reality/policies "perform" as compared to the rest of the EU) one would need to find some chart showing, along time, the number of "troublesome" immigrants (that means swarthy ones for the most part) per capita (and ideally also per GDP) entering each EU country for the last 10-20 years, but I haven't been able to. Only, for what I've seen, it seems that Hungary is among the most alien-free in Europe (alongside Slovakia, Lithuania and Czechia). Don't know if this has something to do with effective Orbán's policies, though, but in any case it looks like Paradise to me. Other interesting statistics would include abortion and divorce comparative rates, as well as transgender/LGBTQ rates, but go find them! And again, even if Hungary scored lower than other countries, that should not necessarily be credited to Orbán, but to his society as a whole, of which he would be just a representative member.
I would never expect Hungary to be able to close itself off to immigration and Cultural Marxism. It would have to become the European equivalent of North Korea to do that, and it's not strong enough to do that even if the majority of Hungarians wanted to (they absolutely do not), as it would cause them to become a Third World country overnight . But by the same token we have to be realistic about these "populist" leaders. They do not offer any genuine resistance to the radical liberalization of the planet, and in fact help to facilitate it by convincing many that they are, thus taking attention away from more genuine alternatives. I certainly regard Orbán as preferable to his liberal opposition, and certainly better than any Western European national leader nowadays, but he is definitely not (and not to the vast majority of Hungarians) a heroic figure.
I would say that Robert Fico's stance on Russia is as sensible as Orbán's.
I cannot offer exact numbers on illegal immigration into Hungary. I'm sure there are official stats available, but I don't have time to look at them right now. But I've been living in Hungary for over 10 years, and in that time its cities have become considerably browner. It's not only me who has noticed this, either. (If you order food online in Budapest it's likely to be delivered to you by a black or brown dude.) It's still nowhere near Western European levels, but it's definitely noticeable. This isn't due to illegal immigration, however, but rather legal, and the Hungarian government gives out more legal residence permits per capita than even France. (There's a statistic.) As I already mentioned once before, just last year the Hungarian government introduced a new type of visa to make it possible for hundreds of thousands of skilled workers from the Third World to come to Hungary -- mainly to work in the aforementioned German auto factories.
The reason illegal immigration isn't a problem in Hungary yet isn't because of Orbán's policies, but rather simply because there are no jobs or social services for illegals in Hungary, which is after all still a poor post-Communist country. They thus have no incentive to stay there, and only see it as a way station to richer pickings in Western Europe. In the meantime, the Hungarian government mostly looks the other way and facilitates getting the illegals that do make it in to Austria. The Austrian government has in fact complained several times that most of the illegals coming into their country are coming through Hungary. So Orbán's bluster about immigration is mostly for show. One can perhaps say that it's at least better to pretend to oppose immigration as to praise it, as the West does, but in the final analysis little is being done to actually stop it. Again, that to me is not a heroic stance.
I understand your feelings, Riley, and understand much about Russia these days, i.e., how similar most countries are to one another (those within the "Western sphere" not experiencing kinetic warfare) with each national government caring very little for their own citizens.
I think most people relate to "traditional values" as simply not having LGBTQ+ values thrown in their faces with a drag queen conducting story hour at their local library nor businesses dictating that pronoun misusage will result in bad job performance evaluations and ostracization...or whites feeling hunted by people, including recent immigrants, who hold with Critical Race Theory that whites should be segregated, discriminated against, and exterminated if possible.
If I were a citizen of UK, even at my advanced age, I would do everything possible to emigrate to Russia. I believe the same might well hold for any country in Europe. The EU's agenda is the agenda for all of Western Europe.
Will Russia remain inviolate? I don't know. In several decades, will censorship become as rampant as we now see throughout EU Europe?
Is Russia perfect? No. No country in the world is perfect. Yet, Michael Yon has called Ireland and Canada "gone." Meaning...that the population of military-age male immigrants either equals or exceeds the military-age male native population. If I were in those countries, I would seriously consider emigrating to Russia.
I'm in the U.S. If I were younger, I would seriously consider emigrating to Russia. I'm in my 70s, and I have very little respect and liking for my own country. I despise the direction in which we're headed. I value highly the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and our founding fathers' rhetoric. Unfortunately, the rabid progressive-ism shown by the EU and the current U.S. Democrat Party offers a glimpse of the future, imo.
If the Russian Government were serious about solving the decline of population, it should immediately put a stop to the vaccination campaign and start being serious and truthful about its so-called special operation in Ukraine. Besides, this offer of 3 month visas to foreigners is there to present Russia as an alternative, a haven of peace in a tumultuous world, which it is not anymore since the attacks are getting ever farther into Russian territory.
If I was younger, I'd probably take Putin up on his generous offer, as long as I can bring my guns with me. The reality of life in the west is becoming uncomfortable and uncertain, especially as we view the disturbing developments in the UK now Starmer is in the PM seat. What most people want is to be left well alone to get on with living, but the Nanny State is now encroaching on our freedoms at an alarming rate, and its just not good enough.
It's only a temporary respite being offered, Edward, else I'd consider applying for a novitiate at the monastery at Valaam. They'd have to refuse such an application, lest they be inundated by hordes of other feeble old men in the world dragging them down with elder care.
Those folks at Valaam have my profound respect and gratitude for persevering and preserving true faith and worship in the face of worldwide degradation. I feel very fortunate to have access to video of their good works.
On the birth rate in Russia----Dr. Naomi Wolf and others have been doing work on the effects of the covid shots on women's reproductive health. Birth rates in the U.S. are down---could the shots be having an effect, here in the U.S. and elsewhere?
One example: In one month in 2022, one zone therapist had three pregnant, injected women whose births had to be induced due to preeclampsia. All three women's placentas had been full of blood clots.
someone may do a poll discovering if women are reporting difficulty in getting pregnant might give some clues. If no one reports such then nothing's stopping it except people don't want.
I dont believe so. The plan was set a long time ago with the creation of womens rights groups and the funding all manner of womens causes.
We saw this eccelorate over the years to take women away from the home.
Governments yeald higher taxes and other compliance charges per household and a large Increases in GDP. Ample profits to reinvest a small portion into government-funded childcare services, training women from all walks of life to become independent entities. Opening up higher education and professional opportunities for women. Installing women in high corporate and government positions.
The 2020 abortion laws were an inevitable extension to the UN's plan for women and girls.
I was under the impression that the divorce rate is higher because an elderly couple can double their old age benefits of they are separate individuals. And so the divorce rate tracks with the aging population.
Couldn't agree more with your assessment on "traditional Russian values". Unfortunately the data does show Russia to be just as immoral as any other country in the west, when it comes to divorce rates and abortion. I'm not moving to Russia for the so-called family values, but rather to escape the immoral world in the thick Taiga forests :)
Really liked and appreciated your podcast. I do wonder whether you have been in the United States recently. Things are moving fast here. We're picking up speed on the downhill slope.
You would find that most of us back here in the U.S. of A. would disagree vociferously with the notion that all obstacles to the free travel of the foreign born to our once hallowed land ought to be removed forthwith. It ought to be difficult to travel to a country which isn't your own and stay for more than a few weeks. It ought to take a more than passing knowledge of the language, history and culture of a society if one is interested in becoming a citizen. Perhaps passports are unnecessarily onerous perhaps they aren't, but a country's government is obligated to its citizens to safeguard them against ever-amassing hoards of ne'er-do-wells and freeloaders who show up, with no intention of ever leaving, who desire only to suck off the productivity of the natives.
"The compact is a part of the United Nations Pact for the Future that will be decided in September. The goal is that everyone on earth should be included in a global digital panopticon. All data will be processed and analysed with the use of AI to help achieve the global goals and detect 'challenges' and (business) opportunities. This means, in the words of WEF-trustee Al Gore, 'no more hiding'."
Don't fear AI, it's a hoax. There is no SkyNet. Theses systems are incompetent and it is going nowhere.
It will be like any other totalitarian system. People will find ways around it and will just check out and try to abuse the system as much as possible. So it will collapse in the end. But until then, it will cost a lot of lives and will create a whole bucket of misfortune.
Does Kaliningrad qualify as a place we can immigrate to? Do we get lots of free stuff , unemployment , accommodation etc? Why should I move to Russia when I can walk across the border to the US get everything for free and no paperwork at all? Just open the border like the US. Do they still have YouTube? I can't go if it has been shutdown. Will I get Cowboye'd?
Thanks for taking time out to record this message. Hope you're back to full research mode now! (12:48 pm California time)
I think birth rates are dropping because everyone instinctively realizes overpopulation is out of control, with legal and illegal immigration being just one of its effects. We should all go back to the traditional value of very low populations who don't rape our environments. Not that the wishes of the 'cattle' matter.
A clever way to replace those who fled or died in the "not war" with disaffected Westerners. DNC liberals would be joyous if the Orangeman's entire MAGA following would request a Russian Visa.😁
The problem I see with this scheme is the same problem there is with any country where dissident Westerners might want to go to get away from extreme liberalism (including Hungary, where I've lived): namely, that if you don't already speak the language, how are you going to be able to find work to support yourself? Does this new type of residence permit even allow foreigners to take Russian jobs, or is it solely for residence? I haven't seen that specified in any of the articles about it so far. If you can't find a job in Russia to support yourself, then unless you're independently wealthy, your only recourse would be to do some sort of remote work. But if you're a Westerner, how are you going to get paid for such work when Russia has been decoupled from the entire Western financial network? It seems to me that Russia's motivation in making this announcement is the same as Viktor Orbán's was when he made a similar pronouncement a few years back: enticing rich, moderately conservative Westerners to come and live there while bringing all their cash. But also like Hungary, they surely don't want penniless Right-wing dissidents from radical spheres, who might criticize the government or otherwise say things that run contrary to the government line or go against official proscriptions on race and so forth, to move there.
How is it to live in Hungary without speaking the language?
Asking for a friend.
It depends on what you want out of the country. If you’re content to live in the center of Budapest, where most of the expats are concentrated and most places cater to tourists, you can certainly get by with English. But if you’re thinking of living in a village or in the countryside, Magyar will be essential. And of course one cannot get the full advantages or the depth of experience that one can attain in living there without knowing the language, not to mention that it makes certain everyday things harder. If you’re seriously considering Hungary, however, you should also note that the government tightened up the immigration laws just a few months ago and it’s now very difficult to get a permit to live there as a non-EU citizen without either having a job offer or admission as a student somewhere, or unless you’re willing to invest 250,000 euros in buying property, which gets you the “golden visa.”
Yeah thanks. I'm German, and things going pretty sideways here atm.
I always urge Western Rightists not to buy into the image of Hungary that is given in the Western media, where the country is depicted as some sort of bastion of conservative values (and which the Hungarian gov't is more than happy to bolster). As Mr. Slavsquat has said about Russia, the reality is quite different. Hungary has a lot to offer in its own right, and comparatively it's certainly better off than Western Europe, but no one should go there expecting to find some sort of refuge from the modern world or a Right-wing haven. In fact I've often said that Putin is basically Orbán with nuclear weapons. The sort of rhetoric that both leaders employ, and the distance between that rhetoric and the reality of the country, are very similar.
German is also widely spoken in Hungary.
The way I understand the decree, those who are granted this residence permit are indeed entitled to work and/or start a business. Also see this link: https://ecominded.net/Putins-decree
As to Orban's Hungary, I somehow agree with you. Two years ago I spent a couple of weeks in Hungary, and the social landscape I saw was no different from what you can see in any other European country. Admittedly I didn't talk to any Hungarian, so I don't know what or how they think, but "by their actions you'll know them".
On the other hand though, I personally find Orban's speeches/rhetoric sensibly more convincing and sincere than Putin's, and he's going through a lot of pain and punishment for trying to maintain a reasonable set of values in his country, effectively rejecting indiscriminate immigration and LGBT indoctrination. Were he in fact just another progressive liberal, what would be the point for the disguise? What's the benefit, either for him personally or for Hungary, of head-on opposing the EU?
For the rest, going back to Putin's decree 702, I find it quite weird. The ambiguous and rather propagandistic terms in which it is redacted smell fishy. There's a very interesting (albeit brief) article on this on Topwar: https://en.topwar.ru/249293-grazhdanstvo-dlja-razdeljajuschih-tradicionnye-cennosti-repatriacija-sootechestvennikov-ili-prodolzhenie-islamizacii.html
Thanks for the information. As for Hungary, you didn't specify where you spent your two weeks in the country, but if you did as most tourists do and spent it mostly in the city center of Budapest, then I can see why you would say it's socially no different from any other European country. (Not that Hungarians anywhere are living in some sort of time capsule that shelters them from wanting to live in their time.) If you didn't talk to any Hungarians, anyway, then you definitely don't have a good picture of what it's like there.
Orbán says many very good things, but if you watch what he actually does, he's not really all that different from any other sensible centrist politician. He is very careful to go up to but not go over the line that would see Hungary kicked out of the EU or NATO. I don't blame him for this, as Hungary is a small, poor, and weak country, and it doesn't have the strength to go out on its own. But people should see it for what it is and not see Orbán as some sort of anti-Brussels hero. The same goes for the alleged "values" Orbán propagates. Hungarians on the whole tend to be more conservative than most Western Europeans - not because Orbán made them this way, but simply due to their longstanding cultural proclivities and isolation within Europe - but that is rapidly changing as time passes, and within a couple of decades I doubt there will be much of a difference. And Budapest certainly is home to a lot of decadence. And as for "rejecting indiscriminate immigration," that's mostly for show. Hungary has not in fact done very much to curb even illegal immigration (as Austria has complained), and in fact last year Orbán legally opened the door for hundreds of thousands of Third World workers to come to Hungary. So it's mostly just rhetoric. What's the benefit, you ask? It allows Orbán to seem like an important man on the world stage, and also Hungarians like it when their leaders act like gadflies with foreigners, given their inherent dislike of them. But one shouldn't see it as anything more than what it is: mostly a show. It may be a very good show, but in the end Hungary is on the exact same course as the rest of Europe.
Half the time in Budapest, the other half in Veszprém.
"Time capsule" and "wanting to live in their time" sounds as if the present, Western mainstream way of life was the only sensible lifestyle one might want to lead. Of course Orban does not make Hungarians conservative, but quite probably the other way around: conservative Hungary made him that way. Now, if he is not an anti-Brussels hero, then he maybe is a puppet or worse than that, a villain, because the Brussels "punishment" and economical fines/sanctions to Hungary are very real; a high price the citizens have to pay for Orban's show.
I'm glad you actually took the trouble to see something of the rest of the country. Most tourists don't.
". . . sounds as if the present, Western mainstream way of life was the only sensible lifestyle one might want to lead." -- It isn't, but certainly the vast majority of ordinary people in every European country, including in Hungary, want to live that way.
"Of course Orban does not make Hungarians conservative, but quite probably the other way around: conservative Hungary made him that way." This is a very good insight that I'm fond of pointing out myself.
"Now, if he is not an anti-Brussels hero, then he maybe is a puppet or worse than that, a villain, because the Brussels "punishment" and economical fines/sanctions to Hungary are very real . . ." Certainly many on the Hungarian Left and radical Right would agree with that statement, ha.
The reason that Orbán keeps winning elections isn't because most Hungarians are enthralled by the image he projects to the rest of the world and his base, but simply because he is seen as more competent than anyone in the opposition. The reasons for this are complex, and I've written about Hungarian politics at length at Counter-Currents in the past, but in brief, the Hungarian Left completely discredited itself in the 2000s by bankrupting the country and then lying about it, and they've never managed to recover from this. People trust him to run the country more than the liberal Left. This means many are willing to accept the EU's admonishments and withholding of funds, as Orbán is seen as standing up for Hungary's sovereignty and sticking it to the foreigners (although certainly many Hungarians do grumble about it).
Orbán is very pragmatic, and he will do what he thinks is best for Hungary (or at least the Hungarian elite) even if it runs opposite to what the US and the EU think he should be doing. Thus, his rhetoric about Russia is genuine in the sense that it is in Hungary's interest to get along with Russia, and that should not be seen as merely a show. However, as I already said, Orbán will always stop short of doing anything that would actually endanger Hungary's continued membership in the EU and NATO. He couldn't even survive politically if he were to try to take Hungary out of them, as polls consistently show that a solid majority of Hungarians want to stay in. Moreover, Hungary's economy is entirely dependent on the German auto industry and would collapse if they were to lose that business. The game is very much two-sided, however: For as much as they continually scold Hungary, the Germans don't want to kick Hungary out of the EU, either, for the same reason: They want to continue to be able to milk the cheap labor and resources they get from having their factories in Hungary, which is only possible due to the EU treaties, and of course Germany runs the EU. So the idea that there is some sort of life-or-death conflict going on between Hungary and Germany over "liberal values" is a fantasy. It's all a show. Orbán gets to look tough and like a big player to his constituents, and Germany and its political allies in the EU get to endlessly virtue-signal against Hungary while continuing to get everything they really want to squeeze out of the country. It's really a perfect marriage. This extends to immigration, LGBTQ, "conservative values," and so on -- none of which Orbán has done very much about except on paper.
The true Right-wing voice of Hungary is the party Mi Hazánk and its leader, László Toroczkai.
Thank you for that insight.
I guess in the end it all boils down to contrasts and expectations. Patriots expecting Orbán (tilde added) to totally fence Hungary off illegal aliens and cultural marxism are more likely to get disappointed and to not consider him a hero, whereas when compared to other EU leaders he is certainly defending his country's interests more efficiently. This last is my approach. Getting along with Russia would be better for all of the EU; however, only Orbán within the 27 struggles for that. I see this as infinitely better than what the rest is doing. A comparatively competent PM who opposes EUS's directives/speech for his country's best interests, and regulates (even if only on paper!) against immigration and "EU values", looks like a hero to me. I wish all other European PMs did half as much.
As to immigration, in order to get a proper idea of the facts (namely how Hungary's reality/policies "perform" as compared to the rest of the EU) one would need to find some chart showing, along time, the number of "troublesome" immigrants (that means swarthy ones for the most part) per capita (and ideally also per GDP) entering each EU country for the last 10-20 years, but I haven't been able to. Only, for what I've seen, it seems that Hungary is among the most alien-free in Europe (alongside Slovakia, Lithuania and Czechia). Don't know if this has something to do with effective Orbán's policies, though, but in any case it looks like Paradise to me. Other interesting statistics would include abortion and divorce comparative rates, as well as transgender/LGBTQ rates, but go find them! And again, even if Hungary scored lower than other countries, that should not necessarily be credited to Orbán, but to his society as a whole, of which he would be just a representative member.
I would never expect Hungary to be able to close itself off to immigration and Cultural Marxism. It would have to become the European equivalent of North Korea to do that, and it's not strong enough to do that even if the majority of Hungarians wanted to (they absolutely do not), as it would cause them to become a Third World country overnight . But by the same token we have to be realistic about these "populist" leaders. They do not offer any genuine resistance to the radical liberalization of the planet, and in fact help to facilitate it by convincing many that they are, thus taking attention away from more genuine alternatives. I certainly regard Orbán as preferable to his liberal opposition, and certainly better than any Western European national leader nowadays, but he is definitely not (and not to the vast majority of Hungarians) a heroic figure.
I would say that Robert Fico's stance on Russia is as sensible as Orbán's.
I cannot offer exact numbers on illegal immigration into Hungary. I'm sure there are official stats available, but I don't have time to look at them right now. But I've been living in Hungary for over 10 years, and in that time its cities have become considerably browner. It's not only me who has noticed this, either. (If you order food online in Budapest it's likely to be delivered to you by a black or brown dude.) It's still nowhere near Western European levels, but it's definitely noticeable. This isn't due to illegal immigration, however, but rather legal, and the Hungarian government gives out more legal residence permits per capita than even France. (There's a statistic.) As I already mentioned once before, just last year the Hungarian government introduced a new type of visa to make it possible for hundreds of thousands of skilled workers from the Third World to come to Hungary -- mainly to work in the aforementioned German auto factories.
The reason illegal immigration isn't a problem in Hungary yet isn't because of Orbán's policies, but rather simply because there are no jobs or social services for illegals in Hungary, which is after all still a poor post-Communist country. They thus have no incentive to stay there, and only see it as a way station to richer pickings in Western Europe. In the meantime, the Hungarian government mostly looks the other way and facilitates getting the illegals that do make it in to Austria. The Austrian government has in fact complained several times that most of the illegals coming into their country are coming through Hungary. So Orbán's bluster about immigration is mostly for show. One can perhaps say that it's at least better to pretend to oppose immigration as to praise it, as the West does, but in the final analysis little is being done to actually stop it. Again, that to me is not a heroic stance.
I understand your feelings, Riley, and understand much about Russia these days, i.e., how similar most countries are to one another (those within the "Western sphere" not experiencing kinetic warfare) with each national government caring very little for their own citizens.
I think most people relate to "traditional values" as simply not having LGBTQ+ values thrown in their faces with a drag queen conducting story hour at their local library nor businesses dictating that pronoun misusage will result in bad job performance evaluations and ostracization...or whites feeling hunted by people, including recent immigrants, who hold with Critical Race Theory that whites should be segregated, discriminated against, and exterminated if possible.
If I were a citizen of UK, even at my advanced age, I would do everything possible to emigrate to Russia. I believe the same might well hold for any country in Europe. The EU's agenda is the agenda for all of Western Europe.
Will Russia remain inviolate? I don't know. In several decades, will censorship become as rampant as we now see throughout EU Europe?
Is Russia perfect? No. No country in the world is perfect. Yet, Michael Yon has called Ireland and Canada "gone." Meaning...that the population of military-age male immigrants either equals or exceeds the military-age male native population. If I were in those countries, I would seriously consider emigrating to Russia.
I'm in the U.S. If I were younger, I would seriously consider emigrating to Russia. I'm in my 70s, and I have very little respect and liking for my own country. I despise the direction in which we're headed. I value highly the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and our founding fathers' rhetoric. Unfortunately, the rabid progressive-ism shown by the EU and the current U.S. Democrat Party offers a glimpse of the future, imo.
Seems it's Jones Plantation everywhere. Google it. It's a film. Ya'll can get it for 10 Western Empire Bucks.
If the Russian Government were serious about solving the decline of population, it should immediately put a stop to the vaccination campaign and start being serious and truthful about its so-called special operation in Ukraine. Besides, this offer of 3 month visas to foreigners is there to present Russia as an alternative, a haven of peace in a tumultuous world, which it is not anymore since the attacks are getting ever farther into Russian territory.
If I was younger, I'd probably take Putin up on his generous offer, as long as I can bring my guns with me. The reality of life in the west is becoming uncomfortable and uncertain, especially as we view the disturbing developments in the UK now Starmer is in the PM seat. What most people want is to be left well alone to get on with living, but the Nanny State is now encroaching on our freedoms at an alarming rate, and its just not good enough.
It's only a temporary respite being offered, Edward, else I'd consider applying for a novitiate at the monastery at Valaam. They'd have to refuse such an application, lest they be inundated by hordes of other feeble old men in the world dragging them down with elder care.
Those folks at Valaam have my profound respect and gratitude for persevering and preserving true faith and worship in the face of worldwide degradation. I feel very fortunate to have access to video of their good works.
On the birth rate in Russia----Dr. Naomi Wolf and others have been doing work on the effects of the covid shots on women's reproductive health. Birth rates in the U.S. are down---could the shots be having an effect, here in the U.S. and elsewhere?
James Patrick and his Big Picture Watch is trying to fund a documentary about women's fertility after the shots: https://bigpicture.watch/product/silent_infertility/
No doubt. These are the shocking drops in 'fertility' and live births since 2021 in Denmark:
Fertility graph: https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/emner/borgere/befolkning/fertilitet
Live births graph: https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/emner/borgere/befolkning/foedsler
One example: In one month in 2022, one zone therapist had three pregnant, injected women whose births had to be induced due to preeclampsia. All three women's placentas had been full of blood clots.
someone may do a poll discovering if women are reporting difficulty in getting pregnant might give some clues. If no one reports such then nothing's stopping it except people don't want.
I dont believe so. The plan was set a long time ago with the creation of womens rights groups and the funding all manner of womens causes.
We saw this eccelorate over the years to take women away from the home.
Governments yeald higher taxes and other compliance charges per household and a large Increases in GDP. Ample profits to reinvest a small portion into government-funded childcare services, training women from all walks of life to become independent entities. Opening up higher education and professional opportunities for women. Installing women in high corporate and government positions.
The 2020 abortion laws were an inevitable extension to the UN's plan for women and girls.
I was under the impression that the divorce rate is higher because an elderly couple can double their old age benefits of they are separate individuals. And so the divorce rate tracks with the aging population.
Couldn't agree more with your assessment on "traditional Russian values". Unfortunately the data does show Russia to be just as immoral as any other country in the west, when it comes to divorce rates and abortion. I'm not moving to Russia for the so-called family values, but rather to escape the immoral world in the thick Taiga forests :)
Really liked and appreciated your podcast. I do wonder whether you have been in the United States recently. Things are moving fast here. We're picking up speed on the downhill slope.
Great tip about Georgia, by the way!
You would find that most of us back here in the U.S. of A. would disagree vociferously with the notion that all obstacles to the free travel of the foreign born to our once hallowed land ought to be removed forthwith. It ought to be difficult to travel to a country which isn't your own and stay for more than a few weeks. It ought to take a more than passing knowledge of the language, history and culture of a society if one is interested in becoming a citizen. Perhaps passports are unnecessarily onerous perhaps they aren't, but a country's government is obligated to its citizens to safeguard them against ever-amassing hoards of ne'er-do-wells and freeloaders who show up, with no intention of ever leaving, who desire only to suck off the productivity of the natives.
Are the foreigners who immigrate to Russia subject to immediate conscription like other Russians?
BRICS will fix this .... ?
"The compact is a part of the United Nations Pact for the Future that will be decided in September. The goal is that everyone on earth should be included in a global digital panopticon. All data will be processed and analysed with the use of AI to help achieve the global goals and detect 'challenges' and (business) opportunities. This means, in the words of WEF-trustee Al Gore, 'no more hiding'."
https://x.com/Geopolitics_Emp/status/1826467201748029442
Don't fear AI, it's a hoax. There is no SkyNet. Theses systems are incompetent and it is going nowhere.
It will be like any other totalitarian system. People will find ways around it and will just check out and try to abuse the system as much as possible. So it will collapse in the end. But until then, it will cost a lot of lives and will create a whole bucket of misfortune.
Classic, bring in the uninformed, greatest potential, weed out the overly informed
Does Kaliningrad qualify as a place we can immigrate to? Do we get lots of free stuff , unemployment , accommodation etc? Why should I move to Russia when I can walk across the border to the US get everything for free and no paperwork at all? Just open the border like the US. Do they still have YouTube? I can't go if it has been shutdown. Will I get Cowboye'd?
Thanks for taking time out to record this message. Hope you're back to full research mode now! (12:48 pm California time)
I think birth rates are dropping because everyone instinctively realizes overpopulation is out of control, with legal and illegal immigration being just one of its effects. We should all go back to the traditional value of very low populations who don't rape our environments. Not that the wishes of the 'cattle' matter.
Anyway, Cheers, Riley! o/
Overpopulation is a myth and a lie made up by the Oligarch Dynasties.
Google super abundance for a factual point of view.
Corbett Report also has done lots of research about that.
Agree, Corbett has done good research on this.
If overpopulation is a lie, how would places like NYC be explained?
A clever way to replace those who fled or died in the "not war" with disaffected Westerners. DNC liberals would be joyous if the Orangeman's entire MAGA following would request a Russian Visa.😁