At the time when John Kerry is trying hard to foster a “framework agreement” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict comprehensive peace seems as far as 20 years ago. Yet, the Oslo Peace Process that was set in motion then should not be viewed as something in vain. Viewed through the prism of game theory it reached its optimum result and it brought peace closer by offering vital lessons for today.
One of the troubles of social sciences is that theories can hardly be tested. Nevertheless, lacking controlled experiments, spontaneous transformations of societies still provide useful material sometimes. We can expect some of such food for thought when sooner or later (rather later, many say) the smoke settles in the disturbed Arab world, and it becomes clear which political ideologies become dominant and what sort of social order emerges after the ouster of the hated dictators.
“In none other EU member states is the entire media sector subordinated to a single commission, whose members belong to a single political party and are nominated exclusively by the government “ - said Jean Asselborn, Foreign Minister of Luxemburg, in an exclusive interview to HVG Online, one of Hungary’s leading news portal. He announced that the EU commission has started already talks about the new Hungarian Media Law. Sanctions are not considered yet.
A red mud reservoir burst on the 4th of October in Ajka, Hungary, spilling approximately 1 million cubic meters of toxic industrial waste of the Ajkai Timföldgyár alumina plant, flooding 3 villages. At least seven people are confirmed killed with one more reported missing. More than 120 people have suffered injuries, mostly chemical burns, 7 of them are in critical conditon. The Hungarian government has declared a state of emergency in three affected counties. The cleanup could take at least a year with an estimated cost of at least ten million dollars, however it is unknown that the are will become habitable again.
While the far-right is indeed ascendant in several Eastern European countries, its threat is decreasing in Western Europe. That’s the conclusion of the Political Capital Institute’s Demand for Right-Wing Extremism (DEREX) Index.
In countries that have experienced regime changes, an economic crisis could give birth to a third wave of nationalism. The middle classes could find themselves facing an existential threat. People who were winners until now will lose out. Modernisers, those who urge the country in the direction of Europe, people who work in high-tech professions and those who have taken out loans in Swiss franks - they could all lose their jobs, their savings and their networks of contacts.
After the stabilisation package, before the recession: Hungary's 500 largest companies were only barely able to grow above the rate of inflation in 2007, according to a survey by HVG and Creditreform.
The politician was talking at a meeting held in memory of St Thomas Becket, at which Rene Roudaut, the French ambassador, the historian Miklos Kun and Zsolt Becsey, a Fidesz MEP contributed to a discussion of "Christian values and Europe". The conference was followed by an ecumenical mass in the St Thomas Hill chapel.
Zoltan Illes, head of Fidesz's Terezvaros branch, and a professor in the environmental protection department at the Central European University, has brought a private prosecution against Terezvaros district council. Illes and his partner in the private prosecution, Zsofia Hassay, said at a joint press conference that "there are much more suspect property transactions in the sixth district than in the seventh district, and there is a suspicion that there was an attempt to cover this up." We asked Zoltan Illes for his opinion of the affair.
No serious leader can take seriously the idea of Budapest holding the 2020 Olympics: given Hungary's budget and global financial conditions, it would simply be an impossibly expensive prestige investment. The idea is probably being floated because a project on this scale makes available vast sums of money to the government that happens to be in power, money that can be distributed and spent on creating jobs and self-promotion. Politicians can use that money to keep their clients happy.
The last two presidents had good reason for doing what many are now demanding of Laszlo Solyom. They agreed with the leaders of the various parliamentary parties on candidates for nomination to state offices. The approach Laszlo Solyom is taking to nominations is fine in legal terms, but in practice it doesn't work. But there is a way of dealing with this chaos.
Hungarian-Slovak relations could be rebuilt from the ground up, but for as long as the Magyar Garda acts as cultural attache to our northern neighbours, and as long as Robert Fico and Jan Slota form our picture of the Slovaks and their thinking, then results are going to be scarce. And nor are people abroad very sympathetic to our position, argues Zoltan Novak, head of research at the Dignity Political Analyses Centre.