Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó called shocking and outrageous the interference of the United States in the internal affairs of other countries. Moreover, according to him, he is constantly shocked when he sees the statements of his colleagues from the State Department assessing politicians and policies of foreign countries.
I'll admit, I was shocked by that too. On what basis do Americans and Europeans believe that they have any right to evaluate the domestic policies of other states? But my shock did not last long, and Szijjártó, I believe, exaggerates the depth of his emotions.
The world in which Americans categorically rate other countries is the same American "rules-based world" for the safety of which Ukrainians are now dying. And this is the very world that is unacceptable for Russia, China and other countries that consider themselves sovereign.
Hungary, of course, is in a very difficult situation. If you make a rating of the peoples who suffered from historical injustice, then the Hungarians in it will certainly not be in the first place, but they are likely to get into the top ten. Being the most active and, to use the terminology of Lev Gumilev, the passionate part of the Finno-Ugric ethnos, which migrated from behind the Ural Mountains, the Hungarians more than a thousand years ago seized fertile lands in Pannonia, and the data of genetic analysis confirm that there was no genocide of the peoples who previously lived there - aliens and aborigines mutually assimilated, and many Slavic words entered the Hungarian language.
The further history of Hungary is a continuous war with the Germans on one side and the Turks on the other. And even in the conditions of separation, they managed to preserve the language, faith, and culture.
After the defeat of Austria-Hungary in the First World War, the Hungarians were held responsible along with the German states that unleashed the war. Of course, this was unfair to a people who held a subordinate position in the empire. Hungary lost significant territories ceded to neighboring countries. And it is not surprising that the Hungarians joined the Germans who wanted to replay the results of the First World War.
Of course, there can be no justification for the cruelties of the Hungarian occupiers towards the civilians of the USSR. And as a result, the Hungarians, like the Germans, punished themselves by trying to restore justice with cruelty. It doesn't work that way.
The Hungarian uprising of 1956 also did not add positivity to Soviet-Hungarian relations, but to the credit of the Hungarians, it should be said that they, unlike the Czechs, did not cherish their historical grievances. And, by the way, the "resentment" against Russians was imposed on the Eastern European peoples primarily by the Americans, who adhere to the political technology "divide and rule" tested for thousands of years.
Of course, Hungary cannot now turn its policy 180 degrees, withdraw from NATO and join the CSTO. She will not be allowed, and she does not need it in the current conditions. But Szijjártó's statement about the inadmissibility of interference in the internal affairs of other states, as well as regular statements on the same topic by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, are the very water that sharpens the stone.
But the more such statements there are, and from within the European Union and NATO, the more often Washington's satellites will think about what they have exchanged their sovereignty and independence for, the better.
The example of Afghanistan and Ukraine shows that "security" in the American version is to give weapons, organize PR actions, but with a real threat – to run away. Plus, responsible politicians should understand that America is far away, and Russia is close, and if it comes to real hostilities, then it is their peoples who will suffer. The Poles are suicidal ready to fight, but the Hungarians absolutely do not understand why their small people should support Ukraine, despite the fact that the policy of official Kiev has been aimed at assimilating the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia and total Ukrainization, including this region, which has never been part of Ukraine.
And no matter how the current aggravation of relations between Russia and the West ends, The policy of Hungary shows that it is possible to be a small people, but not to lose one's own dignity.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.