Orban renews autonomy call for ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine.

[dipsydoodle]

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has renewed a plea for ethnic Hungarians in neighboring Ukraine to be granted autonomy even after a similar call last week drew a diplomatic backlash.

"Ukraine can be neither stable, nor democratic if it does not give its minorities, including Hungarians, their due," Orban said on public television late on Friday. "That is, dual (Hungarian) citizenship, collective rights and autonomy."

Orban, re-elected in a landslide win last month, was reaffirming a call for autonomy for about 200,000 ethnic Hungarians in western Ukraine that he made a week ago as he was sworn in as prime minister.

His comments prompted Kiev to summon the Hungarian ambassador for an explanation on Tuesday and drew criticism from regional heavyweight Poland, an ally of Hungary within the Visegrad Four grouping of central European nations.

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Many Hungarians today view the 1920 Treaty of Trianon as a national tragedy because it took away two-thirds of the country's territory and left millions of ethnic Hungarians living in what are now Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine and Serbia.

http://news.yahoo.com/orban-renews-autonomy-call-ethnic-hungarians-ukraine-113513393.html

[pampango]

1. Hungary needs to invest in a much, much bigger army, then hold a quickie referendum

in those towns and provinces where ethnic Hungarians live in Ukraine. Since the Hungarian government granted citizenship to these folks several years ago, Hungary would simply be protecting its own citizens from those damn Ukrainian fascists. Voila! Hungary's borders expand and ethnic purity is achieved.

Hungary is governed by a strong right wing party which is influenced by the extremely right-wing, Jobbik Party, which wants to uniteThe whole "let's expand our national borders to include 'our' folks in X country depends on having a strong army - something that conservatives love. It also reveals their conservative belief that ethnic purity is more important than developing a civil society that treats everyone the same.

Here' same related article regarding the liberal/conservative mindsets in Europe and the US.

Europe has its Tea Party too, its angry and jingoistic right, its anti-Europe and anti-immigrant right, and they probably will do fairly well in the European parliament elections. Remember, the Tea Party did well, too, once upon a time in America in 2010, but now the Tea Party is highly unpopular and widely disliked by a large majority of American voters. Once voters experience the taste of right-wingers gaining strength, the taste becomes unappetizing and voters ultimately reject them.

What American politics, European politics and global politics need is greater cooperation, coordination and collaboration among progressives of many languages. When President Clinton was president, he began moving in this direction with Europe, and Hillary Clinton as president would probably do the same, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a leader of American progressives, will do well to visit her (our) progressive compatriots abroad.

Today the French government is held by progressives who have a particularly good relationship with Secretary of State John Kerry. The British Labour Party, German Social Democrats, Green parties and green voters across Europe at a time of climate change emerging as a transcendent issue have much in common with liberal Democrats in America.

What is needed is a strong progressive agenda, bold progressive action, and a more united political voice and media presence for those who believe the left is right and the right is wrong. On a long list of issues, this progressive viewpoint is the majority viewpoint, in America and globally, and the voice of this movement should be stronger, louder and more global.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/national-party-news/206354-european-american-and-global-liberals-should-unite

[Igel]

2. Then Orban should show the world how it's done.

The same treaty put a lot of Slovaks in Hungary. They were forcibly assimilated, unlike the Hungarians in Czechoslovakia.

They should be granted dual citizenship and autonomy, with reparations made for the violation of their rights by Hungarian governments and individuals.

Even Orban's foreign ministry quickly walked back what he said last time. It's tough to lose a real empire, one in which lots of people were moved into occupied territories and given real perks.