BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was to address a mass rally in Budapest on Saturday, as he increasingly stokes fears of war between the West and Russia with verbal attacks on Brussels and NATO ahead of elections.
As Moscow’s closest EU ally despite its invasion of Ukraine, Orban has refused to send weapons to Kyiv while blocking European military aid.
He repeatedly has said that Ukraine “cannot win” against Russia, claiming that “most people want” a ceasefire and peace negotiations.
In recent weeks, the nationalist leader has ramped up his rhetoric, accusing Brussels and NATO of fueling the war in Ukraine by providing support.
While slamming other EU leaders and those critical of the government as “pro-war,” Orban has characterised the upcoming European elections as a referendum on the conflict, saying he was now “fighting for peace alone” in the bloc.
On Friday, Orban again hit out at NATO, accusing the defense alliance of “dragging” Hungary into war over Ukraine, comparing it to how Adolf Hitler had pressured it into joining in World War II.
He also took a swipe at recent decisions by Western nations to allow Kyiv to use weapons they supply to Ukraine to fire at targets in Russia.
Orban also mentioned the possibility of a compulsory EU conscription in reference to alleged “German and European” plans put forward, even though Brussels had never suggested such an idea and does not have the right to introduce compulsory conscription.
The Hungarian leader said the idea of “someone else (than us) deciding over the blood of Hungarians” was “unacceptable.”
Mass rallies in support of the ruling Fidesz party — dubbed “peace marches” even before Russia’s war in Ukraine — have been routinely organized before important elections since Orban’s return to power in 2010.
Orban, who faces local as well as EU elections in the coming days, was expected to address the rally in central Budapest at 15:00 p.m. (1300 GMT).
According to political analyst Zsuzsanna Vegh, Orban’s attacks on NATO claiming that the alliance “instead of protecting us, is dragging us as a member state into a world war,” have reached a new stage.
Orban recently also suggested that he would like to “redefine” the position of Hungary in the alliance to prevent any participation in operations “outside NATO territory,” claiming that his lawyers were already working on it.
“Even though Orban’s government has come into conflict with NATO before by blocking deeper partnership between NATO and Ukraine, it has always regarded the alliance as the cornerstone of Hungarian security,” she told AFP.
His remarks on the alliance “broke a taboo,” propelling the government’s “whole war discourse into a new dimension,” Vegh explained.
Moreover, the ramped up rhetoric could risk “further deteriorating the already weakened confidence” in Hungary among Western allies, she said.
According to the polls, Orban’s focus on hammering home his “anti-war” talking points so far seem to have been working.
But Orban has faced rare public anger, including from government insider turned rising opposition leader Peter Magyar, who railed against the premier’s system of power and has amassed thousands of supporters.
Magyar — who recently launched his TISZA party — shot to prominence in February on the back of a scandal that hit Orban, posing the most serious challenge in his 14 years in power.
The ruling Fidesz party “needs to demonstrate its strength because Magyar’s party has managed to draw crowds in a way that political parties other than Fidesz have not managed to do for a long, long time,” analyst Zoltan Ranschburg told AFP.
Orban steps up rhetoric over Ukraine war as elections near
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Orban steps up rhetoric over Ukraine war as elections near
- As Moscow’s closest EU ally despite its invasion of Ukraine, Orban has refused to send weapons to Kyiv while blocking European military aid
- Mass rallies in support of the ruling Fidesz party — dubbed “peace marches” even before Russia’s war in Ukraine — have been routinely organized
Labour is hopeful and Conservatives morose as voters deliver their verdict on UK’s election day
Against a backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust of government institutions and a fraying social fabric, a fractious electorate is delivering its verdict on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which has been in power since 2010.
The center-left Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, has had a steady and significant lead in opinion polls for months, but Labour leaders have warned against taking the election result for granted, worried their supporters will stay home.
Sunak, for his part, has tried to rally his supporters, saying on Sunday that he still thought the Conservatives could win and defending his record on the economy.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
LONDON: British voters are picking a new government Thursday, voting in a parliamentary election that is widely expected to bring the Labour Party to power against a gloomy backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust in institutions and a fraying social fabric.
A jaded electorate is delivering its verdict on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which has been in power since 2010.
The center-left Labour Party led by Keir Starmer has had a steady and significant lead in opinion polls for months, but its leaders have warned against taking the election result for granted, worried their supporters will stay home.
“We cannot afford five more years under the Conservatives. But change will only happen if you vote Labour,” Starmer said on Wednesday night.
The Conservatives have conceded that Labour appears headed for victory and urged voters not to hand the party a “supermajority.”
In the final days of campaigning Sunak insisted “the outcome of this election is not a foregone conclusion.”
But in a message to voters on Wednesday, Sunak said that “if the polls are to be believed, the country could wake up tomorrow to a Labour supermajority ready to wield their unchecked power.” He urged voters to back the Conservatives to limit Labour’s power.
Labour has not set pulses racing with its pledges to get the sluggish economy growing, invest in infrastructure and make Britain a “clean energy superpower.”
But nothing has really gone wrong in its campaign, either. The party has won the support of large chunks of the business community and endorsements from traditionally conservative newspapers, including the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun tabloid.
The Sun said in an editorial that “by dragging his party back to the center ground of British politics for the first time since Tony Blair was in No. 10 (Downing St.), Sir Keir has won the right to take charge,” using the formal title for Starmer, who was knighted.
Former Labour candidate Douglas Beattie, author of the book “How Labour Wins (and Why it Loses),” said Starmer’s “quiet stability probably chimes with the mood of the country right now.”
The Conservatives, meanwhile, have been plagued by gaffes. The campaign got off to an inauspicious start when rain drenched Sunak as he made the announcement outside 10 Downing St. Then, Sunak went home early from commemorations in France marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
Several Conservatives close to Sunak are being investigated over suspicions they used inside information to place bets on the date of the election before it was announced.
It has all made it harder for Sunak to shake off the taint of political chaos and mismanagement that’s gathered around the Conservatives since then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff held lockdown-breaching parties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johnson’s successor, Liz Truss, rocked the economy with a package of drastic tax cuts and lasted just 49 days in office. There is widespread dissatisfaction over a host of issues, from a creaking public health care system to crumbling infrastructure.
But for many voters, the lack of trust applies not just to Conservatives, but to politicians in general. Veteran rouser of the right, Nigel Farage, has leaped into that breach and grabbed attention with his anti-immigration rhetoric.
The centrist Liberal Democrats and environmentalist Green Party also want to sweep up disaffected voters.
“I don’t know who’s for me as a working person,” said Michelle Bird, a port worker in Southampton on England’s south coast who was undecided about whether to vote Labour or Conservative. “I don’t know whether it’s the devil you know or the devil you don’t.”
Putin and Xi headline summit with anti-Western stance
- Xi, criticized in the West for his growing support for Moscow, told Putin Wednesday he was delighted to see his “old friend” again
Astana: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping were set to participate Thursday in a regional summit in Central Asia bringing together numerous countries opposed to the West.
Putin and Xi regularly meet under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) alliance, whose latest session is being held in Kazakhstan’s capital city of Astana.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also attending, since his country is a “dialogue partner” with the bloc, whose full members including ex-Soviet Central Asian states, India, China, Russia and Iran.
On Wednesday, Putin had bilateral meetings with Erdogan and Xi ahead of the main session, telling the Chinese leader that the Shanghai alliance was strengthening its role as “one of the key pillars of a fair multipolar world order.”
Both countries have railed against what they call US-led “hegemony” on the world stage.
Xi, criticized in the West for his growing support for Moscow, told Putin Wednesday he was delighted to see his “old friend” again.
Erdogan also met Putin on the sidelines Wednesday, inviting him to Turkiye and calling for a “fair peace that can satisfy both sides” in Ukraine. The Turkish leader has sought to mediate between the warring countries.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not attending.
The SCO was founded in 2001 but has come to prominence in recent years. Its nine full member countries are China, India, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.
It is intended to be a platform for cooperation in competition with the West, with a focus on security and economics.
A year after Western-sanctioned Iran joined as a full member, Belarus, also ostracized for its backing for Russia’s war in Ukraine, will become the 10th full member Thursday.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in an interview with Kazakh media praised the alliance for “demonstrating to the world that there are alternative international platforms, different centers of power.”
The alliance claims to represent 40 percent of the global population and about 30 percent of its GDP but it is a disparate group with many internal disagreements including territorial disputes.
While Russia and China are united against Western domination, they are economic competitors in Central Asia, a region rich in oil and gas that is also a crucial transport route between Asia and Europe.
The summit includes Gulf states among its “dialogue partners” and in a sign of its growing importance, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres is set to address delegates Thursday.
With the event’s security focus, Afghanistan is a likely topic. It has observer status in the SCO but has been absent since the Taliban took power in 2021.
None of the members have formally recognized the Taliban government but China has named an ambassador to Kabul, Kazakhstan has removed the Taliban from its list of banned organizations and Moscow has said it will do the same.
But the SCO’s main thrust is economic ties between member countries and developing giant projects to link up China and Europe via Central Asia.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased major powers’ interest in the region, where Moscow is seeking to maintain its traditional sway but where China now has strong ties through its flagship Belt and Road infrastructure project, while the West is also vying for influence.
Western sanctions against Russia have blocked much-used transport links between China and Europe and prompted the European Union to seek alternative routes including through Central Asia.
Malaysia cracks down on ‘Ninja Turtle Gang,’ rescues tortoises smuggled from Pakistan, other countries
- Authorities rescued 400 tortoises worth over $800,000 that were to be sold in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia
- An official of Malaysia’s wildlife and national parks department calls it ‘the biggest seizure in the past 10 years’
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian authorities have rescued hundreds of smuggled tortoises meant for sale in Southeast Asia, disrupting an international crime ring called the “Ninja Turtle Gang,” a wildlife official said Thursday.
Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim, wildlife and national parks department director-general, said 400 tortoises worth 3.8 million ringgit ($805,084) bound for the lucrative exotic pet trade were seized during an operation by the police and wildlife officials on Saturday.
Across Asia, many believe that tortoises bring good luck and prosperity.
“This is the biggest ever seizure in the past 10 years,” Abdul Kadir told AFP, adding that the reptiles were to be sold on to Thailand and Indonesia after local demand was met.
He said the tortoises were believed to have been smuggled from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
The joint operation, codenamed “United National Resource,” crippled the tortoise smuggling ring known as the “Ninja Turtle Gang,” he said.
The operation involved a car chase in which the driver of a vehicle thought to be used in the smuggling was arrested.
The driver subsequently led the enforcement officers to a location where rare three-keeled land turtles and Indian star tortoises were being kept.
Commercial trade in the Indian star tortoise was banned in 2019.
“The strategic location of Malaysia in Southeast Asia makes the country a hub for the smuggling of these exotic species,” Abdul Kadir said.
The tortoises are illegally brought into Malaysia by road or in suitcases by smugglers aboard commercial flights, he said.
Traffic, a wildlife NGO, has previously said that Southeast Asian countries “function as source, consumer and as entrepots for wildlife originating from within the region as well as the rest of the world.”
As France votes, Europe holds its breath
- The big fear for the EU’s traditional political mainstream is an outright RN victory
- Macron has told EU counterparts France will continue to play a leading role in the bloc
BRUSSELS/PARIS: When President Emmanuel Macron shocked France last month by calling a snap election, he was gambling with the future of Europe as well as his own country.
While much depends on the second round of voting on Sunday, it already seems clear that Macron’s role as a driver of European integration will be significantly diminished. The two most likely scenarios – a government led by the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen or a hung parliament – would present unprecedented challenges for the European Union.
The big fear for the EU’s traditional political mainstream is an outright RN victory, forcing Macron to “co-habit” with a government hostile to his vision of European sovereignty.
Even a parliament with no overall majority, resulting in an unwieldy coalition or parties cooperating case-by-case, would deprive Macron of a government committed to his policies. In either case, a heavy question mark would hang over some of his boldest initiatives – from joint EU borrowing to fund defense spending by doubling the EU budget to deploying French troops inside Ukraine to train Kyiv’s forces.
As France and Germany traditionally form the engine that drives the 27-nation European Union, the bloc could face a double dose of political paralysis as its two most important pro-EU leaders would be on the back foot. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saw his party crushed in European Parliament elections last month, is struggling to hold his coalition together and is braced for strong far-right showings in upcoming regional polls.
“Macron is severely weakened at home, which will have consequences for his position in Brussels as well as for the Franco-German relationship,” said Elizabeth Kuiper, associate director at the European Policy Center think tank. While Europe’s far-right parties are still far from their goal of taking over the EU and repatriating powers back to the national level, they have wind in their sails. They made gains in the European Parliament elections, where Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s party was a big winner. A new Dutch government with far-right participation has just taken office. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has taken over the EU’s rotating presidency and announced the formation of a new pan-European “patriotic alliance.”
“A weaker France and Germany coupled with a stronger Italy and Hungary clearly will shape the future of the EU,” said Kuiper.
Macron pushback
Macron has told EU counterparts France will continue to play a leading role in the bloc, with a big share of the votes in the European Council of EU leaders and his party at the heart of the pro-EU coalition in the European Parliament, French officials say.
“France remains France, with its weight,” said one.
But diplomats say much of the nitty-gritty of EU policy work is done in meetings of government ministers — and the next French government looks certain to be at the very least less Macron-friendly than the current one. Should the RN’s candidate for prime minister, 28-year-old Jordan Bardella, form a government, some diplomats wonder if he may try to adopt an at least semi-cooperative stance with EU bodies — taking a page from Meloni’s playbook. But the party’s policies and statements suggest clashes with both Macron and Brussels would be inevitable. Le Pen has said an RN-led government would nominate France’s next European commissioner – a key role in the EU executive. But that is traditionally the president’s prerogative — and Macron has already signalled he wants to keep incumbent Thierry Breton. The RN also wants France to get a rebate from the EU budget, something the EU is highly unlikely to provide. And while the RN’s economic policies have changed repeatedly in recent weeks, they may fall foul of the EU’s fiscal rules.
Karel Lannoo, chief executive of the Center for European Policy Studies think tank, said initiatives to boost European economic competitiveness such as an EU capital markets union would also be at risk.
“The problem for the EU is that if it doesn’t have member states strongly supporting it, then it’s very hard (to move forward),” he said.
Among diplomats in EU hub Brussels, some are in “wait-and-see” mode, given the outcome of the second round is uncertain.
One described the mood as “nervous but calm.” But some Eastern Europeans expressed more anxiety — and concern that Macron had unnecessarily put Europe’s future at risk in reaction to a defeat in the European Parliament elections. Eastern European leaders have been encouraged over the past year as Macron became bolder in support for Ukraine and more willing to question the West’s “red lines” with Russia.
“His words were music to our ears ... That was so recent and now it is gone,” lamented one senior official from the region.
“It is looking very serious,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“My fear is that President Macron has definitely overplayed his hand.”
Pro Palestine protesters scale roof of Australia’s Parliament
CANBERRA: Pro Palestine protesters climbed the roof of Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday and unfurled banners, one saying Palestine will be free, and accused Israel of war crimes, TV footage showed.
Footage showed four people dressed in dark clothes on the roof of the building, unfurling black banners including one reading “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a common refrain of Pro Palestine protesters.
One of the protesters began a speech using a megaphone accusing the Israeli government of war crimes, an accusation it rejects.
“We will not forget, we will not forgive and we will continue to resist,” the protester said.
A handful of police and security advised people not to walk directly under the protest at the main entrance to the building, but there appeared to be no immediate attempt to remove the protesters, a Reuters witness said.
“This is a serious breach of the Parliament’s security,” opposition Home Affairs spokesperson James Paterson said in a post on social media platform X.
“The building was modified at great expense to prevent incursions like this. An investigation is required.”
The war in Gaza began when Hamas gunmen burst into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages back into Gaza, Israel says.
The offensive launched by Israel in retaliation has killed nearly 38,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins.
Both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the early stages of the Gaza war, a UN inquiry found last month, saying that Israel’s actions also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses.
