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George Soros and Viktor Orbn go to war in

Budapest

Bryan MacDonald is an Irish journalist, who is based in

Russia

Hungarys pressure on George Soros Budapest university is

about more than the future of one school. Its part of an
ideological battle which will dominate European and North
American discourse in the coming years.

Whatever you might say about Viktor Orbn, hes a fast and
decisive mover. Last Sunday, when thousands demonstrated
in Budapest against his proposal to tighten regulation on
foreign universities, marchers spoke of a lengthy campaign
of resistance. Two days later, it was a done deal. Orbn had
rushed the bill through parliament, displaying an eciency
Angela Merkel would admire, if she didnt distrust him for
other reasons.

His target was Soros, Hungarys wealthiest son, who has

become a hate gure for nationalists across Europe. And a
man who divides a country. Many Hungarians admire
Soros's philosophy and see him as a benefactor. However,
more again see his inuence as nefarious and reject his
ethos of globalist Atlanticism.

For liberals, Hungary has been a huge disappointment.

Because, back in the early 90s, it was considered the most
westernized of the ex-Warsaw pact states. And only 20
years ago, the Socialist Party and the Alliance of Free
Democrats held an overwhelming majority in parliament.
Yet, with the country facing bankruptcy, they were forced
to implement a hugely unpopular austerity package that
allowed Orbns Fidesz party to jump from 20 to 148 seats
in the 1998 election. For the next decade, the two blocs
fought a close battle until the latter took control in 2010,
with the Socialists mortally wounded by accusations of
rampant corruption, which even led to riots.

Changing his tune

Since then, Orbn used his huge 2010 majority to change
the constitution and has proven himself something of a
chameleon. For instance, he has simultaneously cultivated
close relations with both Vladimir Putin and Polands hyper-
patriotic government. And although Russian companies
have won signicant contracts in the transportation and
energy sectors, every time anti-Moscow sanctions have
come before the European Union, Budapest has faithfully
backed them.

Read more

Inside the EU, Hungarys attitude to migrants has often

created outrage. For instance, when Angela Merkel was
opening Germanys doors, Orbn was constructing a wall to
keep the newcomers out. However, Fidesz, politically
connected to Merkels CDU movement through Brussels
European People's Party grouping, has paradoxically proven
to be its most loyal supporter in European parliament votes.
Fidesz MEPs vote 98 percent with us - even more than the
Germans," an EPP ocial told Politico this week.This
displays the genius of Orbns double game.

Because while hes been busy dismantling liberal

democracy in Hungary, EU grant aid has kept rolling in,
averaging 2.4 percent of GDP from 2004-2014. And
discontent in Brussels has been measured in murmurs,
rather than roars. Even the Americans seem relatively quiet,
meekly observing this week how Washington is
disappointed by the accelerated passage of legislation
targeting (the) Central European University. At the same
time, his government's overtures to Donald Trump, which it
considers a like-minded potential ally, have been met with
silence.

No Time Like Present

While everybody knows that Orbns obvious desire is to
clip Soros wings, the actual legislation itself is slightly
more vague. It forces foreign universities to close unless
theres a bilateral agreement in place between Hungary and
their home government and they have a campus abroad.
In the case of the Central European University, the only
option is to open a mothership in the US or head for the
hills. As a result, other locations, in Austria, Romania and
Lithuania, have been oering themselves as alternatives.

The CEU was founded in 1991 in Prague, before former

President Vaclav Klaus booted it out a few years later. Back
then its stated mission was to educate a new corps of
regional leaders to help usher in democratic transitions
across the region. By the year 2000, it had moved onto a
special emphasis on democracy promotion and human
rights. Among its alumni are Azeri dissidents Ilgar
Mammadov and Rashadat Akhundov, Serbian pro-NATO
activist Sran Cviji and current Georgian President Giorgi
Margvelashvili. Thus, many local inuencers fear Budapest
has been hosting its own colour revolution factory.
Orbn and Soros have had their share of mutual grievances.
Two years ago, the Prime Minister accused the billionaire of
being responsible for the migrant crisis. "His name is
perhaps the strongest example of those who support
anything that weakens nation states, they support
everything that changes the traditional European lifestyle,
he told a radio station. "These activists who support
immigrants inadvertently become part of this international
human-smuggling network.

Soros shot back, saying he was trying to uphold European

values while Orbns actions undermined those values.

In February of this year, the feud intensied. Large-bodied

predators are swimming here in the waters. This is the trans-
border empire of George Soros, with tons of money and
international heavy artillery, Orbn insisted. It is causing
trouble that they are trying secretly and with foreign
money to inuence Hungarian politics,

Tale of the Tape

Orbn's party is fully on board. Fidesz deputy chairman,
Szilard Nemeth, saidin December that Donald Trumps US
election win was a game changer: these organisations
must be pushed back with all available tools, and I think
they must be swept out. And now I believe the international
conditions are right for this with the election.

As for the two heavy hitters themselves, while both are

Hungarian, they couldn't be more dierent. Soros is a
billionaire, whose $25 million fortune is worth about 20
percent of his homelands entire GDP. He was raised in an
upper middle-class home in Budapest, his father a lawyer
and his mother from a wealthy family of silk traders. At the
age of 17, he left Hungary and migrated to Britain, where
he studied at Londons School of Economics. Ten years
later, New York beckoned and, by his late 30s, Soros had
founded his own fund management company.

By contrast, Orbn is a country boy. Hailing from the rural

county of Fejer, where his father worked in agriculture, he
studied law in Budapest. However, such was his dislike for
city life that, upon graduation, he immediately relocated to
a country town, Szolnok, and commuted into the capital for
work. In 1989, he spent a few months at Oxford University,
ironically on a Soros scholarship, but quickly returned to
Hungary to enter politics.

Soros once said he hoped that his foundation would help

Hungary become a country from which I wouldnt want to
emigrate. It seems, at the age of 86, his mission to fashion
his homelands politics to his own agenda has failed. That
said, the majority of Hungarian voters appear to be
supportive of Orbns ambition to create an illiberal,
nationalist state, within the European Union. And there's no
doubting how the politician is winning the argument.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this

column are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily represent those of RT.