Status Updates From Napastnik. Opowieść o Vikto...

"Orbán today is surrounding himself with people who are not causing governmental problems for home now but could, in a moment, cause many issues for him."

"...Western [politicians] believe in institutions, processes and the principles of good governance. ... Eastern [politicians] believe in personalities, the efficient strength of the individual and in the people." - which is why politically the West has continued to evolve.

"Mentally he was twice as strong as strong as the average man at the time, and now he's so strong it's as if he were not even human. Power makes him this way." - uncritical reporting of this sort marks the difference between biography and hagiography.

"Left-wing parties therefore had more than twice as many supporters from among those working in the media. This proportion didn't come close to mirroring public opinion." - more an argument for the ineffectuality of media bias, than otherwise.

"The process is very simple. Certain companies receive contracts from the local governments and in exchange buy advertising placements in media close to the governing party." - this is part of 'Hungary has a free press' argument :o

"Eight to ten big business leaders should have been found [to support the political right] those who would be Hungary's tycoons in the future, and they should have been supported...After that, leave the rest to market forces." - so much for Orbán's commitment to the market economy and the rule of law.

"The illegal press in Hungary hadn't developed anywhere near as much as in Poland and there weren't any qualified people suitable to fill new positions." - I've never taken claims of left wing media bias seriously, people aren't forced to watch a particular TV channel, or read a particular newspaper.

"...he could eliminate the post-communism that was present in nearly every Hungarian office, in nearly every paragraph of Hungarian law, in the nepotism and in the people's consciousness". - if only.

"[Orbán] said that the strengthening of the middle class and Hungarian businesses is what he considered to be his primary job, not the easing of the big, multinational companies' lives" - contradictory goals?

"In 2004, Orbán turned to members of the civic circles and encouraged them to join Fidesz." - as if that wasn't the plan all along. The civic circles had more in common with Communist cells than NGOs.

"The ultimate limit [on the use of power] is nothing else but the fear of God." That might be OK for a Polish catholic, but for an English agnostic that is the most disturbing thing I've ever seen Orbán say.

"Anikó and he decided that their children would be baptised and learn about religion while participating in religious community life. Meanwhile, Orbán was also considering which parties could be possible allies for Fidesz." - presumably the parallels with 'The Godfather' at this point are entirely coincidental.

"...in contrast to Poland...[although] many priests were persecuted in various ways, there [were] also ... amongst them many informers, particularly amongst the upper echelons of the clergy." Shame the translation is falling to bits, the comparisons with Poland are the most interesting parts.

"We declare war on the interlockings, the corruption, the unprincipled connections between politics and the economy, to mafia politics of 'one hand washes another hand". - that war didn't last long.

"Blair can mainly thank [Alastair Campbell] for his successes as the head of government and the leader of the Labour party. The group of young Hungarians quickly learnt the art of modern communication." Mortifying that is all they seem to have learned from British democracy.

After a few good chapters over the break with Fodor, back to Hagiography.

"It is the government's obligation to protect the national economy, to maintain and create jobs, support exports and think about long-term developments. All this is the responsibility of government, not foreign investors."

"This conviction pushed aside the old principles and made it possible for the liberals to jointly form a government with the former communists. In Poland, the forming of a similar situation would have been unimaginable." Presumably, because Polish nationalists hadn't sided with the Nazi's during WW2.

"Every Hungarian wishes to die an elegant gentleman"

"[Soros] warned [Orbán] that using rhetoric pertaining to traditional values would end with them being accused of being nationalistic, fascist and anti-Semitic." Well, he was right.

"These contrasts were however very sharp, steadfastly remained after 1990, and in the following twenty years have sharpened even more...Orbán realised that it isn't possible in Hungarian politics to step out of these camps. You must belong to the nationalist or the socialist-liberal side." Or Orbán saw a vacancy in the leadership of the nationalist camp?

"From the old [constitution], practically all that remained was the sentence "The capital of Hungary is Budapest"." That's not what we were told in 2010.

"The indebtedness weighing heavily on our shoulders is a direct consequence of our revolution being quashed in blood and it forced us back into the Asian dead-end, out of which we are now attempting to find a way." Nowadays, Orbán sees Asia as an opening rather than a dead-end.

"The system without an official censor worse than that of countries where a preventative censor operated - namely, self censorship by journalists and editors was often more strict since there were no clear prohibitions or guidelines as to what was permitted and what not." A hungaricum?