Ruminations on Ukraine war
January 3rd, 2023Right-wing commentators contend that the war in Ukraine is unlikely to end unless the US makes a U-turn. A left-wing commentator is confident that Russia will lose the war.
On Látószög blog, Mária Schmidt interprets the war in Ukraine as the culmination of US efforts to expand its power in Europe. The conservative historian claims that the 2013-2014 Ukrainian “coup d’état” was financed and orchestrated by the US to facilitate Ukraine’s turn towards the West. She contends that Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea was a response to US intrusion into the region. Quoting former German chancellor Merkel’s interview with Die Zeit on December 7, Schmidt adds that the West used the Minsk agreements “to buy time for Ukraine” and provide it with NATO weapons. Schmidt thinks that it will be very difficult to negotiate peace in Ukraine as the West has lost its credibility.
In Magyar Nemzet, László Szőcs writes that Europe has lost its geopolitical power and has no real influence even on the Ukraine war. The pro-government commentator thinks that the war in Ukraine is a US proxy war intended to serve US interests. Szőcs finds it disappointing that Europe appears to have no say in a conflict which is creating such huge economic difficulties for the continent.
Magyar Hírlap’s László Bogár sees the war in Ukraine as a harbinger of a new global geopolitical era. The pro-government columnist speculates that the US wants to undermine or weaken the potential of European-Chinese-Russian cooperation by provoking a proxy war in Ukraine. Bogár predicts that the war will end only if the US acknowledges the growing power of Eurasian cooperation that includes Europe, Russia and China.
Népszava’s Gábor Horváth is confident that Russia will lose the war in Ukraine. The left-wing commentator finds it reassuring that ‘the democratic West’ led by US President Biden has realized how much it needs to help Ukraine to stave off the Russian aggression. He thinks that Hungary’s diplomatic standing has suffered a huge blow as the government hesitated to support Western efforts to defend Ukraine.