Haris Ahmed has escaped from Bangladesh, where his brother currently serves as Army Chief. The man had been on the Interpol’s Red Notice list for years, now he is using his connections at home to enrich himself in Europe.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Magyar külpolitika
A fugitive wanted for murder became a businessman in Budapest under false identity
How Orban played Germany, Europe’s great power
Why isn’t Germany tougher with the Hungarian government? Viktor Orbán has been building his alliances for decades through personal friendships, political gimmicks and pouring hundreds of billions of forints on German corporations. Direkt36 explored in detail the hidden history of Hungarian-German relations.
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Huawei is slowly pushed out from European 5G networks but the Orban government still supports them
5G rollout has finally started in Hungary during the pandemic. Telenor, the partly state-owned mobile operator could be the lifeline for the beleaguered Chinese company.
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“Mr. Russia” is now helping Viktor Orbán’s government to nurture German relations
Klaus Mangold, an influential German businessman with links to the European and Russian business elites has been advising the Orbán-government for many years. His consultancy contracts obtained by Direkt36 show that Mangold has been recently focusing on deepening Hungarian-German industrial relations.
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People close to Orban’s advisor appear in controversial Russia-connected megaproject
Preparations for a megaproject in which a Russian-Hungarian company will supply 1300 rail cars to Egypt seem to have accelerated. Simultaneously, people close to Arpad Habony, the PM’s chief advisor, and Zsolt Hernadi, CEO of MOL have appeared inside the firm which co-owns the winning company.
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How once cherished Iranians became coronavirus scapegoats in Orban’s Hungary
Hungary saw great business opportunities in Iran and the Orban government tried to strenghten relations through university scholarships and residence permits. Then the course of world politics and the coronavirus changed everything.
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Orbán’s media machine in the Balkans investigated for suspicious transactions
A Hungarian businessman close to the government has expanded his media empire to the Balkans. However, a high-value contract between his Slovenian and North Macedonian companies raised the attention of local authorities.
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Hungary pressured by diplomats to stop blocking NATO-Ukraine talks
There is growing pressure on Hungary’s government to stop blocking high-level Ukraine-NATO meetings. They are accused of doing a favor to Russia, while Hungary says “we’re not blocking just for fun”.
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U.S. is still trying to push out the Russian-led bank from Hungary
American and British diplomacy are upset that the International Investment Bank has relocated its headquarters to Budapest. The bank’s employees were supposed to receive wide diplomatic immunities, but the Orban government seems to be backtracking on issuing them.
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Companies close to Orbán’s allies will operate Hungarian trading houses in the Balkan
The Hungarian government started to rebuild its controversial trading house system on the Balkans – once again, with the old local partners that have good political connections.
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How Viktor Orban got involved in Trump’s Ukraine scandal
Several influential U.S. government officials have stated in recent weeks that Viktor Orban was inciting Donald Trump against Ukraine. However, reality is more complex and there are tough diplomatic battles being fought in the background.
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Hungary’s government is quietly neck-deep in the U.S.-Huawei war
The Trump administration is nervous about the good relationship between the Orban government and Huawei. The Chinese giant has been involved in several Hungarian state developments in recent years, and their devices have even emerged with Hungarian security agencies.
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Viktor Orban promised something to Vladimir Putin, but the U.S. intervened
Hungary’s government promised diplomatic immunities to the Russian-led, now Budapest-based International Investment Bank, but U.S. diplomacy had concerns over the bank’s alleged ties to Russian intelligence.
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The Russians are poised to benefit from international deal financed by Hungary
In addition to the Russians, several government-close people are also watching closely the project developments. The business partner of Árpád Habony has appeared in the company that signed the contract. The investment is likely to come up at the Orbán-Putin meeting.
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How the alliance with Israel has reshaped the politics of Viktor Orban
Direkt36 tells the story of how the Hungarian and Israeli Right slowly found each other through the relationship of Viktor Orban and Benjamin Netanyahu.
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MP of Hungary’s strongest opposition party has ties to the government’s controversial trading house business
Opposition MP Lajos Olah has been dealing with China for quite a while. He is so successful that even Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto can also be regularly seen with him. And one of Olah’s acquaintances operates a Chinese trading house for 70 thousand euros monthly.
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Both Russian arms dealers Hungary extradited to Moscow instead of the U.S. now set free
Vladimir Lyubishin Sr. was released after a Moscow court hearing. The arms dealer was arrested in a joint operation by Hungarian and U.S. authorities, but Hungary’s government extradited him to Russia. According to his lawyer, Lyubishin is very happy and can’t wait to travel somewhere with a spa and sauna.
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Orban promises the U.S. counterintelligence measures against a Russian-led bank
Viktor Orban has secretly promised many things to the U.S. government because they were worried about the Russian-led International Investment Bank’s (IIB) moving to Budapest. Meanwhile, the Hungarian government is trying to reassure U.S. congressmen that everything is OK with the IIB, although many find the bank suspicious.
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I really like Norway! This is how Trump refused Viktor Orban’s deal aimed against NGOs
Viktor Orban arrived at the White House with a very delicate plan. He tried to persuade Donald Trump to help the Hungarian government’s efforts against independent Hungarian civil society organizations. In return, he suggested that he would not obstruct ongoing negotiations over a lucrative U.S.-Norwegian arms deal.
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Trump and Orban to cut billion-dollar arms deals at the possible expense of Hungarian NGOs
U.S. Ambassador David Cornstein boasted about billion-dollar arms deals with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. However, Hungary wants to use an air defense system deal as leverage to gain government control over funding of independent NGOs.
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