Hungary must act to save Europe and stop the EU elite’s plans to create a great European war, says the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
– It seems that there are no brakes on the pro-war train, and the driver has gone mad, he warns.
Thousands of Orbán’s supporters took part in a peace march in the country’s capital on Saturday, and the prime minister is clear that the EU’s choice is between peace in Europe and world war.
Orbán said Europe must choose a different path and “be prevented at all costs from going to war with Russia”.
– Europe is preparing for war and every day it goes through a new stage on the road to hell, he said
–We have a huge task ahead of us, the likes of which we have never had. We must prevent Europe from entering a war that will lead to its destruction, he continued.
“Does not favor the interests of Europeans”
The Hungarian leader pointed out that Europe has already sent hundreds of billions of euros worth of weapons to Ukraine and placed nuclear weapons in the middle of Europe. There is also talk of sending European troops to fight Russia – something that is unlikely to happen in Hungary.
–We will not go to war and we will not die for others on foreign soil, he promises.
In his election campaign, Orbán has focused on the war in Ukraine, accusing political opponents both in Hungary and in the EU of being warmongers who would force Hungary into a direct war with Moscow.
The prime minister has also previously stated that the EU’s policy towards Russia and Ukraine “does not serve the interests of Europeans”. Because of his unwillingness to continue the war or send arms and soldiers to Ukraine, he has become an increasingly unpopular figure among the powers that be in Brussels – so much so that EU leaders are actively seeking to remove Hungary’s veto power during meetings dealing with the conflict.
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The Swedish Armed Forces have been working on a new drone project over the past year, under great secrecy, together with weapons manufacturer Saab, where large swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles will be used in military operations.
–They can be as many as needed – thousands, if desired, says Saab CEO Micael Johansson
The main focus has been on developing new software that is said to enable the drones to form swarms and perform tasks almost automatically, without any operator having to control each individual aircraft in detail.
–It’s not about piloting drones, you give them a mission on an iPad or mobile phone, then the drone swarm goes out and does this, the Saab top executive told TT during a press conference, explaining that a soldier can learn the system in a few days.
A possible drone mission could be to monitor a road by flying over it and transmitting images or video from the site, while scouting for enemies that the drones can also identify. By using hundreds or thousands of drones, very large areas can be monitored in this way, and if a few drones are disrupted, this also has little impact.
Although this has not been part of the project so far, it is also possible that in the future the drones will be armed and used to attack enemy forces.
–You can update this software and do amazing things in the long run, says Micael Johansson.
Should not make their own decisions
According to Army Chief of Staff Jonny Lindfors, the drones should be considered “trucks” – and it is up to the decision-makers to decide what cargo they should carry.
– But the basic principle that still applies is that in an armed operation there should be a human being making the decisions, he says.
Swedish soldiers have already started training with the new system and it will also be used in the NATO exercise Arctic Strike in March. The Swedish Armed Forces are also in the process of acquiring tens of thousands of drones, but they won’t say how much the new system will cost.
Sweden’s Minister of Defense Pål Jonson (M) is careful to point out, however, that a project of this kind usually takes about five years to complete – and that it is “uniquely fast” that the software has been developed in just one year.
Despite EU sanctions and stated ambitions to sharply reduce imports of Russian fossil fuels, Europe still imported record amounts of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia in 2024.
According to experts, there is a logical reason for the increase – Russian gas is simply much cheaper than its competitors.
Data from Rystad Energy shows that 17.8 million tons of Russian LNG were delivered to European ports last year, an increase of over 2 million tons compared to the previous year.
Despite a significant drop in piped gas imports from Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine and the terrorist attack on the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022, the EU continued to purchase record amounts of the country’s LNG. This has been possible as the chilled fuel has been only partially covered by the sanctions imposed by Union member states.
The energy analyst firm released the data shortly after Ukraine halted the transit of Russian gas through its territory to the EU. Kiev opted to scrap a five-year transit agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom at the end of 2024, halting the flow of natural gas from Russia to Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Italy and Moldova.
Russian LNG deliveries to the EU not only increased but reached “record levels”, according to Jan-Eric Fahnrich, gas analyst at Rystad Energy. He states that Russia surpassed Qatar as the bloc’s second-largest supplier of LNG in 2024, after the United States.
According to Fahnrich, the EU bought 49.5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas through pipelines last year, and another 24.2 billion cubic meters of LNG, some of which was re-exported to other countries.
“Fairly simple”
Data from the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea) show slightly lower figures, but even these reflect an overall trend of sharply increasing Russian LNG exports. According to Crea, EU imports of Russian LNG increased by 14% year-on-year in 2024 to 17.5 million tons and were worth €7.32 billion.
– The reason for the rise is fairly simple. Russian LNG is offered at a discount to alternative suppliers. With no sanctions imposed on the commodity, companies are operating in their own self-interest and buying increasing quantities of gas from the cheapest supplier, explains Crea’s Russia analyst Vaibhav Raghunandan.
The latest estimates significantly outpace recent projections by Bloomberg, which earlier this week said LNG deliveries from Russia to the EU had risen to 15.5 million tons by 2024 compared to 2020, when the EU imported about 10.5 million tons of the fuel.
US President-elect Donald Trump has announced that a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is now being arranged.
– He wants to meet, and we’re setting it up, Trump said at a meeting of Republican governors in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Trump described the war in Ukraine as “a bloody mess ” and expressed his intention to end the conflict. During his election campaign, he promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office, but has recently conceded that a six-month period is a more realistic timeframe.
Trump says Putin wants a meeting and they’re setting one up.
If you cut through the noise, what this means is there will be peace with Ukraine soon.
That’s what America voted for, peace and our resources being used for Americans.pic.twitter.com/EgCFeoiSrf
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also confirms that the Russian president’s line has been firmly established that he is open to talks with Trump and that there are no preconditions for such a meeting.
– The president has repeatedly stated his openness to contact with international leaders, including the U.S. president, including Donald Trump, said Peskov.
Trump’s planned meeting with Putin has raised concerns in Kiev, where there are fears that US military support could be reduced and Ukraine could be pushed into an unfavorable peace deal.
Sweden’s prime minister proclaims that Sweden is certainly not at war at the moment – but that the Swedish people should not believe that there is any real peace either.
– Let’s plan for the worst, so we can continue to hope for the best, declares Ulf Kristersson, and calls for continued escalation and rearmament.
During this year’s edition of Folk och Försvar’s national conference, those in power gathered in Sälen to discuss issues related to Sweden’s defense and security policy. This year, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also took part, and in his speech he focused on trying to explain how the government actually views Sweden’s current defense policy status.
– Sweden is not at war.But neither is there peace, the Prime Minister emphasized.
– Real peace requires freedom and that there are no serious conflicts between countries.But we and our neighbors are exposed to hybrid attacks, which are not carried out with robots and soldiers, but with computers, money, disinformation and the risk of sabotage, Kristersson further argued.
“Take this seriously”
In March, it will be one year since Sweden joined the US-led NATO alliance, and the Prime Minister was very proud when he described how Swedish aircraft already contribute to NATO’s airspace surveillance, how 600 Swedish soldiers are on their way to Latvia – and how Sweden is ready to contribute to NATO’s naval forces as well.
– It is an asset for Sweden in NATO that support for our membership is so strong and broad.Politically, but also among the population.It is an expression that we live in serious times.But also a sign that Sweden has changed.
Kristersson believes that Sweden has previously been “a somewhat naive idealist on the sidelines”– but has now become much wiser and has become “a realist at the center of events“.
According to the Moderate leader, Sweden and other countries are not being subjected to conventional warfare – instead, he believes it is a “proxy war” where, for example, Iran is accused of hiring gang criminals to commit acts of violence in Sweden and where Russia is allegedly “undermining democratic elections” in European countries.
– So take this seriously.I and the government take it seriously, he admonished.
“It’s all about priorities”
There do not seem to be any plans to improve relations with Russia and promote de-escalation through dialogue and diplomacy – instead, the focus is on deterrence and continued rearmament.
– The Russian threat is by all accounts a long-term one.So must our defense be… It’s all about priorities.We can afford to defend our freedom – but we cannot afford to lose our freedom, he said.
The Prime Minister also stressed that Sweden “is not only a place of freedom and self-realization – but also of responsibility and self-sacrifice” and paid tribute to the young Swedes who “do their duty” by joining the Swedish army.
– Now it is a new era once again. And it doesn’t have to be a pre-war era, but as is well known, those who want peace must be prepared for war.
Kristersson and outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Photo: U.S. Department of State/Public Domain
“Let’s plan for the worst”
He says that today, just as in the Cold War days, the struggle is between “democracy and dictatorship“, and although he claims that he and his party do not want a war, he says it is nevertheless of the utmost importance to consolidate, arm and increase militarization if one were to happen.
– We won and the dictatorship lost.There is no law of nature that makes it always so.But the free world has done it before and we can do it again.Let’s plan for the worst, so we can continue to hope for the best, he concluded.
The Nordic Times also highlighted Folk och Försvar’s national conference 2024, where the focus was on Sweden’s entry into NATO and alleged domestic and foreign threats to the country.
