The Next Hot Spot

On March 3 I called my buddy Joe to wish him well on his birthday. He greeted me with “Hallo, Igor”.

I laughed, ”I guess you have read my blog.”

“You could have written a few lines more about what happened to Gouzenko after.”

I obliged. “After being thoroughly debriefed he went into long-term hiding and had to give up living with his family. He wrote a book about Stalin titled Fall of a Titan and periodically emerged from hiding with a bag on his head.”

“Admirable.” said Joe. “Now tell me where will the next HOT SPOT develop, Cuba?”

“No, Hungary. Cuba is already in Trump’s Bag.”

I continued.

“There will be a General Election in Hungary on April 12, 2026 and the ruling party, FIDESZ, is worried:  their Leader, Victor Orban’s popularity is in-free fall because

a)  he’s been around too long (since 2010), and is too corrupt,

b) the emergence of a new non-corrupt Hungarian Political Personage: Peter Magyar.

“Vladimir Putin, Trump’s great friend, wants a Hungarian government that is pro Russia. To this end Putin is maintaining a friendly relationship with Orban, the present Hungarian Prime Minister, whom he uses entre autres to acquire confidential information about goings on in Brussels at the EU of which Hungary is a member. What’s more, as a member, Hungary has veto rights which it recently used (at probably Putin’s request) to block a 90 billion euro loan for the Ukraine. (At the EU, even a small country can have outsized influence. Hungary’s population is only 2% of the EU)”

“Putin wants two things: that Hungary remain a part of Europe that is under Russian influence, and that Hungary continue being governed by a Russian-friendly government.”

“Putin needs Orban so he is helping him by interfering in the coming election. Of course, Russia is not the only country trying to interfere; The Ukraine, Romania, even Austria…are participants. But these countries’ meddling activities pale in comparison with what apparently Russia has up its sleeve:

Officers from the Russian intelligence service, (SVR) suggested that the situation was so anti-Orban that, to re-establish balance, drastic action might become  necessary, namely, the staging of a fake  assassination attempt on Victor Orban a la Donald Trump.

Joe was shocked, “You must be kidding!”

“No, I am not. Apparently, that is what is proposed in an internal report for the Russian SVR obtained and authenticated by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post. So all I can say that, if such an event should occur in Hungary on April 12, WATCH OUT.”