Adrian Buck’s Reviews > Forward! The story of Hungarian Primeminister Viktor Orbán > Status Update

"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.