Wars have never consisted solely of combat operations and weapons thundering on the battlefield. In fact nowadays, the back lines—especially in the virtual space—have become the main arena for conflict. It’s more effective and cheaper than operating heavy weaponry. Of course, this too costs money. Ukraine, it seems, has set aside a portion of its military budget to discredit its opponents in the global press. Unsurprisingly, Ukraine views Hungary's prime minister as an adversary and has hired Hungarian journalists as mercenaries to execute this task.
These foot soldiers probably carry out the assignment gladly—some of them have been doing this for decades anyway, and if they get additional money for it, all the better. The conclusion of every one of their articles is always the same: Viktor Orban should resign, even if they don’t explicitly write it at the end. For some, this has completely clouded their judgment—they wage personal crusades, treating each article that stirs sentiment against the Hungarian PM as a small victory.
Ukraine, this entirely bizarre state formation on the international stage—at least in the media sphere—manages to present itself as a champion of democracy, while using parts of the support it receives from various external sources to slander those who disagree with it. This is a vast network with many players, and one can trace the origin of the funds all the way back to Washington or the Soros network. The euphemistic phrase “for the development of media in Central Europe” can mean just about anything, and there is always some fund ready to allocate substantial amounts for this highly important cause. There are thousands of such programs, distributing targeted support to companies willing to serve foreign interests for a certain price. This situation can be twisted any way you like, but the journalists in question live in Hungary, raise their children here, carry out their activities here, and take money here to fight against the lawful Hungarian government on Ukraine’s behalf.
The lofty idea that Ukraine is fighting for its freedom and that Hungary is its enemy has never been true. Ukraine has its own interests, but it’s clear that others are using it to fight for much larger and more nefarious reasons. If there’s one mistake a journalist can make, it’s adopting the goals and ideologies of another country, simply believing in its propaganda. Yes, this is a real thing—state programs are launched to serve this end when a country is at war. Ukraine paints itself as a victim that every well-meaning person is obligated to support, while Kyiv loudly proclaims that weapons are tools of peace, which is also echoed by the entire liberal elite press worldwide. Aligning with this narrative either reveals severe ignorance or the glint of mercenary pay behind it. And from here, it’s not much of a leap to depict Viktor Orban as an enemy representing Russian interests in Europe—we’ve certainly read and heard enough about this from the same authors.
Hungary is a direct neighbor of a country at war and proceeds with extreme caution because wars are rarely contained within borders. These borders must be defended both physically and intellectually. In Hungary, there is no wartime censorship, journalists are not targeted for their opinions, and criticizing the government is not an act of treason. But conducting a campaign against the Hungarian government with Ukrainian money is undoubtedly an act of betrayal, and that mercenary pay amounts to exactly thirty pieces of silver, no matter how i is converted.
