[Grem] Orbán: The Point of NATO Is Peace, Not Endless War -- magyar link

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Magyarul ismertetik, pl.:

https://magyarnemzet.hu/belfold/2024/07/orban-viktor-egy-amerikai-lapban-publikalt-velemenyt-a-nato-rol#google_vignette

https://mandiner.hu/kulfold/2024/07/orban-viktor-a-nato-alapertekeivel-megy-szembe-a-vegtelen-haboruskodas

https://oroszhirek.hu/ongyilkossag-a-nato-ukrajnaval-kapcsolatos-politikajat-biralta-orban-viktor/

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Orbán: The Point of NATO Is Peace, Not Endless War

Newsweek, 2024.07.05. -- Orbán Viktor
https://www.newsweek.com/orban-point-nato-peace-not-endless-war-opinion-1915287


NATO is approaching a watershed moment. It is worth remembering that the 
most successful military alliance in world history started as a peace 
project, and its future success depends on its ability to maintain 
peace. But today, instead of peace, the agenda is the pursuit of war; 
instead of defense it is offense. All this runs counter to NATO's 
founding values. Hungary's historical experience is that such 
transformations never lead in a good direction. The task today should be 
to preserve the alliance as a peace project.

On those occasions when we need to make statements about NATO, we 
Hungarians are in a special position. Our accession to NATO was the 
first time in several centuries that Hungary had voluntarily joined a 
military alliance. The significance of our membership only becomes clear 
in light of Hungary's history.

The history of 20th-century Hungary is also, unfortunately, a history of 
defeat in wars. Our collective experience is one of wars periodically 
fought within alliance systems of which we did not originally want to be 
a part, and which were established with some form of conquest in mind—or 
at least with some explicitly militaristic goal. However much we sought 
to stay out of the two world wars, and however vehemently we tried to 
warn those countries we were forced into alliances with, each occasion 
brought a defeat that almost erased Hungary from the face of the Earth.

Although the worst did not happen, our losses were still colossal. These 
wars left Hungary with no control over its future. After 1945 we became 
an unwilling part of the Soviet bloc, and thus also of the Warsaw Pact: 
the then Eastern bloc's military alliance. Hungarians protested with 
every fiber of our being. We did our utmost to bring about the downfall 
of the Warsaw Pact. In 1956 our revolution drove the first nail into the 
coffin of communism; and, as that system was finally being overthrown, 
our then-prime minister was the first leader in the former Eastern bloc 
to declare (in Moscow!) that the Warsaw Pact must be dissolved. The rest 
is history. The military alliance that had been imposed on us almost 
immediately broke up, and just a few days after that famous meeting in 
Moscow the Hungarian foreign minister was in Brussels, negotiating the 
commencement of our NATO accession process.

When the Hungarian nation joined NATO it had not been a voluntary member 
of a military alliance for a long time—perhaps as long as five hundred 
years. The importance of this circumstance cannot be overemphasised. In 
addition to our natural desire to free ourselves from Soviet domination 
and to join the West, a special factor made NATO attractive to us: we 
were finally joining a military alliance that was committed not to 
waging war but to keeping the peace, not to offensive expansion but to 
the defense of ourselves and one another. From a Hungarian perspective 
we could not have wished for anything better.

We still hold this view, and up until now there has never been a 
circumstance that has called it into question. Yet it is worth briefly 
touching on why, 25 years ago, we saw in NATO our guarantee of peace and 
defense. In the second half of the 20th century Hungary was cut off from 
its natural civilizational environment—the West—and, more immediately, 
from the whole of Europe. We would do well to recall the words of U.S. 
President Harry S. Truman, who, upon the founding of the alliance, 
summed up its essence in the following words:

     In this pact, we hope to create a shield against aggression and the 
fear of aggression—a bulwark which will permit us to get on with the 
real business of government and society, the business of achieving a 
fuller and happier life for all our citizens.

President Truman's words coincided with the aspirations of Hungarian 
history: peace. Reading them today, it is clear that the concept 
underpinning NATO was emphatically that of a military alliance for 
defense. Its primary task was to create a geopolitical environment in 
which the members of the alliance would mutually defend one another. 
This is not only a security guarantee, but also a competitive advantage. 
Mutual guarantees enable each member country to direct its resources to 
economic development rather than to warding off military threats. But 
there was another important element in President Truman's speech: NATO 
provides not only defense and deterrence, but also reassures external 
actors.

Looking back 25 years, I can confidently say that what finally convinced 
Hungarians to join—alongside a general desire for integration as part of 
the West—was NATO's promise of peace. Twenty-five years ago, on 
September 16, 1999, as prime minister I was present when the Hungarian 
flag was raised at NATO headquarters in Brussels. This is how I summed 
up what joining the world's largest military alliance meant for us: "For 
Hungary, joining NATO also means peace. Well, to fight a war—even 
successfully—all you need are enemies; but to create lasting peace in 
this corner of the world is impossible without allies." Ever since then 
I have been closely following the development of the alliance's vision 
for the future, and the manner in which Hungary has been fulfilling the 
commitments it made when it joined. I have done so not only out of a 
general sense of political responsibility for Hungary, but also as a 
result of my personal memories and direct involvement.

-- 

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