World

Pro-Putin Leaders in Hungary and Serbia Set to Win Re-election

Published

3 years ago

April 3, 2022

Pro-Putin Leaders in Hungary and Serbia Set to Win Re-election

BUDAPEST — Overshadowed by the warfare in Ukraine, elections on Sunday in Hungary and Serbia seem to have prolonged the tenures of Europe’s two most Kremlin-friendly leaders, each populist strongmen fortified by their overwhelming management of the media and low-cost power from Russia.

With greater than 60 p.c of the votes counted in Hungary, preliminary outcomes indicated that Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister since 2010, and already Europe’s longest serving chief, had gained a fourth consecutive time period regardless of accusations by the opposition that he has enabled Russia’s army onslaught by cozying up for years to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

“We gained a victory so huge that you may maybe see it from the moon, and definitely from Brussels,” Mr. Orban instructed a jubilant crowd of supporters late Sunday, taking a dig on the European Union, which he has lengthy accused of pushing L.G.B.T.Q. and migrant rights in defiance of the democratic will of Hungarian voters.

The preliminary outcomes dashed the hopes of Mr. Orban’s political foes that an unusually united opposition camp may break his ruling Fidesz celebration’s more and more authoritarian grip on the Central European nation subsequent to Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymr Zelensky, talking early Sunday in his capital, Kyiv, described Mr. Orban as “nearly the one one in Europe to overtly assist Mr. Putin.”

Requested about Mr. Zelensky’s evaluation after casting his vote in Budapest on Sunday morning, Mr. Orban stated curtly: “Mr. Zelensky just isn’t voting at the moment. Thanks. Are there every other questions?”

President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, additionally Moscow-friendly, has ruled Serbia since 2012, and was anticipated to win re-election after rallying his nationalist and pro-Russian base by refusing to hitch the European Union in imposing sanctions on Russia. Serbia hopes to change into a member of the European bloc, however its utility has stalled.

An unusually excessive turnout in Serbia of almost 60 p.c compelled officers to maintain polling stations open late into the night in some areas. Amid complaints of foul play by the opposition, the central election fee in Belgrade, the capital, stated it might not subject outcomes till Monday morning.

However exit polls indicated that Mr. Vucic would win a brand new time period as president and that his Serbian Progressive Occasion would retain its maintain on Parliament, albeit with a decreased majority. The opposition stated it had gained management of the municipal authorities in Belgrade.

Hungary and Serbia have very completely different histories. Mr. Orban governs a rustic that, till he got here to energy, considered Russia with nice mistrust because of its previous struggling at Russia’s palms, most notably when Moscow despatched troops to brutally crush an anti-communist rebellion in 1956. Mr. Vucic’s nation, nonetheless — Slavic and Orthodox Christian, like Russia — has lengthy appeared to Moscow as its ally and protector.

However beneath the 2 strongmen leaders, each nations have over the previous decade drastically decreased the area for important media voices, turning tv stations with nationwide attain into propaganda bullhorns and shifting towards authoritarian rule. Every has cultivated shut ties with Mr. Putin, who endorsed the Hungarian chief’s election marketing campaign when he visited Moscow in February shortly earlier than the invasion of Ukraine.

Serbia declined to impose sanctions on Russia whereas Hungary, a member of the European Union since 2004, agreed to an preliminary spherical of European sanctions however has strongly resisted extending them to incorporate restrictions on power imports from Russia.

In distinction to leaders in neighboring Poland, beforehand an in depth ally of Mr. Orban because of their shared hostility to liberal values, the Hungarian chief has additionally refused to let weapons destined for Ukraine go although his nation.

Earlier than Hungary’s election, Mr. Orban hit again to counter opposition costs that his coverage on Ukraine had betrayed not solely overseas allies but additionally Hungary’s personal painful recollections of aggression by Russia. Mr. Orban mobilized the information media, most of which is managed by the state and by pleasant tycoons, to forged his opponents as warmongers bent on sending Hungarian troops to battle towards Russia. The election supplied a “alternative between warfare and peace,” pro-government media warned.

The marketing campaign appears to have labored, even amongst some older voters who keep in mind the struggling brought on by Moscow’s troops in 1956. “Why ought to Hungarian boys battle for Ukraine?” requested Janos Dioszegi, who was 13 on the time of the Hungarian rebellion and whose father was imprisoned for 14 years by Soviet-backed authorities for his half within the anti-Moscow rebellion. He stated “in fact” he selected Mr. Orban’s Fidesz celebration when he voted in Nagykovacsi, a small city close to Budapest.

Echoing a line continuously aired in Fidesz-controlled media shops, Mr. Dioszegi stated there was no want to assist Ukraine defend itself as a result of it had provoked the warfare by changing into “a army base for America.”

Till Mr. Putin despatched troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, the centerpiece of Mr. Orban’s election marketing campaign was an inflammatory referendum, timed for the day of the parliamentary election, on whether or not younger kids needs to be taught at school about gender transition surgical procedure therapy, and uncovered with out restriction to sexually specific materials.

The warfare subsequent door in Ukraine, nonetheless, derailed Mr. Orban’s effort to get voters to give attention to transgender people and gays, forcing a reboot targeted on portray his opponents as desirous to take Hungary to warfare.

When a whole lot of pro-Ukrainian Hungarians and refugees from Ukraine gathered on Saturday in central Budapest to denounce the federal government’s fence-sitting on the warfare, the principle state-controlled tv station, M1, described the occasion as a “pro-war rally.” Anna Olishevska, a 24-year-old Ukrainian from Kyiv who took half, praised the abnormal Hungarians who she stated had helped her after she fled throughout the border. Greater than 500,000 Ukrainians have crossed into Hungary over the previous month, far fewer than the greater than two million who’ve entered Poland however nonetheless a big quantity for a rustic the place venomous hostility to overseas migrants had lengthy been the cornerstone of Mr. Orban’s usually xenophobic political platform.

Whereas delighted by her reception in Hungary, Ms. Olishevska stated the federal government had been so tentative in condemning Russia’s invasion and proof against serving to Ukraine defend itself, that she worries about staying in Hungary if Mr. Orban gained one other time period.

“I can’t keep in a rustic the place the federal government helps Russia,” she stated, waving a hand-painted signal telling Mr. Putin the place to stay his rockets.

Some distinguished supporters of Mr. Orban’s celebration have even blamed Ukraine for the bloodshed in 1956, with Maria Schmidt, a historian and museum director, claiming falsely on Saturday that Nikita S. Khrushchev, the Soviet chief who ordered troops into Hungary that 12 months, was Ukrainian. He was Russian. Ms. Schmidt misrepresented the Soviet chief’s origins in response to a Tweet by the British comedian John Cleese, who urged Hungarian voters to contemplate whether or not it was Russia or Ukraine that invaded Hungary in 1956.

The blizzard of distortions and falsehoods in Hungarian information media shops managed by Fidesz has left opposition supporters in despair.

“They simply repeat lies again and again, day after day,” Judit Barna, 81, a physician, stated exterior a central Budapest polling station, the place she had simply voted for a united opposition ticket headed by Peter Marki Zay, a conservative small city mayor.

Referring to Mr. Orban’s early political profession as an anti-Moscow firebrand who in 1989 demanded that Soviet troops go away, she requested: “How is it doable after 40 years of Soviet occupation and 30 years of democracy that the identical man who as soon as shouted, ‘Russians, go residence’ can now say that Russia is preventing a simply warfare in Ukraine?”

Due to Fidesz’s stranglehold on the media, she added: “Half of Hungary’s inhabitants eats up all these lies. That is Hungary’s disgrace.”

World

Sudan’s Military Recaptures Key City From Paramilitary Accused of Genocide

Published

3 hours ago

January 12, 2025

Press Room

Sudan’s Military Recaptures Key City From Paramilitary Accused of Genocide

The Sudanese military recaptured a key city in Sudan’s breadbasket region on Saturday, chasing out a paramilitary group that the United States accused last week of genocide.

Sudan’s information minister said the army had “liberated” the city, Wad Madani, while the military said that its troops were working to “clear the remnants of the rebels” from the area.

If the army can hold on to the city, it would be its most significant victory since the war started nearly two years ago. Experts said it would most likely shift the focus of the war northward to Khartoum, the capital.

Videos circulating online showed the army entering Wad Madani, which lies about 100 miles south of the capital. Local media reported that fighters with the paramilitary group, known as the Rapid Support Forces, or R.S.F., were fleeing the city.

The group’s leader, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, admitted defeat but vowed to soon recapture the city. “Today we lost a round; we did not lose the battle,” he said in an audio address to his fighters and the Sudanese people.

The victory brought joyous scenes in army-held parts of the country among Sudanese who hoped it might signal a turning point in a ruinous civil war that has led to massacres, ethnic cleansing and a spreading famine in one of Africa’s largest countries.

People massed on the battle-scarred streets of Khartoum, while church bells pealed in Port Sudan, the wartime de facto capital where many Sudanese have fled the fighting. Celebrations also erupted among exiled Sudanese in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The R.S.F. defeat came just over a year after the group seized Wad Madani in a victory that forced tens of thousands of people to flee and sent shock waves across Sudan. The group’s fighters went on to capture swaths of the country, far from their stronghold in Darfur in western Sudan.

But much of the most brutal fighting was in Darfur, where R.S.F. fighters massacred members of rival ethnic groups, according to human rights groups and the United Nations. Last week the United States formally determined that those killings constituted genocide, and it imposed sanctions on the R.S.F.’s leader, General Hamdan, who is widely known as Hemeti.

The United States also imposed sanctions on seven companies in the United Arab Emirates that it accused of trading gold and buying weapons on behalf of the R.S.F.

In recent months, the tide of the fight appeared to turn as the R.S.F. ceded territory in Khartoum and in parts of the east of the country. The military launched a counteroffensive in the area around Wad Madani, culminating in the recapture of the city on Saturday.

Still, it was too early to say if the victory would fundamentally change the course of the conflict. Since the first shots were fired in April 2023, the momentum of the fighting has swung back and forth, sometimes wildly.

The army and the R.S.F. were once allies, and their leaders joined to mount a military coup in 2021. But in the war between them, they have enjoyed the backing of different foreign powers.

The R.S.F. is supported by the United Arab Emirates, a wealthy Gulf sponsor that has supplied it with weapons and powerful drones, mostly smuggled into Sudan from neighboring countries.

The Sudanese military has obtained or bought weapons from Iran, Russia and Turkey. Both sides mine the country’s vast reserves of gold to finance the fight.

For ordinary Sudanese, the war has brought only misery, death and destruction, killing tens of thousands of people, scattering 11 million from their homes and setting off one of the world’s worst famines in decades.

The global authority on hunger, known as the I.P.C., reported last month that famine had spread to five areas in Sudan and was expected to reach another five in the coming months. In all, 25 million Sudanese suffer from acute or chronic hunger.

Both sides have committed atrocities and war crimes, according to the United Nations and American officials, although only the R.S.F. has been accused of ethnic cleansing.

World

Biden admin slammed for ‘waiting’ to declare genocide in Sudan

Published

4 hours ago

January 12, 2025

Press Room

Biden admin slammed for ‘waiting’ to declare genocide in Sudan

Join Fox News for access to this content

Plus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge.

By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive.

Please enter a valid email address.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – The Biden Administration has been blasted by the incoming Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho., for “waiting” until the outgoing President had only 13 days left in office before declaring rebel actions in Sudan, a country torn apart by 21 months of bitter war, to be “genocide.”

Earlier this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that members of the Sudanese rebel group, the Rapid Support Forces or RSF, “have committed genocide in Sudan.”

In a statement, Blinken said, “The United States is committed to holding accountable those responsible for these atrocities. We are sanctioning RSF leader Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa, known as Hemedti, for his role in systematic atrocities committed against the Sudanese people.”

BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN ACCUSED OF ‘TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE’ TO SAVE THE PEOPLE OF WAR-TORN, FAMINE-STRICKEN SUDAN

The Biden administration recently declared members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), committed genocide in Sudan. Pictured: U.S. President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.)

Blinken made his rulings, he stated, because “the RSF and RSF-aligned militias have continued to direct attacks against civilians, have systematically murdered men and boys—even infants—on an ethnic basis, and (have) deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence.”

The Secretary continued, “Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies.”

Blinken added that the African nation is suffering through “a conflict of unmitigated brutality that has resulted in the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe, leaving 638,000 Sudanese experiencing the worst famine in Sudan’s recent history, over 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and tens of thousands dead.”

Risch has held out that the situation in Sudan has been catastrophic for well over a year, and called into question the timing of Blinken’s declaration. In a statement earlier this week, he wrote, “It has been nearly a year since I introduced a resolution calling the atrocities in Sudan what they are: a genocide. Additionally, I first called for Global Magnitsky sanctions to be imposed against the RSF and Hemedti 263 days ago – and yet these sanctions still have not been leveraged.”

BIDEN TRAVELS TO AFRICA WHERE POLICIES WERE ‘OVER-PROMISED AND UNDER-DELIVERED,’ AMID MASSIVE CHINA EXPANSION

Fighters of the Sudan Liberation Movement, a Sudanese rebel group active in Sudan’s Darfur State which supports army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, attend a graduation ceremony in the southeastern Gedaref state on March 28, 2024. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images.)

Risch spoke to Fox News Digital, declaring, “The Biden Administration waited until it has less than two weeks in office to sanction RSF-affiliated companies and Hemedti for their crimes and to call atrocities in Sudan a genocide.”

Risch said, “This neglect to address the crisis in Sudan weakened America’s influence in the region and the world years ago. If the Biden Administration backed its rhetoric with action, Sudan would be in a better position today, more lives would be saved, and the foreign proxies exacerbating this conflict would be kept at bay.”

Risch added, “This war must end. Further instability in Sudan will only breed terrorism and regional turmoil, threatening global security. The U.S. and our allies must seek to end the killing and atrocities, end the malign actions by proxies, manage migration pressures from mass displacement and protect strategic interests like the Red Sea corridor.”

UAE, OTHER COUNTRIES REMOVED FROM INTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERING WATCHLIST

People board a truck as they leave Khartoum, Sudan, on June 19, 2023. The U.N. human rights office said in a new report on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, that scores of people, including children, have been subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence in the ongoing conflict in Sudan, assaults that may amount to war crimes. (AP Photo, File)

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan, Thomas Perriello, said “Making an atrocity determination is an immense responsibility that the Secretary takes seriously. Such determinations are based on a careful review of the facts and the law. It requires information not only of certain acts but also that those acts were done with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a racial, ethnic, national, or religious group. Information demonstrating intent is often difficult to find and assess.”

“Since the start of the conflict the United States has taken repeated action to promote accountability of the RSF for its atrocities conduct. The U.S. already had sanctioned five RSF leaders, including two of Hemedti’s brothers. We also determined in December 2023 that members of the RSF committed ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. So the designation of Hemedti and the genocide determination reflect a consistent effort to document and call out atrocities, acknowledge the suffering of victims and survivors, and pursue justice and accountability.”

In his declaration, Blinken announced new sanctions stating, “We are also sanctioning seven RSF-owned companies located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one individual for their roles in procuring weapons for the RSF.”

The new Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. (Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)

The Treasury Department also sent out a statement, virtually simultaneously to the one from State, saying “the RSF’s ability to acquire military equipment and generate finances continue to fuel the conflict in Sudan.” Treasury stated one particular company in the UAE, owned by a Sudanese national “has provided money and weapons to the RSF.”

Other UAE companies sanctioned this past week have been accused by the Treasury Department of handling financial transactions, of being “an essential part of the RSF’s efforts to finance its operations”, and of importing IT and security equipment .

One gold company in the UAE has been sanctioned because it has allegedly “purchased gold from Sudan, presumably for the benefit of the RSF, and subsequently transported it to Dubai.” Additionally, Treasury claimed “the RSF’s procurement director and brother of RSF leader Hemedti maintained access to (the gold company’s) bank account in the UAE, which held millions of dollars.”

Women from El Geneina, West Darfur, weep after receiving news of their missing relatives in Ardamata, as they waited for them in Adre, Chad, November 7, 2023. Ardamata was the latest site of an ethnic purge led by the RSF and allied Arab militias against the ethnic African Masalit tribe. (Reuters/El Tayeb Siddig. )

“The United States continues to call for an end to this conflict that is putting innocent civilian lives in jeopardy,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo stated. “The Treasury Department remains committed to using every tool available to hold accountable those responsible for violating the human rights of the Sudanese people.”

In response to Fox News Digital questions involving UAE registered companies an official from its foreign ministry fired back, stating. “The UAE’s primary focus in Sudan remains on addressing the catastrophic humanitarian crisis. We continue to call for an immediate cease-fire and a peaceful resolution to this man-made conflict. In this regard, the UAE has already made absolutely clear that it is not providing any support or supplies to either of two belligerent warring parties in Sudan.”

The official continued, “the UAE takes its role in protecting the integrity of the international financial system extremely seriously. We remain committed to combating financial crime globally, enhancing international cooperation and developing strategies to address emerging risks.”

World

Soldiers' arrest 'evidence' of North Korean involvement in Ukraine war

Published

5 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

Soldiers' arrest 'evidence' of North Korean involvement in Ukraine war

Comments come after Ukrainian forces detained two North Korean soldiers fighting in Russia’s Kursk region who have since reportedly been sent to Kyiv for questioning.

A spokesperson for the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has said the arrest of two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region is “indisputable evidence” of Pyongyang’s involvement in the war.

The two unnamed men were captured by Ukrainian forces and have since reportedly been sent to Kyiv for questioning.

“They are held in proper conditions that meet the requirements of international law. The prisoners do not speak Ukrainian, English or Russian, so communication with them takes place through Korean interpreters in cooperation with South Korean NIS. At the time of his capture, one of the foreigners had a Russian military ID card issued in the name of another person registered in the Republic of Tuva,” said Artem Dekhtyarenko.

He also said that both men were receiving “full medical care”.

In his nightly video address, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the two North Koreans are being questioned by investigators with the help of Korean translators.

Zelenskyy said their capture was “not easy”, claiming that Russian and North Korean forces have tried to conceal the presence of North Korean soldiers on the battlefield, including by killing wounded comrades to avoid their capture and interrogation by Kyiv.

“Both are alive and have already been brought to Kyiv. Now these two are…talking to SSU investigators,” he said.

Zelenskyy went on to say their presence is proof of Russia, “doing everything to prolong and escalate the war.”

There has been no comment from Pyongyang about the capture of the two soldiers but North Korea hasn’t publicly confirmed it has sent troops to support Russia’s war effort.

A senior Ukrainian military official said last month that around 200 North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces in Kursk have been killed or wounded in battle.

The official was providing the first significant estimate of North Korean casualties, which came several weeks after Ukraine announced that Pyongyang had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help it in its almost 3-year war against its much smaller neighbour.

The White House and Pentagon last month confirmed that the North Korean forces have been battling on the front lines in largely infantry positions. They have been fighting with Russian units and, in some cases, independently around Kursk.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy spoke to outgoing US President Joe Biden following the announcement of a new sanctions package on Russia’s critically important energy sector, according to Zelenskyy’s Telegram account.

The sanctions target more than 180 oil-carrying vessels that are suspected to be part of a shadow fleet utilized by the Kremlin to evade oil sanctions, as well as Russian energy majors, traders, oil field service firms and energy officials. Several of the vessels targeted are also suspected of shipping sanctioned Iranian oil, according to the Treasury Department.

“It is very important that America has now struck at Russia’s shadow tanker fleet and at companies such as Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, which accumulate money for Putin personally. He must feel the price of his war, losing from his wallets,” Zelenskyy said, referencing two Russian energy giants blacklisted along with dozens of subsidiaries.

In response to the sanctions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that “Washington’s hostile actions will not go unanswered,” but did not provide details of any planned countermeasures.

Cross-border strikes

And in Russia, Ukrainian drones slammed into apartment blocks in western Tambov province overnight, blowing out windows and damaging balconies in two five-story blocks, acting regional Governor Yegveniy Pervyshov said.

There were injuries, he said, without giving details.

Russia shot down 85 Ukrainian drones, mostly targeting the south and west, the Defence Ministry reported on Saturday.

At the same time, Russia attacked Ukraine with 74 drones overnight into Saturday, according to Ukraine’s air force.