Eastern European Politics

Multiple polls are of the opinion that after all the controversies of the past weeks and months, Fidesz no longer has an absolute majority in terms of popularity, but has been overtaken by the opposition coalition which recently announced that they're doing the next elections jointly and signed an agreement to that end.

Also just read a rather thought-provoking article about the Hungarian far-right, who sort of faded into the background after 2010 but are still very much around and generally support Fidesz, with some complaints that whenever the far-right raises a societal issue like LGBT rights, Fidesz immediately snatches it away for their own propaganda. They're also somewhat united in being anti-migration (to them, any Muslim who comes to Europe is not a "true" Muslim because true believers in their faith would be satisfied with what they have, rather than "desire life in a liberal state, chase after blonde women and worship iPhones harder than Allah"), anti-LGBT (though notably not directly and outspokenly anti-gay in order to not kick the hornet's nest, only presenting themselves as the "defenders" of how things should be against sick people who are all pedophiles too) and anti-EU (usually involving antisemitic One World Order shadow government conspiracy theory BS), but notably divided over supporting and rejecting anti-vaxxer propaganda (because surprise surprise, some of them aren't suicidal).

Fidesz isn't far-right?

Only because Jobbik is (or used to be...) to their right.

It has endlessly amused me, in a brain-breaking sort of way, that Hungary has a party of Fascists for Democracy. Though these days the joke has worn thin and Jobbik has become the mask and become the conventional center-right party Fidesz pretends to be.

Edited by Ramidel on Dec 23rd 2020 at 4:38:00 AM

Since when did the far-right fade away in Hungary in recent years? Sure, there are some people who claim Orban is not a far-right back then. A claim that I always find questionable. It remind me that a few years ago I found in the YMMV page of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver a claim that John and his team don't do enough research and misrepresent Orban in his segment about him, claiming Orban isn't an authoritarian, anti-EU, and so on. Orban just admire Putin's style of leadership, is just critical toward the EU, and so on. Funny how things change after a few years...

I have not check the current YMMV page of Last Week Tonight... Have anyone change or delete that part? I'll check it later.

That is one fine damned by a faint praise there (in the past I suppose). That doesn't mean Fidesz is not a far-right party even in the past, though. The current state of Jobbik is indeed hilarious as hell, though.

Edited by SteamKnight on Dec 23rd 2020 at 8:56:39 PM

The Belarusian OMON unit is sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control alongside the country's Internal Troops.

https://belsat.eu/en/news/us-sanctions-omon-central-election-commission-internal-troops-as-belarusian-regime-actors/

https://belsat.eu/en/news/the-insider-kremlin-creating-pro-putin-party-in-belarus/

Insider obtained documents that the Kremlin's trying to create a pro-Russian party in Belarus.

2020 isn't even out yet, but the Speaker of the Hungarian parliament is already preemptively worried about the fairness of the 2022 elections.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't preemptive complaints of election fraud coming from the reigning government happen when said government is worried about not getting reelected...?

https://belsat.eu/en/news/opposition-activist-maryia-kalesnikava-s-being-in-custody-extended-again/

Maryia Kalesnikava's being held in custody yet again.

The EU vaccine program is off to a bad start, with much blame being put on the French government for allegedly insisting that the order for the vaccine developed by Bio N Tech would not exceed the order for the (far from finished) vaccine developed by the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, even when it became clear that the former would be available much sooner. As a consequence, the EU will receive much less vaccine relative to their population compared to e.g. the USA or Israel and therefore need more time to vaccinate all its' people.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisobrien/2021/01/04/french-government-faces-backlash-over-slow-covid-19-vaccine-rollout/?sh=63e34d1476e6

Needless to say, this is both embarassing and problematic, since it will no doubt amuse the Brexiteers and might become an obstacle for Europe's economic recovery.

Demonstrations in Russia. Do you think there will be any consequences? More sanctions maybe?

https://belsat.eu/en/news/02-02-2021-local-deputy-speaks-in-favor-of-close-union-with-russia-with-single-currency-and-army/

Oganess Avazbalian from Belarus' Khutaranka electoral district #11 is in favor of integrating more with Russia with one currency and military.

Oh, jeeeeeeze. Controversy keeps going around the new Polish anti-abortion legislation. In its original form, it would've been a total ban, with women being forced to carry even guaranteed-dead fetuses to term, but that particular part was removed after widespread protests. Now it merely forces women to carry guaranteed-sick-but-not-dead fetuses to term.

And what was the Polish government's response to criticism? Proposal to provide these mothers with psychological counseling and a separate hospital room to cry in after giving birth.

No, I am not making this up. How the FUCK can these people call themselves God-fearing Christians and NOT drop dead on the spot from divine retribution at their wickedness?! This is straight-up Baby Factory territory now!

Edited by amitakartok on Feb 4th 2021 at 3:23:52 PM

Expecting any empathy from a fundamentalist far-right government seems like expecting fire not to burn you if you touch it.

Perhaps the troubled COVID response will finally turn the voters away from PIS, but I've doubts if that will work out.

That is a bit much. I mean shit... The only things I can see coming from this law are that Polish women are going to be much more hesitant to get pregnant and the back alley abortion clinics are going to be booming.

Because Poland is under the control of fundamentalists, I assume contraception is also banned or at least hard to get as well? This is going to be a disaster. It's darkly hilarious that the first thing that comes to my mind when I read that post is Nicolae Ceaușescu's "pro-family" policies.

Isn't Poland part of the Schengen Area? What's stopping women with the means from just going to Germany or Lithuania or wherever and getting an abortion there? Seems like this is just another way of keeping poor women poor.

It echoes some of the issues with state-level abortion laws here in the US. Women who can afford it can leave Alabama and go to Illinois or someplace, but poor women won't be able to afford that step.

Edited by somerandomdude on Feb 4th 2021 at 5:59:48 PM

Covid still makes abroad travel more difficult, but yeah: back-alley abortions are going to be the new black for those women who cannot afford a trip.

"All life is sacred" only applies until a woman gives birth, then it's quickly turned to "you're on your own now". Kaczynski had famously said that he will make sure every child can at the very least be named and christened before we fit it a wooden suit, so I guess all is well in his world.

The day-after medicine is, to my knowledge, prohibited and you can be denied service from a doctor if they decide to use the "conscience clause". It almost exclusively applies to women-only medical services.

Edited by FergardStratoavis on Feb 5th 2021 at 12:37:16 PM

Abortion tourism is already a thing in Poland. The rich go west, primarily to the UK, the poor go to Belarus and Ukraine.

Edited by amitakartok on Feb 5th 2021 at 1:23:06 PM

Many German abortion clinics close to the German-Polish border have specialized on Polish patients, with some e.g. in Görlitz openly advertising with Polish-speaking doctors.

Is there any data or even estimate about any potential increase of illegal abortions performed on Polish women (either in Poland or in the neighboring countries)?

Russia has expelled diplomats from Sweden, Germany and Poland.

This BBC article claims it's between 10 to 150k illegal abortions yearly compared to 1-2k legal ones, on top of whatever happens abroad.

Mind you, this one is four years old - the Black Protest at the time stopped PIS from enacting the law, but they were only getting their footing as the government at the time - so I expect these numbers to have increased towards the higher end of the scale.

Edited by FergardStratoavis on Feb 6th 2021 at 2:44:08 PM

And they are also making contraceptives less available...

‘Doctors’ performing backyard abortions will have a field day.

Edited by LordforlornII on Feb 6th 2021 at 4:18:07 AM

Not sure if the Balkans geographically counts as Eastern Europe, but Kosovo recently made the EU unhappy by opening their Israeli embassy in Jerusalem rather than Tel-Aviv, going against both the EU's consensus and a 1980 UN resolution. On the other hand, some have pointed out that this isn't necessarily a negative thing, as over 95% of the Kosovan population is Muslim anyway.

Edited by amitakartok on Feb 10th 2021 at 12:53:46 PM

It was also a quid pro quo for Israel's recent decision to recognize Kosovo, so both sides got something out of it. Serbia snd Kosovo are currently locked in a rather nasty diplomatic battle over the recognition of Kosovo, with particulary Serbia trying to bribe small countries from Africa and the Caribbean to withdraw the recognition. Israel was the first prominent country in years that acknowledged Kosovo, and at least this success did not cost Kosovo any money (from which it has preciously little).

Kosovo doesn't really care over the UN or EU anyway, since its' membership in the UN is blocked for the forseeable future and the EU has not so far failed to recognize Kosovo.

Edited by Zarastro on Feb 10th 2021 at 1:15:51 PM

Actually, Kosovo has been getting significant financial aid from the EU over the years.