After a couple of year of wrestling match, it is finally done: After warning its partners, Hungarian Christian-Democrat Prime Minister Orbán’s Fidesz party decided to leave the European Popular Party (EPP), the centre-right wing group of the European Parliament.

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Throughout the history of Central Europe, it has not just been a role, but a mission. Our nations feel the weight of their responsibility in Europe’s future.

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The presidents of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have gathered in northern Poland for two days of debates to mark the 30 anniversary of the Visegrad Group

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Biochemist Katalin Karikó has been nominated to receive this year’s honorary citizenship from Szeged, the local government’s press chief told MTI on Tuesday.

Karikó, who currently lives in the US, graduated from Szeged University and started her research career in the city, according to a laudation published on szeged.hu.

Karikó is a senior vice president of BioNTech. She has been instrumental in developing the company’s Covid-19 vaccine.

Hungarian Vaccine Researcher Katalin Karikó Potential Candidate for Nobel Prize

As we enter what is hopefully the last stage in humanity’s battle with the Covid-19 virus, various vaccines are entering the distribution phase around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people have already been vaccinated, predominantly healthcare workers, the elderly, as well as other essential personnel. As with almost all things, there is something “Hungarian” about some of these vaccines: Katalin Karikó, a biochemist working for BioNTech, the company partnered with Pfizer to produce one of the first Covid-19 vaccines, was born in Hungary, and her name has been raised regarding a potential Nobel Prize.

Katalin Karikó was born in Szolnok, Hungary, and grew up in Kisújszállás. She studied biochemistry at the University of Szeged, and upon completion of her PhD began a research career at the Institute of Biochemistry at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. This proved to be a short-lived career, as she was laid off in 1985, and subsequently emigrated to the United States with her husband and two daughters.

Karikó found a job as a researcher at Temple University in Philadelphia but switched to the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) only a few years later. It was here that she began her work on mRNA-based gene therapy, something that has been the focus of her research ever since. Along with noted immunologist Drew Weissman, Karikó received a patent for her discoveries regarding mRNA in 2012 but encountered difficulties when her research was not taken seriously at UPenn. She then accepted a job at BioNTech as a senior vice president in charge of the company’s mRNA projects. BioNTech is a German company (owned by Turkish immigrants) that has partnered with Pfizer, with the BioNTech vaccine being mass produced by Pfizer for global distribution. The vaccine developed by another company, Moderna, is also based on Karikó and Weissman’s 2012 patent.

But what is mRNA, this magic word that keeps appearing whenever we talk about Covid-19 vaccines? mRNA, or “messenger ribonucleic acid”, conveys genetic information that directs the synthesis of specific proteins. In other words, mRNA serves as a blueprint for how the body can produce certain proteins. In very simple terms, an mRNA vaccine works by telling the human body to produce a protein that is also found in Covid-19, and the body then learns how to deal with that protein. If a vaccinated person then contracts Covid-19, their body will recognize the protein and quickly expel the virus.

It is important to mention that the vaccine does not actually contain Covid-19 itself, only the protein.

After decades tireless research, Karikó’s work has borne fruit, and at a crucially important time in human history. In 2018, she and her team had already begun working on using mRNA to tackle influenza viruses, long before Covid-19 existed. Her ground-breaking research on mRNA is what made such a quick vaccine response possible. Thus, it is not surprising that Richard Dawkins, a noted British ethologist and public intellectual, tweeted that she should receive a Nobel Prize for her work.

Hungarians are very proud of our Nobel Prize winners; we often cite our high “Nobel Prize Winners Per Capita” statistic (Hungary is currently 13th on the list).

However, just like Katalin Karikó, almost all 13 Hungarian Nobel Prize winners lived most of their lives abroad. In fact, Imre Kertész, the 2004 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, is the only one who returned to Hungary later in his life.

(Hungary Today)

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Hungary has announced that it will return a childhood suit of armour that belonged to 16th century Polish king Sigismund II Augustus. The item had mistakenly ended up in Budapest’s National Museum due to an 18th century bureaucratic error.

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Europe must not succumb to the Soros network, Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote in an English-language post on his official website in reply to a recent article by financier George Soros.

The prime minister wrote that many believed “economic criminal” Soros was not worthy of a response because his financial speculation had ruined the lives of millions of people, while the financier had held national economies to ransom.

“Yet now I am compelled to do so, because in an article appearing on the Project Syndicate website on 18 November, the Hungarian-born speculator and billionaire George Soros issued open commands to the leaders of the European Union. In his article he instructs them to severely punish those Member States that do not want to become part of a unifying European empire under the banner of a global ‘open society’,” the prime minister wrote.

Viktor Orbán: Reply to the article by George Soros

Many believe that the prime minister of a country should not enter into an argument with George Soros. Their reasoning is that Soros is an economic criminal, because he made his money through speculation, ruining the lives of millions of people, and even blackmailing entire national economies. Just as governments must not negotiate with terrorists, they say, prime ministers must likewise not debate with economic criminals.

Yet now I am compelled to do so, because in an article appearing on the Project Syndicate website on 18 November, the Hungarian-born speculator and billionaire George Soros issued open commands to the leaders of the European Union. In his article he instructs them to severely punish those Member States that do not want to become part of a unifying European empire under the banner of a global “open society”.

Throughout history, Europe’s strength has always been derived from its nations. Although of different origins, European nations were bound together by the common roots of our faith. The foundation of our communities was the European family model, itself based on Judeo-Christian traditions. It was Christian freedom which ensured freedom of thought and culture, and which created benign competition among the continent’s nations. This magnificent amalgam of contrasts made Europe the world’s leading power through centuries of history.
Every attempt to unify Europe under the aegis of empire has failed. Thus historical experience tells us that Europe will be great again if its nations become great again, and resist all forms of imperial ambition.

Great forces are once again moving to eradicate the nations of Europe and unify the continent under the aegis of a global empire. The Soros network, which has woven itself through Europe’s bureaucracy and its political elite, has for years been working to make Europe an immigrant continent. Today the Soros network, which promotes a global open society and seeks to abolish national frameworks, is the greatest threat faced by the states of the European Union. The goals of the network are obvious: to create multi-ethnic, multicultural open societies by accelerating migration, and to dismantle national decision-making, placing it in the hands of the global elite.

The European Union is suffering from multiple afflictions: since 2008 an economic crisis of proportions not seen for generations; since 2015 a migration crisis; and in 2020 a devastating global pandemic. Europe has still not recovered from its previous crises, and so the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has the potential for even greater distress. There are already signs of this: in several countries public debt, unemployment rates and the general economic situation have reached critical levels. The need for European solidarity, for European nations to come together to help each other, has never been greater.

During all these crises, this speculator – who calls himself a philanthropist – did not consider the interests of the people of Europe, but acted to his own advantage. Memorably he attacked the Hungarian forint and Hungary’s largest bank in the economic crisis, and he planned to speed up, distribute and finance the resettlement of immigrants during the migrant crisis; and now he is proposing that Member States punish one another, instead of embracing solidarity and mutual assistance.

The network directed by George Soros has now discarded any hesitancy it may have had about open intervention. He wants to put more pressure on nation states than ever before. He is setting the peoples of Europe against one another. The network’s operational system is labyrinthine, and is present in various arenas of public life. On the payroll of George Soros are a long list of politicians, journalists, judges, bureaucrats and political agitators masquerading as members of civil society organizations. And although the billionaire accuses all his enemies of corruption, he himself is the most corrupt man in the world. He pays off and buys whoever he can – and those whom he cannot bribe will be slandered, humiliated, intimidated and destroyed by the network through its formidable weapon: the left-wing media battalions.

Many high-ranking EU bureaucrats are working with the Soros network to create a unified empire. They want to build an institutional system that, under the aegis of the open society, seeks to force a unified way of thinking, a unified culture and a unified social model on Europe’s free and independent nations. They seek to rescind the right of every people to decide its own destiny. This is also the purpose of their “rule of law” proposal – which does not, in fact, recognize the rule of law, but of strength. It would be more honest to call it the “rule of the majority”.

The differences between us are obvious. Soros wants an open society, while we want a safe society. According to him, democracy can only be liberal, while we think it can be Christian. According to him, freedom can only serve self-realization, while we believe that freedom can also be used to follow the teachings of Christ, to serve one’s country, and to protect our families. The basis of Christian freedom is the freedom to decide. This is now in jeopardy.

We in the eastern part of the EU know very well what it means to be free. The history of the nations of Central Europe has been a relentless struggle for freedom against great empires, a repeated battle to win our right to decide our own destinies. We have bitter first-hand experience that every imperial endeavor brings enslavement. There are still quite a few here from the generation of freedom fighters – in the former Eastern Bloc, from Estonia to Slovenia, from Dresden to Sofia – who can personally remember what it is like to oppose tyranny, the rule of man and its communist version: intimidation, material and moral ruination, physical and mental abuse. We want no more of that.

Western leaders who have lived their whole lives in a world of inherited freedom and the rule of law should now listen to those who have fought for freedom and who – based on their personal life experiences – can distinguish between the rule of law and tyranny, or the rule of man. Such Western leaders must accept that in the 21st century we shall not surrender the freedom we fought to achieve at the end of the 20th century.

The battle for and against the new Brussels empire has not yet been decided. Brussels seems to be surrendering, but many nation states continue to resist. If we want to preserve our freedom, Europe must not succumb to the Soros network.

(Hungary Today / Office of The Hungarian Prime Minister)

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Hungary defeated Iceland 2-1 last night in Budapest, thereby qualifying for the 2020 European Championships which the country is co-hosting.

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(A magyar oldal itt érhető el)

The Consulate General of Hungary in Chicago in collaboration with the Bocskai Film Club cordially invites you to commemorate the 1956’ Revolution and Freedom Fight with Kristof Deak’s film the Captives. Given the current corona virus situation and encouraging to stay home, the highly successful production can be viewed free of charge in Hungarian and English subtitled versions with the generous support of the Hungarian National Film Institute (NFI) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on NFI’s Vimeo channel on October 25, 2020.

Please fill out the following form to get the access link and password to watch the movie.

ATTENTION! Publishing the password publicly and downloading the movie is the infringement of the copyright! You can easily share this unique opportunity by sharing this page link with your friends.

Captives (Foglyok)

(2019, feature, HD, color, 87 minutes)
drama

In 1951 Budapest, the communist secret police shows up at the door of an ordinary family – but instead of deporting them, the officers move in and lock them up in their own home. And anyone else who comes knocking on the door … Days go by without any explanation as secrets, lies and paranoia soon begins to unravel the growing number of captives in the apartment.

An incredible but true story from Academy Award winning director Kristóf Deák.

 

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The bill submitted by Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, and Miklós Kásler, Human Resources Minister, will provide major salary raises for doctors in Hungary. The legislation was unanimously approved with 165 votes in favor after being fast-tracked through Parliament.

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