A chara, – Further to Bobby McDonagh’s article “Viktor Orban is a clown and a buffoon, but don’t underestimate his power to do damage to the EU” (Opinion & Analysis, July 31st), describing people as buffoons and clowns because they disagree with majority EU opinion does nothing to help us understand the issues involved, or the rights or wrongs of the Hungarian prime minister’s position.
Whether Atlanticists like Mr McDonagh like it or not, Hungary has a different position, a position, incidentally, which has been endorsed by the democratic votes of the Hungarian people.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that Ukraine cannot win this war, and that continuing it only means more Ukrainian soldiers will die pointlessly and tragically. More than ever before, there is a need to find a way to end the war, and let Ukraine salvage whatever it can from a war that could have been avoided if Ukraine had committed itself to the Minsk accords agreed with Russia in 2012.
Mr Orban argues that it is in Hungary’s national interest that the war end speedily. This may not be in accord with Mr McDonagh’s Atlanticism, but it is a rational position.
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Can we not expect analysis from The Irish Times that treats such differences seriously? – Is mise,
EOIN Ó MURCHÚ,
Baile Átha Cliath 22.