It seems to go a little further than just that. They have… plans.
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To his pleas of innocence
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It’s more like new and expanded [Austro-]Hungarian Empire.
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Liike Nyt, Kristillisdemokraatit, Vasemmisto Liitto, Kokoomus, Perussuomalaiset, Keskusta, Liberaali Puolue, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland, Avain Puolue, Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue, Vihreät, Asukkaiden Ääni, Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, sitoutumattomat, Feministinen Puolue, Eläinoikeuspuolue and Hamppupuolue.
Local election time.
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“ In a move that has sparked global outrage, Russian authorities are now offering schoolgirls a one-off payment of £950 ($1,200) to have children, as the country faces a dire population decline following its war in Ukraine. The controversial policy, first introduced in the Oryol region, targets girls in full-time education, including those as young as 15, and is part of a broader state-backed initiative to combat Russia’s falling birth rate and staggering wartime losses.”
Putin is running out of soldiers.
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I don’t know if a population that has been there for a very long time translates to that, necessarily? It’s not as if there are plans at this point to dissolve particular nation-states and build a new empire? That would undercut the power of the individual autocratic regimes, no?
And besides, isn’t Putin the one sitting atop this hierarchy and he seems more into spheres of influence with friendly nations like Hungary and Serbia.
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In case your not familiar with Soyinka (I was not)…
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There are a lot of Hungarian groups on that list that want autonomy, independence or unification with Hungary.
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Okay, but as you note, it’s a European-wide problem. This is what comes out of nation-states based on supposedly “pure” national identities instead of general civil and human rights for everyone within a given set of state borders. And the borders within Europe have been in constant flux for… I guess technically forever, but especially in the past 150 or so years. More ethnically mixed empires have been replaced by nation-states meant to serve particular ethnic groups - but there are real problems with trying to connect culture groups with specific lands. That’s especially problematic in the Balkans, where that also includes major religious groups which are supposedly tied to ethnic identities.
Ethnic nationalism has long (well, since the 19th century or so) an effective means of destabilizing other countries (just ask the Ottomans!). But it seems to me that destabilizing Serbia under the current government would not be in Orban’s interest, given the shared political worldview. Serbia would take destabilization of their country seriously, I’d expect, from Hungarian separatists, no?
Also, how often are these groups bottom up vs. top-down, if that makes sense? Historically, lots of ethnic nationalist movements derive from an educated elite, who seek to impose very strict nationalist meaning onto peasant folk ways. The whole turning peasants into frenchmen project, in other words. So, is that the same in the modern era, with elites (Orban, other authoritarians) employing nationalist language in a very ethnically narrow way in order to retain power. Another example in the Balkans, the Serbian government continuing to try and destabilize the northern part of Kosovo which is Serb majority. There is certainly popular sentiment to be part of Serbia, but what would happen if the Serbian government pulled support for that and instead respected the territorial integrity of Kosovo? Seems like lots of the steam would eventually go out of the resistance to governance from Pristina.
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True. But then again.
Orban’s ‘Greater Hungary’ Map Creates Waves in Neighbourhood
Croatian and Romanian leaders have both responded, albeit in different ways, to a map of ‘Greater Hungary’ posted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, recalling Hungary’s one-time rule over several of its neighbours.
https://balkaninsight.com/2020/05/07/orbans-greater-hungary-map-creates-waves-in-neighbourhood/
From there:
In 2010, Hungary changed its citizenship legislation, thus any subject who could certify ancestry on any territory historically belonging to Hungary may as well be granted Hungarian citizenship, if they are able to speak the Hungarian language (the Csangos may have an exception of the first criteria, as the area they live was not part of Hungary, regarding them also ecclesial documents may be accepted).
The campaign materials of Jobbik during the early 2010s contained maps of the pre-1920 Greater Hungary.
Greater Hungary hits way too close to home.
By 2015, the Hungarian authorities announced that they had granted citizenship to around 100,000 ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia. Despite Ukraine’s constitution stating that there is only one form of citizenship in the country, the Kyiv government generally overlooked the issuance of Hungarian passports in Zakarpattia for several years, as many of them also held dual citizenship. Since 2021, the only individuals legally barred from acquiring dual citizenship in Ukraine are civil servants.
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ETA
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And that is in a culture which almost certainly has a strong belief in letting in ANYONE who comes to your door, because extreme cold is so quickly lethal.
It would be the equivalent of giving water to anyone you came across in a desert.
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