US and Hungarian conservatives must join forces in the 2024 elections to “take back” institutions in Washington and Brussels from liberals who threaten western civilisation, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.
Mr Orban also said the US needed a strong leader to negotiate a peace deal for Russia to end the war in Ukraine, Hungary's neighbour.
“Only a strong leader can negotiate peace,” he told the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a US political organisation, in Dallas on Thursday. “We need a strong America with a strong leader.”
Mr Orban, a Hungarian nationalist, did not specifically refer to former US president Donald Trump, who has hinted publicly that he will seek the presidency again in 2024.
Mr Trump has endorsed more than 100 conservative candidates before this year's midterm US elections.
The former US leader and Mr Orban had warm relations, with the Hungarian prime minister endorsing Mr Trump before the 2020 US vote.
Before the start of this year's CPAC conference, he wished Mr Trump success in a video message.
As with Mr Trump in the US, Mr Orban has been widely criticised in Europe.
Leaders of the EU, of which Hungary is a member, have accused him of undermining democracy through measures that restrict immigration and give his government control over the media and NGOs.
Mr Orban, who was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term in April, said the stakes were high for 2024. In addition to the US election, Europeans will vote for politicians vying for seats in the European Parliament that year.
“These two locations will define the two fronts in the battle for western civilisation,” Mr Orban said.
Calling himself “an old fashioned freedom fighter”, Mr Orban said Hungary and his government were “under the siege of progressive liberals”.
He said progressives sought to separate western civilisation from its Christian roots. His government's fierce anti-immigration stance, pro-family policies and rejection of gender ideology resist those efforts, he said.
“This war is a culture war,” Mr Orban said. “We have to revitalise our churches, our families, our universities and our community institutions.”
In a speech last month, Mr Orban said that in contrast to Western Europe, where locals mixed with non-European immigrants, Hungary was not a “mixed race” country.
His words drew condemnation from the US, the EU, Jewish groups and academics.
A few days later Mr Orban backtracked, saying he sometimes said things in a way that could be misunderstood.
He told CPAC that those who accused him or his government of racism were “idiots” and said his administration had adopted a “zero tolerance” policy on racism and anti-Semitism.
“Accusing us is fake news,” he said.
BRAZIL%20SQUAD
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
South Africa's T20 squad
Duminy (c), Behardien, Dala, De Villiers, Hendricks, Jonker, Klaasen (wkt), Miller, Morris, Paterson, Phangiso, Phehlukwayo, Shamsi, Smuts.
Temple numbers
Expected completion: 2022
Height: 24 meters
Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people
Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people
First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time
First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres
Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres
Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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