Madeleine Albright thinks that Orbán’s Hungary is on the road to fascism

At 80 years of age Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright has had a long political career. She served as the 64th U.S. Secretary of State under President Clinton and was the first woman to hold this high level position.

Albright has Czech ancestry. Her father was a well-known anti-fascist who worked for the Beneš government-in-exile in London and later became a political science professor in the US. One of his students, Condoleezza Rice, served as the 66th U.S. Secretary of State under President George W. Bush.

Madeleine Albright knows Eastern-Europe well. She speaks several languages, among them Serbo-Croatian. She also knows Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. In her new book Fascism: A Warning she paints an unflattering picture of the Hungarian leader. Albright knows authoritarianism when she sees it and she sees the rebirth of the fascist ideas with the appearance of Turkey’s Erdogan, Venezuela’s Maduro and almost a full chapter of her book deals with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. In a recent interview she talked about Hungary’s xenophobia: “for instance, the prime example is Hungary with Viktor Orbán, who is now talking about illiberal democracy, which is basically a way to deal with whoever is not, in his description, a Hungarian so he can go after immigrants.”

Cover of her best-seller book

Albright’s book is now a best-seller and being a long-time critic of the Hungarian leader I expected that Orbán’s loyal diplomats in the United States would attack her or at least avoid her company. On the contrary, they cannot resist her star power.

Ex-Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi, an Orbán confidant, openly admires her and recently elbowed herself next to her at a photo op.

Amb. Réka Szemerkényi with Albright (Szemerkényi stands right to the Secretary).

UN Ambassador Katalin Bogyay went one step further and distributed a “best friend” photo with Albright.

Hungary’s UN representative Ms. Katalin Bogyay with Albright.

You may ask the question: Why do ex-Ambassador Szemerkényi and Hungary’s UN Representative Ms. Bogyay distribute photos with one of the sharpest critics of their own government? It seems that several Hungarian diplomat have started to position themselves for the “after Orbán” times and they know that a photo with Albright might come handy after the fall of his authoritarian regime.

Ms. Szemerkényi and Ms. Bogyay can wave these photos as proof that they were always against the Orbán Viktatorship. Orbán is probably aware of the easily shifting loyalties of his diplomats; Hungary’s politicians turn on a dime and today’s loyal supporter may turn out to be a mortal enemy tomorrow.

Secretary Albright with Viktor Orbán in 2000.

So don’t be surprised if in the future more Hungarian officials will try to take photos with Albright. It is an insurance policy for the “after Orbán” times of Hungarian politics.

György Lázár


  1. Mrs Bogyay also likes to be photographed with Hassid leaders in New York, while her boss back home praises the virtues of the man, who sent many of the Hassid’s ancestors to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. This is what’s meant by the saying: politics makes strange bedfellows.

    Many had miscalculated the outcome of the election, and are now furiously backpedaling, to keep close to Orbán and the feeding trough. Szemerkényi and Bogyay are only two such people. The rubber-backbone disease is gender neutral. It affects Hungarians of either sex in equally high numbers. The high numbers notwithstanding, it would be an exaggeration to call it a Virus Hungaricus. THAT virus causes a different disease, widely known as ditchburn disease. That’s the one that compels Hungarians to leave the main road for the ditch, and then blame someone else for their misfortune.

  2. Don Hermiston says:

    Somebody needs to tell Madeleine that it is better than being on the road to Communism. Though I also think she is full of it.

  3. Congratulations and thanks to Ms Albraith, although she’s running a bit late :
    Orbán’s Hungary is not on the road to fascism, it has arrived,
    even if it hasn’t fully settled there.

  4. Bendeguz79 says:

    Fascism is socialism and economic monopolism, just what Uncle Carl has described.
    So what’s the complaining all about?
    Just that today it is the bankers , traders and the mega-industrial corporations utilize to come to rule the world. Using their money and power and not a political party to achieve it.

  5. People really need to stop their obsessions with ideologies born and implemented in the 19’th or 20’th centuries. They recently installed a statue of Marx in Germany. The same Marx who gave rise to that very same ideology that killed at least twice as many people than the Nazis. We need to move on, whether it is in regards to venerating some messed up people & their ideologies from long ago, or whether it is neo-Marxist-globalists like Albright calling everyone who dares to be right of center “fascists”. We have 21’th century problems that are specific to our times. We don’t really need to rehash old ideological battles.

  6. Karl Pfeifer says:

    An interesting detail: Mrs. Albright was brought up as a catholic. Late in her life she discovered the Jewish roots of her family.
    I think she is mistaken, to call the NER (System of National Cooperation) fascist. The communist under Rákosi made the same mistake by calling the Horthy system fascist. Orbán is leading as the undiputed family-head a Post-Communist Mafia State.
    Peter if Marx is responsible for so many deaths, Christ is responsible for many more deaths. For Christendom had a much longer time to kill millions. Your argument is nonsense. The murder of millions in Gas Chambers, is an invention of those who pretended to defend “Christian culture”. Hungary under Horthy pretended also to defend that “onethousand year old Hungarian christian culture” by sending almost half a million Hungarian citizens to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

    • Karl P
      The Orbán regime is fascist “light”, ie facsist with some fig leafs as is the fashion today, when no dictator boasts openly of being one.

  7. I thought Freepress finished its “glorious” work! At least thats what i read on their goodbye-article recently. But im happy to see that most of the commenters didnt loose their mind. Thanks for that!:)

  8. Bendeguz79 says:

    National socialism is stated that has caused the death of 28 million human beings.

    International socialism has deliberately murdered on order no less than 94 million human beings world wide.
    Remember Pol Pot? he killed 1/4 of all people in his country. Where not just all teacher, all educated persons, but even those that had the need to wear eye-glasses, were killed as class enemy.

    So, killing humans on orders by the millions, because of their origin,religion, education, possession ,or whatever else is being considered as a virtue, just what they may consider one day as a sin for humans to be alive?

    The goal of any kind of socialism is to do whatever for the good of the society.
    Than,how about over population?
    OR how about:
    sharing the available and diminishing resources ?
    But all deeds were absolute evil for the alleged good of the society.
    That is just what national socialism presented, by simply claiming the Jews for all the world’s evil.

    International socialists claimed every one else for everything their system has failed at.

    How about one day just doing simple and plan good deeds for all humans on Earth?

    Will there be an “ism” for that one day ?

    I really doubt that. It sounds too plan.
    No one could gain much power by that over their fellow human beings.

  9. Michael Green says:

    Stop knocking Orban. Do you really want a 5 year plan so the communists can implement their forcing the working class into prolitarism, whilst living above there station and glorifying themselves as decent people.

    • Michael G
      The Hun economy IS being “planned” by the Orbán grand corruption designs and interfered with ad hoc.
      And there’s no great difference between communist and fascist regimes, but for the private enterprise and property.
      But if you like retrograde, corrupt fascists Orbán is your man.

  10. Bendeguz79 says:

    Religions has sure are responsible for very large amount of blood-sheds, including in the name of Christianity.
    But hardly could say that the young rabbi would have ordered any of it.
    Remember the “turn the other cheek” lesson ?

  11. Bendeguz79 says:


    Horthy’s only son ended up at Dahau.
    Who’s was responsible for that ?

  12. Bendeguz79 says:

    Commenters have mentioned on KHM more than once, that Orban is supposedly gypsy. Not that it would matter a bit, but on that 2000 photo with Albright sure could not deny it. If not, than it is about time for Hungary to have gypsy PM or president.
    May be the next one ?!

  13. Talpra mAGYarok says:

    It would be very fascinating and interesting to interview Madame Albright about the following topics:
    -Benes decrees compared to fascistic’ numerus clausus’
    -communist GULAGS compared to concentration camps
    -George Soros compared to V.I. Lenin
    -antisemitic actions/crimes in France/Germany in 2010-2018 compared to Hungary in 2010-2018

    It would be very useful for all of us to decide whether Albright has a clean view of the current situation or her oppinion is manipulated by missinformations.

  14. Fulem Botja says:

    Bendeguz79, – according to Tamás Gáspár Miklós Mr Orbán is not a gypsy at all. So keep quiet, because more than half of the white races have dark hair (you punk), but mind your spelling instead.

  15. This is the same Madeline Albright who said bombing Serbia and killing children was “worth it”? Or did she say it was bombing Iraq and killing children was “worth it”? I can never remember.

    Try and find someone other than a warmongering Zionist to quote, eh?

  16. It seems this very active troll here lacks imagination which these silly user names.

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