The Insidious Spread of ‘Foreign Agent’ Laws Continues

In March, Viktor Orbán, the authoritarian prime minister of Hungary, gave a speech commemorating an uprising against the Hapsburg-ruled Austrian Empire in 1848—a famous year of revolutions across Europe—and took aim at what he sees as the imperialists of today, in dark, militaristic language. He accused “politicians, judges, journalists, bogus civil society organizations, and political activists” in Hungary of being in league with foreign powers, and referred to them as “bugs” and a “shadow army” that he intends to “disperse.” “They are the latter-day Hapsburg troops, the minions of Brussels, paid to do the empire’s bidding against their own country. They have been here too long. They have survived too much. They have received money from too many places,” Orbán added, referring to the European Union, which is based in Brussels. “The spring winds bring floodwater. Let it carry them off.”