It is difficult to do business with a country whose politicians are detached from reality and do not understand today’s world because they are afraid of it, says Arkadiusz Mus, founder of Press Glass, No. 9 on Forbes magazine’s list of 100 richest Poles and owner of assets worth more than PLN 4.5 billion, about Poland under the rule of Law and Justice (PiS).
With many countries in Central Europe in the election season and with the ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza, the war in Ukraine has somewhat disappeared from the front pages. Indeed, several leading political forces in Central Europe have become less outspoken about their support for Ukraine or have indicated an intention to scale it down, hoping to regain support from populist factions.
The Israeli-Palestinian war has stirred emotions well beyond the Levant. However, we should approach the censorship of public speech with a cooler head. The British Home Secretary has warned that waving the Palestinian flag might be deemed a criminal act. France has banned pro-Palestinian protests, and so has Germany. The Chief Minister of an Indian state directed the police to address pro-Palestinian statements on social media.
In the first half of 2023, almost weekly protests were held over the education system in Budapest, Hungary. In some cases they were organized by teachers’ unions, in others they were planned by students. Based on the study done by the Republikon Institute, 62% of the Hungarian population rate the education system as “bad” (Republikon, 2023).
Europe has been built on the liberal values of democracy, rule of law, liberty, tolerance, and free markets. Yet it seems Europeans are forgetting what these values mean. “Know thyself” is a famous ancient Greek maxim, which Europeans do not seem to take to heart. A series of aggressive actions from Russia over the past decade were not enough for the EU to properly distance itself from Russian energy, until it invaded Ukraine.
The railway line between Budapest and the West-Hungarian town of Győr is being renovated to breathe new life into the struggling public railway system. Győr, incidentally my hometown, features two university buildings connected by a skybridge shaped like a railway car. As of recently, these few meters are the only reliable means of long-distance transportation that railcars can carry passengers in the country.
Diplomatic relations between Hungary and the United States date back to the aftermath of World War I, when all states came to the conclusion that the globe is not a group of geographically isolated regions anymore, but a community. Consequently, all states affect one another, and mutually beneficial relations can only be established if they all cooperate.
The EU’s Green Deal is a package of policy proposals introduced in 2019 by the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The aim of the package, which President von der Leyen described as “Europe’s man on the Moon moment” is making Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, decoupling economic growth from resource use, while ensuring that “no person and no place is left behind in the transition.”
In a world where the pursuit of justice and the preservation of human rights are of utmost importance, Ukraine stands as a symbol of resilience and unwavering commitment to these principles. Through the lens of poetry, we invite writers and poets to contribute their voices to the ongoing dialogue surrounding Ukraine and human rights.
In the realm of modern technology, the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) is becoming increasingly pervasive, reshaping industries and societies alike. AI, in its simplest form, refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that would typically require human intelligence. It enables machines with the ability to learn from experience, adapt to new data, and make decisions with minimal human intervention.
