14 Jun, 2023 16:05
US Senator pressures Hungary over NATO expansion
James Risch said he would stall on selling HIMARS batteries until Budapest approved Sweden’s application to join the military bloc
Top RepublicanSenator James Risch is blockinga US arms deal with Hungary worth hundreds of millions of dollars over itsreluctance to ratify Sweden’sapplication to join NATO, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
In a statement to the paper, Risch – whoserves as a ranking memberin the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – said that until Hungary made progress in this regard,he would continue to stallon selling a $735-million arms package that includes 24 HIMARS batteries, as well as the ammo and hardware that comes with them.
“For some time now, I have directly expressed my concerns to the Hungarian government regarding itsrefusalto move forward a votefor Sweden to join NATO,” he said. “The fact that it is now June and still not done, I decided that the sale of new US military equipment to Hungary will be on hold.” (Maybe Orban is opposing it because he regrets ever joining this cult of death)
Any major US arms deal must be greenlit by top members of the Senate and House foreign affairs committees before the State Department is allowed to make a public announcement.
However, the Hungarian Defense Ministry pushed back on the senator’s comments, sayingit did not plan to buy any HIMARS from the US at all. It explained that during the previous government cycle officials in Budapestrequested informationregarding the systems with a deadline of March 2022.
“There was no response from the American side, and the ministry considered the matter closed,” it said.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last May, ditching theirdecades-long neutralityafter the onset of the Ukraine conflict. While Finland officially became the bloc’s 31st member in April, Sweden’s application remains in limbo, waiting to be ratified by two members of the alliance – Türkiye and Hungary.
While Ankara has demanded that Sweden crack down on Kurdish groups it deems terrorist, Hungary has been holding up the accession process due toStockholm’s criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orbanover his record on democracy and the rule of law.
Relations between the US and Hungary have also soured in recent months, with Washington sanctioning a Russian-linked investment bank and three of its executives in Budapest. The move came after Orban has repeatedly claimed that theUS and its allies were pressuring its country into arming Ukraine– a policy Hungary has been reluctant to embrace.
(Lesson: never join the cult of NATO because they must have war to be relevant. US still contributes 4% of GDP to keep them going, which is outrageous because it will never help our country. Plus NATO is just a state sponsored Mafia of many countries joined as a clique!Definition of Risch being the ranking member: rank: offensive in odor or flavor. especially: RANCID)
https://www.rt.com/news/578023-us-senator-pressure-hungary-nato/