Pretty much.  We really don't do revolution or street protestsdown here in New Zealand.  In the 80's, when our government betrayed us by campaigning on one platform then pursuing completely different policies once elected, we screamed and pouted, and then voted to replace them.  The replacements naturally did exactly the same thing.  So we changed the electoral system to ensure a state of permanent minority government, in the hope that minor coalition parties would act as a check on that sort of behaviour.  So far, it seems to have worked quite handily.  Unfortunately, we had to live through 12 years of betrayal to get there...

issuing the "yes we lied, and now we cut the spirale of lies, like everyone else for 7-8 years, we're proud" rhetoric

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but some speculate that it was a cunning strategy from the leadership itself. For, overall, the "now we cut the bullshit and speak honestly" rhetoric may be sellable to the majority and thus even help the PM.

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On the other hand, one word from right-wing leader Orbán would be enough to get hundreds of thousands on the street, but he won't risk that, because the pro-revolution masses of the most faithful aren't the majority, and the ghosts he called are too scary even for him, just like four years ago.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Budapest elected the same (liberal) major on the four previous occasions, but the man grew grey in the job by now, and got into some troubles. So the right-wing candidate Tarlós, who was a district major and who runs officially as an independent (without Fidesz's emblem on his campaign posters), but who is a law-and-order populist and power-hungry in the style of French right-wing Presidential hopeful Sarkozy, pulled equal in the polls.

Tarlós' reaction to the riots was tortured: he previously accepted the endorsement of his candidacy by another major far-right youth group: Jobbik, a short for right-wing youth community that also reads "the right one", with both meanings; they used to be Fidesz-aligned, but ran with a small far-right party in the elections. They too participated in the events, so Tarlós had to say that 'people are right to protest, but not right to attack policemen and destroy property, so if it is proved that Jobbik guys are responsible for breaking policemen's shields, I'll reject their endorsement'.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

When I heard the same media version on the radio this morning I felt I had to check this on European Tribune. And sure enough this is the only paper that is sure to have knowledgeable correspondents in Budapest.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

• Eyewitnesses from the protesters confirm that the bulk of the rioters were football hooligans. What is noteworthy that they were from the 'supporters' of the two clubs that have the strongest rivalry (one of which is traditionally the football club of the police).

• The leaders of the protesters presently before Parliament (around 300 an hour ago) changed direction, they now want to legalise their protest with police.

• Comparisons with other countries circulate, the conclusion: in no EU country have so few people caused so much trouble in recent times, pointing to police ineptness. (For example, despite threats, they "didn't expect" a move to the TV, forces ordered to the site were told to expect 30 peaceful protesters rather than 300 violent ones and 3000 supporters.)

• The President (ceremonial post; won with right-wing votes in Parliament, but no party soldier) finally spoke about the events, calling them acts of common criminals, not excusable with anything and which must be confronted with all the powers of law enforcement. There must ba a sharp line between criminal action and the right for political protest. He said that just as "cynically awoiding basic moral issues" (e.g. lyig to voters) is unacceptable, so is giving implicit excuses for anti-constitutional activity. He denied analogies with 1956. He called on parties to consider in advance whether their mass events could get out of hand.

• It was announced that Fidesz supremo leader Orbán will break his silence and speak in an hour.

• So Fidesz leader Orbán made his speech. It implies he wants to continue politics on the street. While he renounced violence in a half-sentence without details, he expressed support for peaceful protesters, and as a new twist, called for a limited-powers expert government for after the local elections in two weeks. Clever: should allay fears of a Fidesz power grab, while it would also allow Fidesz to not take responsibility of any austerity reforms of its own, and it has no chance of being followed.

• The PM for his part claimed knowledge of the organisers by name and suggested that there was a script for it. About the latter, I'm sceptical, based on known details of the escalation (a small group demanded yesterday at 10 pm that it be allowed to read a petition live on TV, upon being rejected they threatened to come back in force, went to the Parliament where the football hooligans and a few thousand joined them, while police did nothing to prepare for the storm; again the protesters weren't allowed in, who started to push in, overwhelmed police made matters worse with a tear gas attack, but hooligans knew how to defend themselves...)

• For long, all the various far-right groups I named demanded that a Soviet WWII memorial standing on the square before the TV be removed. Now they also defiled and damaged this monument, later showing removed stones to reporters. The attack was reported in Russia, linking it to Gyurcsány's upcoming visit to Moscow, but the Russian authorities issued a statement to the tune that they realise this wasn't the main issue last night and there is no link to the visit.

* There were again protests by a few hundred right-wingers in various countryside cities. Currently, the crowd before Parliament swelled again to around 3,000 (same as last night at this time). International media camped down, waiting for them to make trouble. This is how it looked a few hours ago - small crowd cordoned off on one side:

* Some new polls on the "we lied" speech: there is no absolute majority for resignation, while relative majority is inconclusive (Fidesz-aligned local branch of Gallup found one for resignation, Socialist-aligned Ipsos one against). But a near 60% majority wants "consequences".

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Hungarian politics is a mess, but not that much of a mess. The rabid nationalist rioters weren't cheering on the lying government, they were hoping to topple it in a revolution. It was 'simply' nationalist protesters who cheered on the rabid ones.

Now what is a mess here using international political standards: it is the post-reformed-communist Socialists who head neoliberal reforms and align with Bush in foreign policy, while the right-wing opposition uses some altermondialist and anti-Bush rhetoric.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Putin's favouring of Hungary as gas and oil hub for new pipelines to the South might be due to good relations with the current government (previously culminating in Putin's February visit) and not that bad even with its predecessor, or mistrust of Romania (I recall the Gazprom claims of Ukraine selling gas to Romania during the big spat in January). What might matter more than pipelines (though I wonder what Jérôme can comment about how realistic it is, knowing the sector) is gas storage capacity to be built, which could (a) off-set Ukraine, (b) may be built with Gazprom involvement.

For me, it is also interesting that the sides agreed about supporting an upgrade the gauge-changing/reloading railway station Záhony, a project that also depends on Ukraine, and could possibly concern Poland.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

You'd feel really at home in a typical evening open thread...

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. — Euripides