To accommodate NATO and US policy, a rapid expansion across the former Soviet satellite states became doctrine. I have written quite extensively about the decisions from the Bill Clinton years and thereafter. NATO regained its military footing after 9/11 attacks, Article 5 and the Afghan campaign ... the US empire didn't stop in 2001 after the defeat of the Taliban.

A policy to divide the EU got serious support from Donald Rumsfeld by determining there was a New Europe and Old Europe didn't matter. Under Obama with too many war hawks appointed, social conflicts were turned into military conflicts and NATO allies were willing to oblige. The neighborhood partner policies set forth by the EU in Brussels were shredded. International treaties and Geneva conventions were not adhered to.

Under Trump the EU of Brussels were seen as competitor at best, an adversary in daily tasks. NATO didn't matter. The rightwing parties in the States did more to realize Brexit than any undermining activity by the Kremlin. Talk John Bolton and Steve Bannon.

The train has left the station, a new World Order is being realized, the economic blow to the EU-27 will last for many years. The outcome of the war in Ukraine will only know losers. The demise of the EU was a long time coming and after Brexit, Covid-19 pandemic has just received a fatal blow. The founding principles are gone. It's not just Hungary but many more corrupt countries that should been set on probation and not yet become full member. Watch the ECB and amount of debt, the German economy will not be able to prop up other countries.

MAGA

'Sapere aude'

The EU executive on Tuesday launched a never-used procedure against Hungary that could see the Hungarian government stripped of EU funding for falling short on anticorruption and flouting democratic standards.

The move comes two days after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban won re-election with an overwhelming majority, claiming his victory as a win over liberal values defended by Brussels.

The nationalist and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin is frequently accused in Brussels of backsliding on democratic norms.

The European Commission "will now send the letter of formal notification to start the conditionality mechanism," European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said to applause at a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

The latest clash with Hungary is over its public procurement system, conflict of interests and corruption and could see Budapest lose EU cash if endorsed by a super-majority of the 27 member states.

This seems to me to be a more fruitful (and more rapid) way of sorting the sheep from the goats.

Given Poland's current colossal effort in supporting Ukrainian refugees, it would be tempting to give the Polish government a pass on similar issues;  but that would be inconsistent, and a mistake.  Give Poland a huge subsidy for the current crisis, but hit them with the same treatment as Hungary on the rule-of-law etc issues.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

there is no reason why the EU should tolerate a state of affairs whereby EU money is funnelled to the cronies of oligarchic leaders

The EPP leaders, and especially Merkel, have turned a blind eye on Orbán for too long, to keep Fidesz inside their Big Tent (and also, Hungary being a nice low cost manufacturing area just across the border).

Any discussions about Serbia joining the EU should now end.

The current accession mechanism is working as a one-way: once the process is started, there is apparently no institutional mechanism to cancel it. Turkey is still officially a candidate, even though it's been turning into Erdogan's own form of autocracy for the past six years. And the current Hungarian Commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi, nominated by Orbán, is actually in charge of EU enlargement.

The EU should also invite Viktor Orban to trigger Article 50

Again, this would be pointless. Orbán will never do that: he's having his cake and eating it. Should anyone tell him to invoke A50, he'd turn it into another propaganda opportunity: I'm defending Europe moral values against the liberal/LGBT ideology of an overreaching EU Commission.

Gradually, as the "new" EU develops, it can shed the "old" EU, Hungary included, as so much dead skin.

As tempting as the reptile analogy is, I'm afraid that actual transformations in Europe never go as smoothly (and has often implied war in the past). It would take a much bigger crisis to have a change of this magnitude, which is essentially creating an EU-bis. I expect more incremental changes - with any luck.

It's time the whole structure and membership of the EU reflected that.

Certainly is.It is not going to happen overnight though. Unless we face an even bugger crisis than what we have today.

The Irish government expelled 4 out of 30 registered Russian diplomats in Ireland allegedly for meeting with dissident Republican and loyalist paramilitaries in an attempt to stoke tensions here and in N. Ireland.

Russia has also been seeking to develop its 4-acre embassy site on Orwell Road as an intelligence gathering hub for western Europe and has re-registered billions of Euros worth of aircraft owned by Irish leasing companies as Russian.

Russia did nothing to prevent the activities of Russian based hackers inserting ransomware software on our Health services systems costing us millions and putting lives at risk. The Russian invasion of Ukraine will also cost us billions in aid and refugee hospitality costs.

Russia has now expelled two out of our six embassy staff in Moscow - one third of our full complement which is equivalent to us expelling 10 of their diplomats in proportionate terms. The Department of Foreign Affair's excuse for taking such minimalistic action is that it wanted to keep communications channels open and be able to service Irish citizens in Russia.

Surely the time has come to advise all remaining Irish nationals to leave Russia immediately and shut down our embassy there completely and expel all Russian remaining diplomats here. Their embassy here seems to be immeasurably more important to their unfriendly activities in Europe than ours in Moscow is to us.

Moscow will still only be a phone call away if communications are required, and we should not fool ourselves into thinking the Irish government concerns will have any priority in future Russian foreign relations.

In the meantime, we can use their ample grounds in Orwell Road to house Ukrainian refugees.