In the last few days, we have learned unexpectedly that a friend of our friends wanted to blow up the vital Druzhba oil pipeline that supplies Hungary. There is nothing surprising in this, we might say, because if the equally vital Nord Stream pipelines could be blown up in the Baltic Sea, then the Friendship pipeline through Ukraine could even more easily be blown up, and then the world could have heard that it was disguised Russians who had carried out the operation.
However, it is intriguing why saboteurs chose this moment, and why the Washington Post, which usually paints Hungary in a not-very-friendly light, should have published the information leaked from the Pentagon about Ukrainian President Zelensky’s plans. It is undisputed that the Biden administration benefited the most from the news coming to light, but it is doubtful whether the message was addressed to Zelensky or to Hungary.
Mostly, of course, it was both.
The documents made it clear to the ever-demanding, ever-threatening Ukrainian president that Washington has ears and eyes everywhere, that information from his inner circle is reaching overseas, that he is essentially on a short leash, and that he can be destroyed at any moment.
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All this is borne out by the angry interview with Zelensky that the Washington Post first published and then deleted parts of the next day. It is precisely the passages that underpin the Ukrainian military leader’s unease and incomprehension that have been deleted, which show precisely that Zelensky is deeply concerned about a move he himself knows could only have been ordered at the highest level.
He has made it clear to the world that he is not in control, that his plans can only be implemented with the approval of others. Let us have no doubt that, if it is up to him, this pipeline will also go the way of the Nord Stream pipeline, causing Hungary serious inconvenience.
However, the United States, which is fond of regularly asserting its superiority, has stamped out the plan, which in turn sends us Hungarians a message. It is not as if the U.S. has been holding back up until now; its ambassador in Budapest regularly tells us that his boss expects something different from us, but a line has now been crossed.
Biden is already fed up with the Hungarian government’s talk of a ceasefire and peace talks, but to use Pope Francis’ visit to do this and to talk to Patriarch Kirill’s confidant in Budapest for 20 minutes in private, that’s calling into question Washington’s influence. To top it all off, Zelensky has also visited the pope, for which he does not appear to have been authorized by President Biden, but a little leak will let everyone know who’s really in charge.
