Budapest - Comments

Phelps was unbeatable, but Cseh won 3 silvers for Hungary - Alexei Koudinov

Alexei Koudinov — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:56:36 +02:00

Dear Friends,

Michael Phelps Beijing Olympic Swimming Gold medals are faked, the article "Scientific evidence invalidates Beijing 2008 Olympic Swimming medals" says. Therefore, true Olympian and Gold Medalist is Laszlo Czeh, not cheater Phelps. Look at this article, and please make it known as wide as possible:

Scientific evidence invalidates Beijing 2008 Olympic Swimming medals by Phelps.
The Doping Journal Vol. 5, 2 (13 August 2008)
Freely available at http://dopingjournal.org/content/5/...

Abstract:
Did you notice that some swimmers wear earphones and are listening to music just before their every Olympic start, at Beijing's Summer Olympiad 2008 Water Cube pool deck, be it finals or semifinals? Scientific evidence testifies: Listening to music is a performance enhancement and a prohibited by The World Antidoping Code 2008 method of the enhancement of oxygen transfer.

EC saved MOL from hostile takeover by OMV - Linda

Linda — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:44:07 +02:00

The picture attached to the article shows the vignette what has been stuck on the window of many Hungarian cars, in order to represent the support for MOL. Lots of Hungarian drivers even decided not feueling at OMV petrol stations as a way to protest against the hostile move of the Austrian petrol company.

Defective Hungarian healthcare system - katya

katya — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:41:16 +02:00

I have been living in Hungary all my life until 2 years ago when I moved to the US. Indeed, every health care system has its pros and cons. Nevertheless, people's health should NEVER be considered a business, neither it should be one's privilege to be able to visit a doctor when he or she is sick. I have heard much criticism about the Hungarian system, the visit fees etc. However, i firmly believe (and based on my personal experience) it still is superior to the US system. I do not have health insurance here. Only if you can pay hundreds of dollars every month you can get a decent insurance, everything else is worthless (most of your treatment will be denied anyway). I frankly hope that Hungary will preserve its social support and will preserve some of its socialist elements from pre-1989 Hungary.

U.S. C-17 military cargo plane presented in the air show - Andy

Andy — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:50:02 +02:00

Does anyone have any contacts for the employers on this project. I would like to contact them.

Online media becomes much more important even for diplomacy - Jean-Séb 2.0

Jean-Séb 2.0 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:49:16 +01:00

Hi Budapest,

Really great job ! And with the video, it's really cool to be able to see what you are doing !

Legal alien – a Trinidadian in Hungary - kwan

kwan — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:50:51 +01:00

I am also working on the same thing...
Don't know it's my luck or not when I see this article while searching related information. May be I should just give up the brilliant idea of getting married in Budapest?
Hope to share with you more.

Defective Hungarian healthcare system - phaedra

phaedra — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:58:17 +01:00

First of all, making people pay for health care should not be an idea of a socialist party at all. Socialist are supposed to be working on issues such as social security. Consequently, it is "normal" and not surprizing that the "reform" was introduced by a right-wing party in the Czech Republic and not by so-called left-wing parties like the Hungarian MSZP + Liberals.

About the little sums one had to put in doctors' and nurses' pockets: it has never been compulsory. You could give an envelope if you were contented with the service you have been provided. If some doctors expected extra money that only gives a proof of their own unethical attitude but does not apply for the whole system.

Also, I would mention the salary people in health care are working for in Hungary. It is not competitive by any means with the salaries in "old" EU countries, and it is not a high salary compared to what you can earn in other fields of employment in Hungary (which probably mean a lot less responsibility, and obviously less years of studying and preparation for a profession and not simply a job.) Considering this I would not say that the "envelope system" was complete crap, at least then you could give your own doctor some reward for the treatment you got instead of paying a sum to the state (a state that does not change anything to the better) from which the nurses and doctors do not see a penny.

Well, this is what I wanted to add to this article.

Budapest wishes happy birthday - Ozi

Ozi — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:26:00 +01:00

Congrulations Budapest...a very successful endeavour, a microphone could make better...but I should admit you made Istanbul blog jealous with this video:)

Budapest wishes happy birthday - verus

verus — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 23:48:29 +01:00

Hard to decide, which one is better:-P Both are awesome! Only one thing is missing: a huge all-babelians birthday party in the RCE ... at least in Paris..:-) What do u think to organize it for the 10th Bday? The result will be presented in Cannes, for sure

Budapest wishes happy birthday - Chakal

Chakal — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:19:37 +01:00

Congrats Budapest for this video shooting!! It was hard to decide what part of your video we had to keep in the final video of the 7 years.

You can watch it here : http://coffeefactory.cafebabel.com/...

By the way, what do you think of the result? Want to leave some comment on it?

Budapest wishes happy birthday - verus

verus — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:15:39 +01:00

I like the idea of titles very much! Thanx jj! According to the fact that are equipment was only one single stand-camera..:-) Well done!

Legal alien – a Trinidadian in Hungary - kingselewa

kingselewa — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 11:03:05 +01:00

hiya!
www.myspace.com/kingselewa

kaiso no go die!!

Bitter sweet - Zuzer

Zuzer — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:27:11 +01:00

lol, this all has nothing to with being a foreigner, same for natives. as a native, i haven't lived at my official address for 15 years. the gas and the phone/internet in my apartment belongs to 2 different people. i haven't filed a tax form in years, i dont pay social security. and yet i just got a job at a corporation.

you can do ok w/o all the fuss with the authorities.

EC saved MOL from hostile takeover by OMV - verus

verus — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:33:17 +01:00

To the OMV-MOL affair: The PM said that it needed to resolve by the companies and it was not up to the TWO governments to deal with it. Well, certainly... 'Cause I wouldn't forget to deal with the Russian government! OMV has good contacts with Gazprom. Gazprom is controlled by the Russian gov. So it seems not to be a pure European question, however politicans like to consider it to an affair / strategic dispute of the European energy market, i.e. the European Union's competence. If Kreml were in the background, it's surely not that kind of question. Isn't this story about the arm of the Russian gov., which want's to get more influence in the European energy market?

U.S. C-17 military cargo plane presented in the air show - Linda

Linda — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:11:05 +01:00

Hi Loke,

You were right, Papa did win the race! This is very positive for Hungary in terms of foreign investments, job opportunities (300-500 new jobs) and infrastructural development in the region. Since the Taszár airbase was closed few years ago, Hungary was hoping to accommodate a new NATO base in the country.

I hope that following the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regulating the details by 17 nations (including Sweden) as of February 2008, the first plain can arrive to Pápa by the end of 2008!

BTW what are the echoes of the decision in Sweden?

Best,
Linda

U.S. C-17 military cargo plane presented in the air show - Loke

Loke — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:11:14 +01:00

Does anyone know if the visits have had any impact the rumors back in Sweden is that Papa is the place but as allways you have to check the rumors =)

Slovak-Hungarian relations - lorant

lorant — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:39:16 +01:00

Dear Lubos,

I believe - and I am sure you do too - that as Europeans we are entitled to settle our disputes in a peaceful way. I agree with you on that the bringing up of the Benes-Decrees was not a wise step either from Bratislava or from Budapest. It is far more than clear that this issue was used to build political popularity on it on both sides. Therefore, the best would be, as I think you just suggested, to settle this problem for good and continue living next to each other as good neighbours.

On a more substantive point, however, I am afraid I cannot share your views. Some points of the Benes-Decrees were indeed very harmful for the Slovak-Hungarian and Slovak-German relations. Some points of the Benes-decrees do indeed raise the problem of collective guilt which is indeed unacceptable (at least hopefully) for most of the Europeans in the 21st century. For these reasons I do not think that the Slovak parliament adopted a good solution to find the way out. What they did was to freeze the current status quo in the bilateral relations already charged with some tensions if not degrading them even more. Honestly I do not think that this is a "sane" thing to do.

"Germans and Hungarians were indeed treated as both the originators of the war as well as the members of the nations that lost the war. It would have surely been better if culprits could have been punished individually but their huge number has simply made such a precision solution impossible."

I hope we can agree on the point that WWII was the most terrible chapter in the history of Europe in the 20th century. Whether it is wise to say that Germans (and Hungarians) were treated as originators of the war (do you mean every single German and Hungarian?) and therefore it was okay to confiscate their property is somewhat troubling for me. Would it be the same to say that because the PKK caused many Turks suffer, it is perfectly justified to say that all Kurd property should be confiscated in Turkey? I do not see it like that. It would just drive us back to the good old notions of collective guilt, wouldn't it?

"If there is a consensus that some/all displaced Hungarians or Germans should be compensated, they should be clearly compensated by the Hungarian or German governments. Expecting anything else means to return the bloody past to the present. There are way too many other bad things that Hungarians and Germans did to Slovaks and Czechs."

Compensation is not a viable solution. It would just create even more tensions on both sides. However, I do think that an official apology from Bratislava and Prague would do for most of the victims. To say that what happened in the past was inhuman and that it would never happen again. On the same note I would really expect the Hungarian side to do the same in connection with the Slovaks and Czechs suffered any damage in connection with any Hungarian action during WWII. There are way too many bad things the people in Central Europe did to each other and keep on doing them. Unfortunately this is true for all of the nations, I don't think that there are "good" and "bad" nations, as there are lot of good people in both of our countries and some bad who occasionally dress up as politicians and make us believe that others are worse then us. All in all, we just speak a different language.

I am still convinced that the Benes-Decrees should be talked about and should be withdrawn. Forgetting the bad things is the biggest trap of history in which peoples of this part of the globe just keep on falling. To debate those decrees would be a really good solution not to forget our dark past in order to make our futures brighter.

Best regards,

Lóránt

Hungary is likely to join the US visa waiver program in January - Detty

Detty — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:31:50 +02:00

I support the idea of giving the option ( permission )
for hungarians to entry to the Usa without visa.

I think, it would not mean problems to the Usa at all.
We all know life is very hard in HUngary and more and more people go abroad to find an easier way out for a good living standard.
In spite of that not everyone would go to the Usa
if we got the permission, only those people who have that chance to go there.

Slovak-Hungarian relations - Lubos Motl

Lubos Motl — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:42:52 +02:00

Re-opening the Benes decrees is nothing else than a step to destabilize the property rights in Slovakia, Czechia, and maybe Central Europe in general, and a step to return us closer to a revival of the second world war. I am surely no fan of the Slovak National Party but whether they're behind it or not, the resolution is a sane one. After the war, Germans and Hungarians were indeed treated as both the originators of the war as well as the members of the nations that lost the war. It would have surely been better if culprits could have been punished individually but their huge number has simply made such a precision solution impossible. If there is a consensus that some/all displaced Hungarians or Germans should be compensated, they should be clearly compensated by the Hungarian or German governments. Expecting anything else means to return the bloody past to the present. There are way too many other bad things that Hungarians and Germans did to Slovaks and Czechs. I assure you that accepting the current state of affairs including the facts about the history and including the validity of the laws behind the status quote - including the Benes decrees - is the most peaceful approach that Europe can make.

South Stream to extend to Hungary - Linda

Linda — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:38:01 +02:00

On June 8 the Budapest team of cafebabel.com organized a debate dedicated to this subject. Don't forget to check out the report of the event in Babel Budapest !