I'm not a fan of Orban's stance on certain issues, particularly LBGT+ rights, but he's not wrong in pointing out that the EU needs to have a voice separate to NATO and the US.

The US played a huge role in getting Ukraine into the current situation. Now that it is not playing out as Washington planned, they are looking to find someone else *cough* the EU *cough* to somehow pick up the slack.

Some of us are old enough to remember that the EU was formed out of the ashes of WWII. The premise was that doing business together would keep European countries, particularly France and Germany, from fighting every couple decades. That plan works.

The problem is that the plan works great for the EU if Russia is involved, but the US doesn't directly make money off the deal. Russia has vast natural resources. The EU needs those resources.

When the Soviet Union broke up and the US controlled Russian resources, everything was fine with Russia and the EU. Cheap resources for us here in the EU, big profits for US companies, too bad for all the dying Russians. It was only when Putin came to power and said Russians would keep their own profits (along with massive corruption for Putin and his buddies, of course) that the US started to have a problem with Russia.

Orban may be too authoritarian for my tastes, but he recognizes how the game is played, and is playing it well. He knows that sucking up to the US doesn't guarantee you anything when things go bad or your disagree with the US. Just look at Ukraine (or Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran, etc.) I don't have to like Orban to respect his savvy.