From hungary-report-owner Sun Sep 24 14:57:08 1995 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id OAA00415; Sun, 24 Sep 1995 14:57:08 -0700 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id OAA00392; Sun, 24 Sep 1995 14:56:48 -0700 Received: from bruner@isys.hu () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hungary-report@hungary.yak.net (388) Received: from kingzog.isys.hu (KingZog.isys.hu [194.24.160.4]) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id OAA00372 for ; Sun, 24 Sep 1995 14:56:13 -0700 Received: from [194.24.161.10] (bruner.dial.isys.hu [194.24.161.10]) by kingzog.isys.hu (8.7.Beta.11/8.7.Beta.11) with SMTP id WAA20386 for ; Sun, 24 Sep 1995 22:55:16 +0100 (MET) X-Sender: bruner@mail.isys.hu (Unverified) Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Date: Sun, 24 Sep 1995 22:51:58 +0100 To: hungary-report@hungary.yak.net From: bruner@isys.hu (Rick Bruner) Subject: Hungary Report 1.23 (II) Sender: owner-hungary-report@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: hungary-report@hungary.yak.net =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D The Hungary Report No. 1.23, September 24, 1995 (Continued, Part II) =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D FEATURE STORY Hungarian Soldiers Celebrate St. Stephen's Day in Louisiana Heat By Bill Pietrucha <74767.2251@compuserve.com> Copyright (c) 1995 Fort Polk, La. -- After a long, hot day guarding relief supplies, dealing with angry civilians and patrolling for snipers, Hungarian troops were able to relax and celebrate St. Stephen's Day, while their counterparts from other former Warsaw Pact and Soviet Union armies guarded the perimeter of their camp in a disputed border region between Cortina and Acadia on the island of Aragon. The Hungarian troops were braving 102F degree heat, humidity, snakes and snipers, as part of a NATO peacekeeping force acting as the military component of the United Nations Observer Mission in Aragon (UNOMA). As a member of NATO, troops from the United States, along with fellow NATO members Canada and the United Kingdom, joined forces with their counterparts -- and former enemies -- now working together under the Partnership for Peace initiative, from the former Warsaw Pact countries of Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Units from Albania, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, also joined in the exercise. Things Are Not What They Seem to Be While the military situation on Aragon was not unlike a dozen or more similar conflicts currently being waged around the world, with troops from NATO and other countries working together under a United Nations mandate, the island of Aragon and the countries of Acadia and Cortina are something quite different. Aragon is actually in the middle of Fort Polk, Louisiana, the site of the US Army's Joint Readiness Training Center, and the border conflict between the fictional countries of Cortina and Acadia was part of Cooperative Nugget 95 (CN95). Cooperative Nugget was scheduled by NATO's Allied Command Atlantic and hosted on behalf of the United States by the commander-in-chief, United States Atlantic Command from August 8 through August 26. The aim of CN95, and other NATO Partnership for Peace exercises, is to foster interpretability between the participating forces through the practice of combined peacekeeping and humanitarian relief tactics, techniques and communications procedures at the platoon and company level. The program also assists the military forces of partner nations in emerging from the Cold War as positive, non-political, defense-oriented elements of their societies. It was the sixth military exercise to be conducted as part of NATO's Partnership for Peace Program, and the first to be conducted in the United States. It also was a historic first as the former Warsaw Pact and other troops trained on US soil, the very first visit to America for most of them. Most of the troops from armies behind the former Iron Curtain never thought they would see America, let alone as a member of the military. "If someone had told me five years ago that I would be training with American soldiers in the United States, I would have told them they were crazy," said Hungarian First Lt. Rozsa. He did, however, appreciate the opportunity to learn from the former enemy. "It is a different way of peacekeeping than what we are used to" said Lt. Rozsa, explaining that he had previously trained with Scandinavian units. "Our goal is to incorporate what we are learning from this exercise into our training back home, to be able to join in peacekeeping operations anywhere in the world where we are needed." Hungary earlier this year sent peacekeeping troops to Cyprus and the Sinai, and contributed a medical unit to the multinational forces during Operation Desert Storm. But all was not work for the Hungarian contingent. On August 20, St. Stephen's Day, the Hungarian troops celebrated their national holiday by promoting two of their officers. First Lt. Zolt=E1n Sajtos and Capt. J=F3zsef Moln=E1r were promoted by General J=E1n= os De=E1k, Commander of the Hungarian Home Defense Forces. The three week exercise included two weeks of joint training and rehearsing, followed by one week of realistic peacekeeping exercises in the field. And realistism was accomplished not just by the weather and climate of central Louisiana. "Role players," who consisted of civilians, retired military and military spouses, contributed to the realism by living in the field in "villages," "towns," and "refugee centers." These role players portrayed the civilian population, good and bad, partisan and non-partisan, which would be found in any situation needing peacekeeping forces. One incident that occurred during the second day of field exercises was a mock car bombing at a check-point manned by US and British troops, some of whom recently were redeployed from peacekeeping operations in Northern Ireland. This exercise treated the soldiers' capacities not only for effectively treating and evaluating mock casualties in a car bombing, but also provided the experience needed for crowd control in an "uncontrollable" situation. Another important exercise was the World Endeavor Convoy. This mission was to provide food and other supplies to the refugees of the fictional island of Aragon, and was designed to simulate problems a peacekeeping force might encounter while distributing items necessary for civilians' survival. But not everyone echoed the feelings of brotherhood heard throughout the exercises. Local Louisiana militia members, concerned about the "one-world government," were decidedly more cautious in their approach to the exercises. To allay these concerns, the US military at Fort Polk issued a fact book about the Partnership for Peace exercise, which said, "Some may have heard rumors that Fort Polk is under UN command or part of some one-world order plot. This is not true." Tom Parker, coordinator for the Louisiana militia, and who covered the exercise for his Louisiana public access television show called "Freedom Forum," said "the Partnership for Peace is forging a hammer. My concern is whether this hammer will be used as a tool for peace or as a weapon to smash our individual freedoms." General John M. Shalikashvili, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed some of these fears, but stressed that "what is important to understand is that the Partnership for Peace is not a partnership against someone. It is a partnership to draw us all together, to work together." "When armies from different nations get together," he added, "it's extraordinarily helpful, if over time, we have had what I call these patterns of cooperation; opportunities where we get together, whether that's in our schools, confeences, or such as this. Whether it's simply to get together and drink coffee together and get to know each other." The Partnership for Peace, he observed, "isn't just about exercises, it's about the much larger issue of learning to live and work together and think the same way and understand each other clearly." "You cannot wish away things that might go wrong in the world," he cautioned. "Humanitarian disasters will happen whether we like it or not. Peace will be broken and crises will arise that someone had to deal with. And if we do not wish to be the one who has to do it by himself all the time, then it is to our advantage to work with as many nations who can share the burden." (Bill Pietrucha is a regular reader of the Hungary Report, resident near Washington, D.C.) =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D PARLIAMENT WATCH Politicians not winning popularity contests By Tibor Vidos Copyright (c) 1995 The coalition crisis seems to be at rest -- for now -- though observers agree that a long-lasting peace is outside the scope of reality. The unilateral appointment of Socialist MP and former Minister of Industry and Trade L=E1szl=F3 P=E1l as chairman of the nationa= l oil company, MOL Rt, and the reopening of six-party talks on the media bill has already drawn heavy criticism from the Free Democrats. In the meantime, two committees of leading Socialist and liberal politicians are at work on particulars about changes in the governmental structure and about "norms of cooperation". According to plans, these committees were to have come up with a revised governmental structure and suggest a coalition code of conduct by September 20. The coalition code of conduct should be the top priority. Without trust and proper communication between the coalition parties, all other negotiations are doomed to failure. While the memories of the summer are slowly fading away the recently published opinion polls remind us how hot the political summer really was. For the first time in the history of Hungarian opinion polls the Smallholders' Party has surfaced as the most popular party in the country. According to a Szonda Ipsos poll conducted during the most intensive part of the coalition crisis, 24% of those with a party preference would have voted for the populist right-wing party had elections been held then. The Socialists came second with 23% and the Free Democrats third with 14%. Median, another polling firm, also published the results of a survey conducted at the same time of the Szonda -Ipsos poll, i.e. during the last days of August. According to Median, the Socialists were ahead of the Smallholders by one point with 19%, the Free Democrats coming third with 14%. As the accuracy of the surveys is around 3% the two polls indicate that the Smallholders and the Socialist are leading neck and neck. Interestingly, some of the the very same parties lead the list of the most disliked with 37% and 36%, respectively. Socialists and Smallholders alike polarize the public. One either votes for them or would not even consider voting for them. All the other parliamentary parties fall into an in-between category. Some people favor them, others not, but emotions do not run high when their name is mentioned. The surveys of the two competing polling firms agree that Finance Minister Lajos Bokros is the most unpopular politician, probably on the whole globe. Bokros shares the fate of all of his predecessors by being unpopular. The difference in his case is that he is even more unpopular than any other finance minister before him. His only refuge: for now, his policies seem to be working. Bokros may also not be very annoyed by reading that S=E1ndor Nagy, the hard-line socialist trade union boss, and a major opponent of Bokros' austerity measures, has lost five popularity points since July, according to Median. As the questionnaires were filled out while Nagy was a candidate for the proposed position of Minister of Economy and Deputy Prime Minister, there is little doubt that voters did not embrace the idea of a sudden switch from the unions to government. According to both polls, President Arp=E1d G=F6ncz is still undisputedly the most popular politician of the country. Prime Minister Gyula Horn is, well, how shall I say...in a somewhat less prestigious position. Four years ago the relative positions of President G=F6ncz and the late Prime Minister J=F3zsef Antall were identical. Let's hope that this is the only thing in common between the two prime ministers. * * * Tibor Vidos is a lobbyist and political consultant in charge of the Budapest office of GJW Government Relations. or A version of this article appeared in the Budapest Business Journal. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D READER UPDATE Great news: the Hungary Report found a sponsor! My old friend Steve Carlson , who co-founded Budapest Week newspaper with me four years, has agreed the Hungary Report would be a good vehicle to promote his new Internet Service Provider business in Budapest, iSYS. He and his partners will provide enough monthly support to pay two friends to continue producing it each week (yes, it will actually be weekly, once again, after I leave the picture ;) So, while I will leave Hungary after five years of residence here in three weeks, I'm happy to say the Hungary Report will survive me. In the next few weeks, I hope you'll agree the quality is every bit as high or better coming from the capable net.grrrls and experience journalists Krisztina Feny=F4 and Jennifer Brown. I will write at least one more Report before saying goodbye. Till then, any reader with World-Wide Web access is encouraged to visit our new WWW home page (http://www.isys.hu/hrep/), as we can use all the "hits" we can get, to show other potential sponsors how popular the site is. Cheers, Rick =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D FINAL BLURB The Hungary Report is free to readers. To subscribe, send an email message to the following Internet address: hungary-report-request@hungary.yak.net containing (in the body of the message, not in the headers) the single word subscribe Conversely, to stop receiving Hungary Report, simply send to the same address (in the body of the message) the single word unsubscribe Please note: all mailing lists suffer from frequent "error" addresses. If we have problems with sending to your address more than one week in a row, we will remove you from the list. If you haven't received the report for more than one week, feel free to enquire directly to Rick Bruner (but please wait for at least a week, as we're also just famously late in getting the thing out sometimes :) * * * Back issues of The Hungary Report are available on the World-Wide Web http://www.isys.hu/hrep/ and via FTP host: ftp.yak.net directory: /pub/hungary-report/ login name: "ftp" password: your email address * * * The entire contents of The Hungary Report is copyrighted by the authors. Permission is granted for not-for-profit, electronic redistribution and storage of the material. If readers redistribute any part of The Hungary Report by itself, PLEASE RESPECT AUTHORS' BY-LINES and copyright notices. Reprinting and resale of the material is strictly prohibited without explicit prior consent by the authors. Please contact the authors directy by email to enquire about resale rights. * * * For information on becoming a corporate sponsor of The Hungary Report, contact Rick E. Bruner by email. Feedback is welcome. Rick E. Bruner John Nadler Tibor Vidos or * * * For its briefs, The Hungary Report regularly consults the news sources listed below -- for information about subsriptions, contact them by email: The Budapest Business Journal <100263.213@compuserve.com> (and tell them what dwads they are for making us pay for issues at the newsstand); Budapest Sun <100275.456@compuserve.com>; Budapest Week <100324.141@compuserve.com>, and Central Europe Today (free online) . =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D END TRANSMISSION