Giving credit where due, Idaho Republican Sen. James Risch is sending a clear message to Viktor Orban's Christofascist Putin- friendly regime in Hungary that they won't get American arms if they continue to delay approving Sweden's entry to NATO:
Sen. James E. Risch, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, is halting a $735 million U.S. arms sale to Hungary as punishment for the country’s refusal to approve NATO membership for Sweden, a rare move aimed at pressuring Budapest into greenlighting the military alliance’s expansion ahead of a major summit next month.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Risch (Idaho) said Hungary must allow Sweden into NATO if it wants the arms package, which includes 24 HIMARS rocket launcher batteries, and more than 100 rockets and pods along with associated parts and support.
The decision to slam the brakes on new arms sales to Budapest demonstrates the growing anger toward Hungary by NATO backers like Risch, who rarely holds up arms sales to countries in any part of the world.
“For some time now, I have directly expressed my concerns to the Hungarian government regarding its refusal to move forward a vote for Sweden to join NATO,” he said.
“The fact that it is now June and still not done, I decided that the sale of new U.S. military equipment to Hungary will be on hold,” he added.
All significant arms sales require the chair and ranking members of the Senate and House foreign affairs committees to give clearance and approval before the sale is publicly noticed by the State Department. Risch’s objection prevents the State Department from being able to move forward in the sales process.
If Putin's allies in Budapest (and Ankara, too) want to foil the will of all of the other NATO members, this is the least penalty they should suffer. As both Hungary and Turkey are governed by autocrats in the mold of Putin (and the Malignant Loser), serious discussions should be taking place at the NATO summit this summer in Lithuania regarding their membership should they continue blocking Sweden's membership; Orban's blocking of European Union aid to Ukraine must also be taken into account. As long as these ostensible allies do Putin's bidding, they must be made to face consequences.
