"Hungarian-American financier George Soros sent a video message to the gathering, emphasizing the parallels between his life and Lantos's. He praised Lantos's role in helping to bring about a bloodless regime change in Hungary in 1989/90."
Az amerikai képviselőházi tag, az "emberi- és szabadságjogok szószólója"-nak, a kommunizmus elszánt harcosának emléktábláját Gyurcsány Ferenc szocialista miniszterelnök avatta fel.
Az avató ünnepségen Gyurcsány Ferenc azt mondta, Tom Lantos halálával Magyarország nagyon sokat veszített, mert ő mindig fogta az ország kezét.
Ebben a házban élt Tom Lantos (1928-2008)
aki egyetlen Holocaust-túlélőként, 1981-től haláláig volt az Egyesült Államok Képviselőházának tagja. Amerikai képviselőként az emberi- és szabadságjogok szószólója volt,
mindvégig kiállt az igazságtalanságok áldozatai mellett. Választott politikusként
felbecsülhetetlen munkát végzett az Egyesült Államok és a demokratikus Magyarország
kapcsolatainak fejlődéséért.
Tom Lantos (1928-2008) who lived in this building, went on to become the only survivor of the Holocaust ever elected to the US Congress. He was a world renowed champion of human rights and democracy who made invaluable contributions to the development of American-Hungarian relations.
Az emléktáblát állította a Magyar Köztársaság Kormánya 2008
tovabb: huembwas.org
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Hungary cannot become independent of Russia, says PM
Friday, 26 September 2008
Hungary cannot expect to become independent of Russia, the prime minister said in Budapest. The Georgian conflict underlined that cooperation with Russia is not just an energy issue, the PM said, adding that one of Hungary's biggest challenges was its relationship with Russia.
Speaking at the unveiling of a plaque honouring Hungarian-American Congressman Tom Lantos, who died earlier this year, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany called for coordinating euro-Atlantic values with the relationship with Russia. There is clearly a measurable difference in the values we believe in, he added.
Clearly, democratic norms and protection of human rights are the guiding components of our foreign policy, so we know exactly who our friends are and who are our opponents, he said. However, we should not be the ones telling either our friends or our opponents how to behave, Gyurcsany said.
Focusing on Lantos, Gyurcsany praised the manner in which he had handled the two major pillars of foreign policy - representation of his country and of his values. Gyurcsany called on Hungary to follow the Lantos example.
Hungarian-American political scientist Charles Gati noted that Lantos had always wanted to see Hungary in NATO.
United States' Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker pointed out that Lantos had been a firm believer in freedom of opinion and freedom of religion.
Hungarian-American financier George Soros sent a video message to the gathering, emphasizing the parallels between his life and Lantos's. He praised Lantos's role in helping to bring about a bloodless regime change in Hungary in 1989/90.
Gyurcsany announced a government initiative to establish a Tom Lantos International Institute for Democracy.
Tom Lantos, Warmonger
The pious old hypocrite wants to gin up a war with Iran
by Justin Raimondo
While the American people pine for peace, our leaders are intent on war: that's the anomaly of American "democracy," one that speaks ill of the effort to export our system at gunpoint. Adopt "democracy," and you, too, can be ruled by a warmongering oligarchy.
Americans oppose an attack on Iran 2-to-1. By almost every measure, they want negotiations, rather than confrontation, with Tehran. Yet the House Foreign Affairs Committee recently gave its approval to a bill that, in effect, would fire the first shot at the Iranians, imposing draconian sanctions similar to those enacted against Iraq in the run-up to the invasion and occupation of that country. Similarly, this new sanctions regime sets the stage for the coming war with Iran.
The Iran Counter-Proliferation Act [.pdf], so-called, doesn't bother targeting goods and services that Iran might put to military use. Instead, it takes a broad-brush approach and openly seeks to strangle Iran economically. The legislation, written by champion warmonger Tom Lantos, would prohibit the import of any and all items from Iran, ban dealings with Iranian banks, stop the export of items having to do with civil aviation, and ratchet up the pressure on other countries to impose similar restrictions. Furthermore, Lantos wants a report from the White House every six months on the "progress" being made to tighten the chokehold on Iran.
Looking at this from the Iranian side, it is clearly an act of war, especially in the context of the Iran Freedom and Support Act, which provided millions to fund "regime change" in the land of the mullahs The Lantos bill is a naked provocation that stops just short of an all-out attack – and paves the way for military action, in spite of a proviso that reads "Nothing in this Act shall be construed as authorizing the use of force or the use of the United States Armed Forces against Iran." Having already declared our intention to bring down the regime by funding opposition groups, this latest vow by the U.S. Congress to destroy the Iranian economy is the equivalent of the Wicked Witch of the West skywriting "Surrender Dorothy" in the skies above Tehran.
With Lantos and the anti-Iran Democrats leading the charge on the political front, the Bush administration is moving on the military front. Recent developments are ominous: namely, the addition of another aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, to the two already looming off the Iranian coast. (Yes, I know that last link is to Debka.com, hardly a fountainhead of journalistic accuracy, but this Newsweek report prefigured it.) What amounts to a Republican-Democratic pincer movement is evidence that a real consensus has developed in our nation's capital that war with Iran is inevitable.
True, there are some minor disagreements along the way, with the Democrats, led by the sickening hypocrite Lantos, demanding these draconian sanctions, and the White House opposing them on the grounds that new sanctions undermine our multilateral diplomatic effort to isolate Tehran. Lantos, that pious old fraud, inserted language in his bill that pays minimal lip service to the idea of resolving this dispute through diplomacy – while the rest of his bill is clearly designed to sink diplomatic initiatives that are bound to run aground on the rocks of sanctions.
Lantos really is a piece of work. Here he is insulting Jacques Chirac and calling former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder a "political prostitute" for having the foresight to oppose our disastrous Iraqi adventure. Of Schroeder, Lantos barked:
"I referred to him as a political prostitute, now that he's taking big checks from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. But the sex workers in my district objected, so I will no longer use that phrase."
The respectful use of the term "sex workers" indicates Lantos really has no moral objections to prostitution, he merely objects to the nationality of Schroeder's customers. Yet Schroeder's employment in an oil-gas venture that is 51 percent owned by Gazprom no more makes Schroeder a Russian prostitute than big campaign contributions to Lantos from the Washington PAC make him a whore for Israel. Presumably, Schroeder believes trade with Russia is in Germany's (and Europe's) interests, just as Lantos thinks America's current policy of unconditional support for Israel is good for America.
As for Chirac, Lantos was at his most bombastic. The former French president, said Lantos,
"should go down to the Normandy beaches. He should see those endless rows of white marble crosses and stars of David representing young Americans who gave their lives for the freedom of France."
Lantos should go down to Walter Reed Army Hospital and see those endless rows of wounded soldiers maimed in an unwinnable, futile war that he voted to authorize and continues to support. He should go visit this guy and come back and tell us that he was right about Iraq, just as he is about Iran.
The coming war with Iran is brought to you by the Dick Cheney wing of the Democratic Party, in collaboration, of course, with the Dick Cheney wing of the GOP. With Lantos one of their chief spokesmen and Hillary Clinton their designated presidential candidate, the Demo-Cheneyites are determined to pull off what their Republican counterparts lack the political capital to accomplish. If the shooting starts under Bush's watch – as is very likely – then the Democrats can blame the Republicans even as they pave the way for war politically, diplomatically, and in every other way possible.
As the Democratic presidential candidates dither over Iraq, pretending to oppose the war while continuing the funding without conditions or meaningful oversight, they all agree that a U.S. attack on Iran is "on the table" as long as Tehran maintains its right to develop nuclear power for ostensibly peaceful purposes. Furthermore, the Iraq war and the looming possibility of a conflict with Iran are no longer separable. As I have said numerous times in this space, the Iraq war cannot be contained within Iraq's borders, and the "spillover effect" is bound to result in a border incident that could spark a wider conflict. As Rep. Ron Paul has warned, a Gulf-of-Tonkin-like incident in the Persian Gulf or on the Iran-Iraq border could easily be manufactured by an administration hell-bent on war – and perhaps we are seeing the first signs of it here.
The conflict, once initiated, will not be restricted to the Persian Gulf region and the long Iran-Iraq border but will break out all over the Middle East, erupting in Lebanon and rippling outward all the way to Pakistan in a seismic wave that could topple every regime in the region. In this way, the administration's goal of "regime change" throughout the Middle East will be accomplished and the neocons' "domino theory" confirmed – albeit not in a way they ever intended.
You'll note that the White House and its pet generals are nowadays referring to the Iraqi insurgency as "al-Qaeda," a neat rhetorical sleight-of-hand that prefigures what may happen once a regional war – the neocons' vaunted "World War IV" – gets started: the ultimate empowerment of America's deadliest enemies. With a pro-al-Qaeda regime ensconced in Islamabad, the prospect of nuclear-armed terrorists – the ultimate bogeyman conjured up by the War Party – will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In the end, we are confronted with the utter craziness of the War Party and its agenda in the Middle East. This pathological condition was recently reconfirmed by Johann Hari's account of a National Review-sponsored cruise to Puerto Vallarta featuring Norman Podhoretz and Bill Buckley, along with a boatload of neocons and well-heeled red-state-fascist types on board. The Pod Man and Buckley nearly came to blows over the war question, when Buckley asked Poddy if it didn't bother him that the famed "weapons of mass destruction" were nowhere to be found in Iraq. "There were WMD, and they were shipped to Syria," snapped the Pod Man.
Syria? Is he serious? I'm afraid he is…
Continuing his rant, the Pod Man avers: "This picture of a country in total chaos with no security is false. It has been a triumph. It couldn't have gone better."
Better – for whom? Well, for Israeli hardliners, to start with, who now have 150,000 American soldiers in the Middle East to set against another of their mortal enemies. Better for the neocons, who still control the commanding heights of U.S. policymaking centers in Washington and who are now within reach of their goal of "regime change" throughout the region. As for the rest of us, including poor Buckley, who's had his own magazine (and movement) hijacked by the Pod Man and the neocon pod-people – "I have lots of ex-friends on the left; it looks like I'm going to have some ex-friends on the right, too" – if you're sick of war, you're no friend of the Pod Man's. If you're sick of the Pod Man – who is engaged in a friendly competition with Joshua Muravchik for the title of warmonger-in-chief of the bomb-Iran crowd – then get in line, because even the most hard-core conservatives, who once supported the president's relentless policy of aggression in the Middle East, are now having second thoughts.
Buckley's face-off with Podhoretz dramatizes, in concentrated form, the slow burn of Republican members of Congress who fear for their seats and the future of the GOP as the neocons drag them down to political oblivion. How long will Republicans, and conservatives in general, consent to carry the millstone of neoconservatism around their necks?
Make no mistake about it: we are headed straight for another war in the Middle East, and it is going to be a doozy. The Democrats will protest that they never wanted it, even as they facilitate the war plans of this administration to the nth degree. Don't dare imagine that a change of administrations will avert the coming war with Iran: a Democratic administration in power will just mean that we'll have Cheneyism without Cheney, at least when it comes to Iran.
The Iranians claim they aren't building weapons, only developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes because they want to export more of their oil. Yet who could blame them if they were building nukes – after being denounced as the main spoke on the "axis of evil" by the president of the United States and threatened with a heavy U.S. military buildup in Iraq and the Gulf? They once did offer to negotiate over not only their nuclear program but also their support for Hezbollah and radical Palestinian factions – but this offer was rudely rejected at the behest of Cheney and his cohorts. This offer should be reexamined and revived: it could and should provide the basis for a negotiated settlement of all outstanding issues between Washington and Tehran.
The United States lived with Soviet nukes aimed at American cities for 50-plus years: we can live with Iranian nukes aimed at Israeli cities (and Israeli nukes targeting Iranian cities). The alternative is war – and a regional conflagration that will have economic and geopolitical consequences that can only be catastrophic for America.
~ Justin Raimondo
The speech of Ferenc Gyurcsány at the unveiling ceremony of the memorial plaque dedicated to the memory of Tom Lantos
“Tom Lantos was not simply the friend of people; he had remained a friend and loyal son of Hungary. He was a dedicated proponent of the ideals of freedom and democracy in Hungary, in the region, and in the world,” said Ferenc Gyurcsány at the unveiling ceremony of the memorial plaque.
Dear Annette Lantos! Esteemed ladies and gentlemen! Dear guests!
The rain was falling with a sense of sadness this morning, as if the sky wanted to mourn her beloved son, Tom Lantos.
But we should not leave this reflection half-finished on its own – while we were preparing for the unveiling of the memorial plaque, we noticed that the sky was becoming brighter, just as if a beam or two of the sun finally managed to find its way to shine upon this house and this memorial plaque.
Tom Lantos’s path in life is exemplified by the gloomy rain and the ray of sunshine symbolising hope; it is multi-faceted, diverse and colourful, in places sprinkled with personal tragedy, including the shadows and the opportunities of ascending, and finding one’s self in an extraordinary way.
Tom Lantos was the child of this country, and this country was the child of a multitude of contradictions that characterised the first half of the 20th century so many times. He did not leave by choice. He left because even though the country did not come out say out loud, it still made him feel that he had to leave. The country did not hold his hand; it sent him away instead, and Tom Lantos had come to understand that if wanted to defend both his and his family’s personal freedom, and at the same time carry the message of freedom in the future, he had to leave. So he left.
When we honour his memory today, we must also remember those hundreds of thousands who were not only left unprotected by Hungary and the Hungarian governments of that era, but instead permitted evil to reign over their lives, because there were some for whom the madness was more important than the irrevocable and ironclad duty: the protection of the lives and dignity of each and every Hungarian citizen.
Tom Lantos, a refugee from his own nation, had found a new home in the United States. I hereby express my gratitude to the United States of America for taking in a son of Hungary and making it possible for him to become what his abilities and fate have destined him to become: a talented, visionary and intelligent proponent of democracy who was able to exert an impact upon the world, who was a brave Hungarian patriot and a loyal citizen of the United States at the same time.
While Tom was fleeing the insanity of fascism, later, in the second half of the 20th century, already in his new nation, by accepting a political-public role he fought against the horrors and the reality of the destruction of human beings brought about by communism.
There are many of us who can say that Tom Lantos was our personal friend. We shall treasure his friendship for a very, very long time.
While we are also personally proud of this – and I can definitely say that we could build on this friendship – allow me to add something else. Tom Lantos was not simply the friend of people; he had remained a friend and loyal son of Hungary. He was a dedicated proponent of the ideals of freedom and democracy in Hungary, in the region, and in the world. Tom Lantos held the hand of Hungary and of the region at the time when Hungary became a member of NATO.
He also encouraged our country over the course of the past twenty years when Hungary had to face difficult struggles. The regime change was one of these instances, as well as the period when Hungary had to battle, time and time again, against radical political ideas, practices and intentions.
With his departure, very many people, and – I can safely say this – the Republic of Hungary also has suffered a great loss.
Unveiling a memorial plaque is perhaps the simplest of duties. There is more to it, however. The preservation of the memory and heritage of Tom Lantos is hallmarked most of all by whether Hungary and the leaders of Hungary are able to remain loyal to what he represented and what he had found important.
Dear Tom! I can promise you that Hungary, the democratic Hungary, shall walk the path of freedom and democracy. You have done everything that you could for the country. You have not remained indebted to Hungary; instead, Hungary has remained indebted to you.
This indebtedness shall never cease, but if the country is aware of its tasks, if it safeguards the freedom that it has won through hardships and struggles, if it refuses to compromise and does not enter into pacts with any kind of irrationality, a part of this debt can yet be paid and repaid.
I wish all of us and myself too, that we remain loyal to everything that was important to Tom Lantos, to the ideal of freedom and democracy.
With the support of the 13th district, Angyalföld, Budapest, Hungary, the US Embassy and the millions of freedom loving Hungarian citizens, let us unveil this plaque to leave a mark and a memorial to Tom Lantos; this shall accompany us not only in the years that follow, but I hope in historical times as well.
We shall always be with you, Tom!
Tom Lantos felér Széchenyivel?
Intézetet és emléktörvényt alkotna a Gyurcsány-kormány Tom Lantosról, a bő fél évvel ezelőtt meghalt magyarországi származású amerikai politikusról.
– Magyarország nagy fiát és fontos támogatóját vesztette el Tom Lantos 2008. február 11-i halálával. Embersége és magyarsága miatt is példaképként szolgál Tom Lantos számunkra: magyar származását új hazájában is büszkén vállalta, és mindig kész volt támogatni Magyarország, valamint a magyarság ügyét – áll a kormány által előterjesztett törvényjavaslat preambulumában. Amennyiben az Országgyűlés elfogadná tavasszal a törvénytervezetet – hétfőn, az utolsó ülésnapon kezdődik meg az indítvány részletes vitája –, úgy az egyértelműen a balliberális magyar kormányokat támogató Lantos olyan történelmi nagyságú személyekkel kerülne egy lapra, mint Szent István, Kossuth Lajos, Széchenyi István, Deák Ferenc, vagy Nagy Imre.
Gyurcsány: Élni kell!
2008. szeptember 26. 14:38
A nemzetközi közösség biztonságát csak Európa és az Amerikai Egyesült Államok képesek fenntartani egyesült erővel – mondta Gyurcsány Ferenc a Tom Lantos emlékére összehívott konferencián csütörtökön, a Marriott hotelben. Az eseményen részt vett több diplomata, nagykövet és néhány kormánypárti politikus is.
Az idén februárban, nyelőcsőrákban elhunyt amerikai képviselő felesége is részt vett a rendezvényen, amely egy Tom Lantos életét bemutató rövidfilmmel kezdődött. A filmet követően Gyurcsány Ferenc miniszterelnök tartott nyitóbeszédet. A néhai kongresszusi tag érdemeinek méltatása mellett a miniszterelnök megragadta az alkalmat, hogy némiképp tisztázza a kormány külpolitikai irányvonalát. Elmondta, hogy csak az Egyesült Államok és Európa tudja közös erővel megőrizni a világ biztonságát. Egyikük hatalma sem elég ahhoz, hogy a glóbusz problémáit egyedül megoldja.
Élni kell!
„Vannak a magyar külpolitika számára kihívások, melyek országunkat Oroszországhoz kötik. Magyarország képtelen energiaszükségleteiben függetlenedni az orosz gáztól. Élni kell!” – magyarázta többek között a közönség soraiban ülő amerikai nagykövetnek a miniszterelnök. Hozzátetette, hogy Magyarország ugyanakkor tagja egy közösségnek, mely az Oroszországétól teljesen eltérő értékek mentén határozza meg magát. Ezt nevezte a magyar kormányfő beszédében értékek és érdekek harcának.
Gyurcsány leszögezte: képtelenek vagyunk függetlenedni az orosz gáztól
Kiemelte, hogy sokszor Amerika is hasonló problémával szembesül, mikor saját értékeitől eltérő hagyományokkal, vezetéssel rendelkező országgal kell együttműködnie. Tom Lantosra hivatkozva, úgy vélte, az ország jóléte annak függvénye, hogy mennyire képes a külpolitika megtalálni az egyensúlyt érdekek és értékek között.
Gyurcsány Ferenc hangoztatta, úgy véli, Tom Lantos álma bizonyos szempontból megvalósult. Magyarország a NATO és az Európai Unió tagja, önmaga teljesítményére büszke, erős ország. A miniszterelnök szerint Tom Lantos életműve megérdemelten kiált egy intézet létrehozásáért. Bejelentette, a kormány kezdeményezi a Tom Lantos Intézet a Szabadságért és a Demokráciáért nevű intézmény létrehozását, ennek érdekében törvénytervezetet nyújt be.
A konferencián felszólalt még Charles Gáti Washigntonban élő politológus és egyetemi tanár, aki közeli barátságban volt Tom Lantossal. Gáti anekdotákat mesélt Lantossal közös élményeiről, majd ő is rátért Amerika és Európa viszonyának fejtegetésére. Felhozta, hogy Amerika háromszor mentette meg Európát, először az első, majd a második világháború, végül a hidegháború során, a hála pedig nem politikai fogalom.
Mégis van Gárda
Felszólalt még Kurt Volker, az Egyesült Államok NATO nagykövete és Valki László egyetemi tanár. Az ELTE jogi karán nemzetközi jogot oktató Valki László többször szóba hozta a Magyar Gárda negatív hatását hazánkra és sajnálatát fejezte ki, hogy olyan jogállamban élünk, ahol rendkívül liberális szólásszabadság uralkodik és a gyűlöletbeszéd korlátozását nem teszi lehetővé az Alkotmánybíróság. Szóvá tette a bíróságok tehetetlenségét is, köztük megemlítette, hogy a Gárda ügyét tárgyaló bírónő lemondott és így december előtt már biztos nem várható ítélet.
Hazafi és jó barát
A konferencia összes szónoka méltatta Tom Lantos haláláig tartó szeretetét és elkötelezettségét Magyarország iránt. Elmondták mennyit tett a kongresszus egyetlen holocaust túlélő tagja az emberi jogokért, a kisebbségek, köztük a határon túli magyarok helyzetének javításáért. A 80-as években még a kommunista magyar és román felső vezetéssel is találkozott, holott ezt akkoriban az Egyesült Államokban egyáltalán nem nézték jó szemmel. A felszólalók beszéltek még a totális diktatúrák elleni elkötelezett harcáról és családja iránti szeretetéről. Tom Lantos 2008. február 11-én hunyt el.
vén háborús uszító
The Tom Lantos Memorial Tablet is a fitting tribute to a great man who fought tirelessly for human rights. It serves as a reminder of his dedication and legacy, inspiring future generations to continue the work he began. It's important that we honor those who have made a positive impact in our world, and the memorial tablet is a beautiful way to do just that. I was online to find solutions for medical issue Preganancy Symptom but I found this and I am glad to read this.
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