Hungary and Slovakia: Putin's Last EU Accomplices Get Their Due
The September Reset: How Trump Blinked, Macron Maneuvered, and Ukraine Struck Back
I don't believe in coincidences—definitely not in politics, and even less so in geopolitics. When the US-India relationship began fraying, The Concis took a clear position: Trump would have to be the one to walk back from the precipice and slow the escalation before it reached the point of hard return. The trajectory was already deteriorating rapidly. The sooner he reversed course, the easier the recovery would be.
I believed this was the optimal path forward.
My second position centered on Europe stepping up to pull India back into the Western fold. I had initially thought Merz would be the ideal candidate to serve as the adhesive for this diplomatic fracture. Instead, it was French President Emmanuel Macron who applied the first layer of that crucial diplomatic glue.
Yesterday, things moved in the right direction.
Events in chronological order on September 6, 2025
1. Trump extends an olive branch with conciliatory remarks about his relationship with Modi: "I will always be friends with Modi—he is a great Prime Minister... but I just don't like what he's doing at this particular moment. India and the US have a special relationship. There is nothing to worry about," the US President said, responding to questions at the White House about the possibility of resetting relations with India.
2. Modi responds publicly, matching the friendly tone: "Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump's sentiments and positive assessment of our ties. India and the US have a very positive and forward-looking Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership," Modi posted on X.
3. Macron calls Modi to discuss the Ukraine crisis and bilateral cooperation. Macron briefed Modi on his recent discussions with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and the "Coalition of the Willing," emphasizing that "India and France share the same determination to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine." He added, "Building on our friendship and our strategic partnership, we will continue moving forward together to trace this path toward peace."
The sequence doesn't matter—whether Macron reached out to Modi first or Trump initiated the climb-down. Either way, this three-pronged diplomatic maneuver has successfully reduced the mounting tension between India and the West.
But let's be clear: this doesn't mean the underlying issues have been resolved. Only officials within the Trump administration and Modi's government know exactly what compounded this crisis. I don't believe for a second that the Trump administration's public position—that they chose to pressure India because large Indian refiners were profiteering by purchasing excessive Russian oil—tells the whole story.
That explanation is a smokescreen. Something else is driving this conflict, and frankly, it's probably for the best that neither side exposed the rotten core hidden beneath layers of diplomatic posturing. The drift between India and the US was real, and the pace was accelerating dangerously.
This deterioration served no one's interests. The Western world already faces an enormous challenge in confronting the Russia-China-North Korea axis. Allowing India to drift toward that alignment would only make stopping Putin exponentially more difficult. The stakes are too high, and this is not the time for such strategic miscalculations.
The September 6th reset may be temporary, but it buys crucial time—time that both sides desperately need to address whatever is really driving this wedge between two natural partners in an increasingly dangerous world.
Today, the ISW confirmed my earlier assessment that Russia is positioning for a major offensive later this year. Their analysis validates what the strategic indicators have been pointing toward for weeks.
The Institute reported that:
Ukrainian officials warned that the Russian military command is regrouping and reinforcing its troops in western Donetsk Oblast, likely ahead of a major offensive operation.
Ukrainian Dnipro Group of Forces Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Oleksiy Belskyi reported that the Russian military command is concentrating significant forces in Donetsk Oblast, with the most intense fighting occurring in the Pokrovsk direction.
Russian forces are now accumulating significant numbers of drones and heavy armored vehicles in the area after failing to seize Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad during Summer 2025.
The Ukrainian 7th Army Corps reported that the Russian military command recently redeployed experienced naval infantry units to the Pokrovsk direction, indicating that Russia is preparing to re-intensify assaults in the area.
The redeployment of naval infantry—elite units typically reserved for critical operations—is particularly telling. This isn't routine reinforcement; it's preparation.
Think about this for a moment. I reached that conclusion based on a single data point: the fact that Russia has been actively managing its casualty rates across the entire theater.
The number they selected—keeping monthly losses under 35,000 but above 30,000—reveals their entire strategic framework. This figure would have signaled to Russian military planners that they needed to recruit slightly above the depletion rate. Some months they would exceed targets, others they might fall short, but the entire recruitment apparatus would understand the baseline: recruit faster than the daily losses at the front, allow reserves to accumulate, then deploy that volume for the next major push.
Since Putin operates with a notoriously short-term focus, all Russian planning would naturally orient toward executing the next wave. The pattern is predictable once you recognize it.
Here's the encouraging part: if I can discern this from casualty management alone, European intelligence has certainly identified it. Ukraine already knows what's coming. Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi knows this. And they will be prepared.
That's the fundamental truth of modern warfare—once you lose the element of surprise, the odds shift dramatically against you. I'm not worried about this development. It's a problem, yes, but it's a problem that is anticipated and will be addressed.
An hour ago, Robert "Magyar" Brovdi, Commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, reported that Ukraine has struck the Druzhba oil pipeline in Russia's Bryansk Oblast again. This marks the third time Ukraine has targeted the pipeline that supplies petroleum products to Putin's remaining EU allies: Hungary and Slovakia—the only two countries still purchasing Russian oil.
The timing of this particular attack sends a pointed message to Slovakia's President Robert Fico, who recently met with President Zelensky. Reports say that Slovakia complained about Ukraine destroying the Druzhba pipeline and even hurled out threats.
“This infrastructure is very important for us,” Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár said. “Especially when we see that Ukraine itself is harming its own interests and risks being left without enough fuel on its territory.”
After three years of this conflict, the world has witnessed exactly what Hungary's Viktor Orbán and Slovakia's Robert Fico represent. They've mastered diplomatic doublespeak—preaching peace in the headlines while engineering chaos in the fine print. They talk extensively about European future, then invariably act in Putin's interests. They block initiatives, slow critical processes, and create maximum friction to complicate EU assistance to Ukraine. Orbán single-handedly held up the EU Ukraine aid fund for over a year.
So it's fitting that both leaders are now receiving the same treatment they've given the democratic world. Perhaps they'll run to Putin to complain about their disrupted revenue streams. Perhaps they should ask their patron to deploy massive air defense systems across thousands of kilometers of pipeline infrastructure to protect their cash flow.
The message is clear: if you profit from enabling aggression, expect consequences.
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“So it's fitting that both leaders are now receiving the same treatment they've given the democratic world. Perhaps they'll run to Putin to complain about their disrupted revenue streams. Perhaps they should ask their patron to deploy massive air defense systems across thousands of kilometers of pipeline infrastructure to protect their cash flow.”
The EU and NATO need to find a mechanism to remove both Hungary and Slovakia from these organizations. They’re nothing more than a couple of Trojan Horses, and they will be the death of the EU.
It’s incredible that two of the weakest EU nations have so much power. It’s similar to the dynamic of red states like N. Dakota and S. Dakota have in terms of political clout in the US: States with less than a million people, but have two senators in Congress.
And as far as Putin’s military campaign, and his objectives, Putin couldn’t accomplish any of this without Trump’s participation and consent.
Moreover, where are the sanctions Trump keeps promising? Oh wait, Trump is removing them and also allowing Putin to continue trade with the US to fund his war: eggs, gold and other commodities that will help to replenish his war machine. Additionally, if Trump is so upset with India buying Russian oil, then why is he doing business with Russia covertly and unwilling to admit it publicly?
And take a look at what Trump’s doing in the America’s; illegally murdering suspected (key word) drug traffickers, offering absolutely no proof. Moving F-35’s to Puerto Rico to threaten other central and South American countries as well as Venezuela; under the guise of a drug war.
That said, even Trump’s covert (not so covert) campaign to sow chaos in Greenland hasn’t gone unnoticed, adding credence to the “three spheres of influence” theory in which the US gets all of the America’s, Putin takes Europe, and Xi gets Asia. This idea or theory is starting to look more and more credible by the day.
Bottom line: something nefarious is occurring and it definitely isn’t anything good. And if you add the economy busting tariffs, designed to weaken Europe’s economy, it all starts to look like a global conspiracy of world domination by three autocratic regimes. Just saying….:)
When you look at the Russian casualty figures it’s hard to imagine that the United States lost somewhere over 50,000 men in about 10 years in Vietnam. I know the Russian figure of over 90,00 in just months includes wounded as well as dead, at least I’m assuming that, but still it is astonishing how little value they place on human life.