There's always one in the crowd. Or two. Both are authoritarians and demagogues, inhibiting Europe's unified stance in relation to Russia and its authoritarian, demagogic leader.
Turkey's President Recep Erdogan blocked a procedural vote today allowing NATO's fast-tracking of Sweden and Finland's membership applications. He wants Finland, and especially Sweden, notes The NY Times, to stop harboring members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Turkey claims is the unacceptable aiding of "terrorist organizations." Erdogan also wants an end to the two countries' export bans on some types of arms exports to Turkey.
Then there is Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, causing problems for the European Union and its desired oil sanctions on Russia. He has argued that Russia's energy is too important to Hungary to cease its import quickly. To do so, he says, would be an "atomic bomb" dropped on Hungary's economy. Orban has twice had his timeline extended for finding other energy suppliers, first through the end of 2023, then the end of 2024. Now he's demanding up to 18 billion euros in economic aid from the EU.
To be clear, Sweden and Finland's NATO membership will happen, and the EU will authorize oil sanctions on Russia. The two thuggish naysayers simply wanted to make things difficult for both organizations, because they're demagogues playing to the home folks, and, because they're also authoritarians, they could.
Writes the Times: "While NATO and the European Union have shown remarkable unity in their response to Mr. Putin’s war, the actions of the two authoritarian leaders show the strains building as the war drags on, peace talks appear to go nowhere, and Western sanctions are contributing to economic pain and high inflation."
I believe that's an unfair take. The hindrances that NATO and the EU are experiencing come not from the strains of war or economic pain. That explanation implies blame is due to the two organizations, rather than where it belongs — on Erdagon and Orban, authoritariana and demagogues.
The United States has its own of these types, but here I don't mean Trump, who blessedly is still out of office. I mean Sen. Rand Paul, who has demagogically delayed President Biden's $40 billion aid package to Ukraine for several days now. In brief, the goons are everywhere, not only Russia.