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Historian István Deák casts a gimlet eye on the relatively new political administration in Hungary, the land of his birth, in a recent essay in The New York Review. I was struck by the threat Prime Minister's Viktor Orban's government is posing to a free press and to free speech rights:

Now attention is here [in Hungary] again, although only temporarily and mainly in  Europe, and it has much to do with Hungary’s assumption of the presidency of the Council of the European Union against a backdrop of  recently enacted domestic policies that are said to violate the  principles and practices of the European Union. Among other things, Hungary’s right-wing government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has set up a National Media and Communications Authority consisting of five members of Orbán’s party, Fidesz, with the authority to fine journalists and media organizations up to $1 million for “immoral reporting.”
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Public criticism of the Orbán government took an astonishing turn during the introduction in Strasbourg, on January 19, 2011, of Viktor Orbán as president of the European Union’s second legislative body, the European Parliament…some deputies sat with Band-Aids covering their mouths in protest against the new Hungarian media law. Others held up blank issues of  potentially censored Hungarian dailies. The leaders of the liberal and socialist groups of deputies declared Orbán unworthy of the presidency, and the leader of the Greens, the former student anarchist Daniel Cohn-Bendit, shouted that Orbán was turning Hungary into a “Communist
surveillance dictatorship.”
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One of the more serious international attempts to publicly denounce Orbán’s politics in Hungary has been an “Appeal to the European Institutions” by European intellectuals and leaders, dated January 7, 2011, in which the authors deplore the development of “a full-fledged illiberal democracy” and the dismantling of “democracy’s checks and balances” in Hungary. They demand that the European governments and parties “build clear standards of compliance with the values of democracy” and that violators of these standards be punished.
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For the last few months, the government and its absolute parliamentary majority have been feverishly active, already bringing about substantial changes in politics and society. The most famous and most controversial of the innovations is the already mentioned media law giving extensive powers to the five Fidesz members who run the media authority. Appointed for nine years, they can impose a heavy fine on journalists and media outlets for reporting considered “immoral” or “unbalanced.”

Still, at the moment the media remain entirely free, and in view of the publication of the far right’s hysterical calls for violence against the Roma and the Jewish population, one might even argue that some of the media in Hungary are a little too free. Also, on February 16, 2011, the Hungarian government agreed to amend the media law to comply with changes proposed by the European Commission. The right-of-center coalition in the European Parliament has declared its satisfaction with the technical changes in the law but, in a recent development, the European Parliament as a whole called for more changes. The problem is less with the law than with the chilling effect that the rumor of censorship has had on some journalists and writers, and with the haste of some publishers and other media bosses to exercise self-censorship in order to please the new leaders of Hungary.

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No less serious is the government’s systematic weakening of the powers of the Constitutional Court, the National Elections Commission, the National Bank, and the independent Fiscal Council while also putting party loyalists in the top position of each body. The government has already expressed its right to control the Hungarian Telegraph Agency, government-owned television and radio, some state-owned theaters and museums, and a few research institutions. The government, moreover, has the newly enacted right to dismiss public servants without cause.

Jane Perlez reports from Islamabad, Pakistan:

In some Pakistani quarters, the failure of the army and intelligence agencies to detect Bin Laden, or to do anything about him if indeed his presence was known, prompted calls for an overhaul of the nation’s strategic policies.

“Instead of making more India-specific nuclear-capable missiles, the funds and the energy should be directed to eliminating the terrorists,” said an editorial in the newspaper Pakistan Today.

The editor, Arif Nizami, said the American raid made a mockery of the Pakistani military’s bravura that its fighter jets could shoot down American drones. “You talk of taking out drones, and you can’t even take out helicopters,” Mr. Nizami said.

Some Pakistanis said they were more concerned about the fact that known terrorists were living in their midst than the violation of sovereignty by the Americans.

“The terrorists’ being on our soil is the biggest violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty,” said Athar Minallah, a prominent lawyer. “If Osama bin Laden lives in Abbottabad, there could be a terrorist in my neighborhood.”

Liberal Party President Alfred Apps issued the following statement this evening:

On behalf of Liberals everywhere, I first want to thank and congratulate our leader, Michael Ignatieff, for waging a spirited national campaign. Mr. Ignatieff won the affection of all those who rallied to his side. He has earned the admiration and respect of all Canadians.

This is a profoundly difficult moment for our party.

Monday’s defeat was a deeply personal experience – for each of our hard-working candidates, for our tireless volunteers and for our many longtime and loyal supporters. Despite the outcome, Liberals everywhere can be proud of the battle that we waged together, as well as the tremendous team and the positive platform we offered to Canadians. Throughout this campaign, we have stood fast for democratic principle and for the kind of Canada that all Liberals believe in – progressive, compassionate, responsible – a Canada of hope for all Canadians.

But there is no avoiding the fact that we now face an historically unprecedented challenge. Our future as a party will depend, more than ever, on preserving our unity, broadening our vision and keeping clear and cool heads over the coming weeks and months about what we need to do.

As we reflect soberly and respectfully over the coming days on the democratic judgment of Canadians, we need to recognize that our party’s remarkable contribution to Canadian history was never a guarantee of its future health and success. We can only earn back the confidence of Canadians by rediscovering our confidence in ourselves and in the continuing relevance of our values.

It will take some time and it will not be easy.

In the wake of our defeat, we Liberals will have to reach out more broadly than we have in half a century to find a new generation of activists – to Canadians who love their country and are ready and able to fight for a new agenda of reform, to Canadians who care about equality of opportunity and are prepared to make serious personal sacrifices for the good of their fellow citizens, to Canadians who want to make a difference and are willing to demonstrate the courage of their convictions against all odds and come what may. We need to build a party that is a beacon for the Canada of tomorrow, rather than an echo of bygone glories – a party whose diversity truly reflects the Canada we are becoming.

Rather than wringing hands or assigning blame, we need to move forward to a reasonable period of constructive stability and collective reflection. My hope is that all Liberals will stand back, take the long view of our challenges and prepare themselves for the work ahead. While we all have to accept and learn from defeat, it does not mean that Liberalism is dead in Canada or that liberal values are suddenly misguided, or out of place or out of date.  Far from it.

Our commitment as Liberals remains to a resolutely centrist political party, to a program that blends and balances fiscal responsibility with social compassion, to a philosophy that understands the potential of a mixed market economy but believes in the power of government to achieve good, not only for individuals but also for the nation as a whole. We have always been a proudly pragmatic party, united around a broad and moderate consensus and a vision of Canada as more than the sum of its parts. We must not now surrender to tired ideologies, whether of the right or the left, in search of what can work in the real world to make the lives of Canadians better.

When Canadians are ready again for that kind of leadership – and they will be – we have to be ready to lead.

When a new Canadian consensus begins to emerge – as it will – Liberals need to be there to help shape it.

This is not the time for making rash judgments or drawing speedy conclusions. This is not the time for Liberals to be seduced by political expediency or parliamentary convenience.

This is a time for wide open debate, for moving forward together, for the broadest possible participation from Liberals in the major decisions that lie ahead. And all of us who occupy party offices across the land at every level of our organization need to steel our resolve and renew our commitment!

This is also the time for all Liberals to practice in our own home what we always preach to others – respect. As we move to rebuild, we must genuinely respect the honestly held viewpoints of each party member, including all in our deliberations. We must respect the bedrock principles of democratic process and ensure open debate on all major questions affecting our party’s future. Above all, we must ensure that the only agenda on the table is one that puts the Liberal Party first in the service of Canada and Canadians.

We can undertake the reform and rebuilding our party in a way that puts respect for people, for democracy and for our party first. If we do, I am confident that the legendary resilience and resourcefulness of ordinary Liberals will soon carry us all through to a brighter day for our party and for our country. The sheer enormity of the challenge ought to serve as an inspiration to us all.

Rebuilding and renewal starts with every Liberal but this is no time for the faint-hearted. We need Liberals with the energy and commitment who are ready to dust themselves off and get the job done. Please let us know how you want to help.