Lost in Translation
The ongoing saga of the US travel ban against Hungarian government officials took a hilarious, yet awkward turn.
As known, US representatives (in this case Chargé d'Affaires, a.i., Mr. André Goodfriend) and the Hungarian side have brought themselves into a Mexican standoff, as both sides are blaming the other for not initiating a flow of information, i.e. the necessary evidence supporting the 7750 Presidential proclamation that was enacted against Hungarian state officials.
Ms. Ildikó Vida, head of the Hungarian internal revenue service (NAV) (also former member of the Bibó István ELTE Law Faculty Student Community, AKA the Hungarian Skull&Bones, just like Mr. Lajos Simicska, a well-known oligarch, Mr. Viktor Orbán, current prime minister, Mr. János Áder, current president, Mr. József Szájer AKA the iPad man, creator of our new constitution, Mr. István Stumpf, current member of the Constitutional Court, former minister of Orbán's first term, and many others), admitted being on this list, thus being a personal target of the corruption allegations against NAV, which pretty much pissed people off. It might seem so, that the general bitterness of Hungarians who do not support the government per se is slowly turning into a rainbow movement of happy faces from all segments of the society, which is - admittedly - a unique thing in Hungary. Since we are currently experiencing this opposition "Zeitgeist", it might be early to predict if these tensions have reached the peak already, or it will grow into something else (another demonstration is to be held on 17 November, 2014, basically against corruption and the leaders of the revenue service).
So back to Ms. Vida. She - being suspiciously reinforced by the camera crew of HírTV (News Television), a channel having close ties to Fidesz - approached Mr. Goodfriend in front of the US Embassy in working hours, accompanied by her lawyer to ask about the evidences that support the travel ban against her. As seen on this brilliant footage, Ms. Vida, invigorated by fury and bloodlust, tried to surprise Mr. Goodfriend with panther-like dexterity. This carefully elaborated plan lacked a single, but key element: a translator.
Source: index.hu
Update #1: By the way, she hasn't actually managed to obtain the needed information, and she is applying for VISA to trick the yanks (since Hungary is part of the Visa Waiver Program, a mere ESTA needs to be acquired for 14 USD. Considering, that the system is quite automatic, Ms. Vida will only face the actual consequences of the travel ban when an immigration officer will escort her back to the transit area at JFK).
Update #2: No, she is not applying, changed her mind apparently.
November 11, 2014