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Comment by PatentlyDC123 | Hacker News Reader

I found this article to cover the quote in her recent speech about "tools." [0]

[0] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eus-von-der-leyen-deliv...

Here's the quote from the article.

> My approach is that whatever democratic government is willing to work with us, we're working together," von der Leyen said at Princeton University in the United States on Thursday, responding to a question on whether there were any concerns with regard to the upcoming elections in Italy.

> "If things go in a difficult direction, I've spoken about Hungary and Poland, we have tools," she added.

So a liberal democratic organization is prepared to protect itself from sabotage from fascist organizations that are actively manipulated by external actors to undermine them. That's your threat.

I assumed that you were using "liberal democratic organization" in jest, but now I am not sure. Would you like to elaborate on your "actively maniuplated by external actors" statement? Is this something like the Russiagate hoax? Are you suggesting Italian voters aren't capable of voting in their own interests?

It’s probably more related to the fact that 70% of the country didn’t actually vote for them, it’s hardly the will of the people.

More then half of the country voted for her coalition.

That’s not actually true either but good try.

Which actually is worse for Draghi and the rest of the EU puppets— meaning the voters are so disaffected they couldn’t be bothered to even come out and vote for them.

A corrupt liberal democratic organisation that has no right to intervene in the democratic processes of sovereign member states that have formed an alliance to create the said organisation. I dont agree with polands or hungarys politics but that is not my business. The us is not sanctioning texas or florida for its politics and looney governors. Why is the eu which is not even a federal government daring make such interventions? Who gave them the right? Who voted ursula in in this so called “democracy”?

> A corrupt liberal democratic organisation (...)

The European Union is a federation of liberal democracies. It's not a Bond-like villain organization.

The bulk of EU's member states value human rights, including women's rights and individual rights and freedom.

You're putting up absurd strawmen to try to rationalize nonsense.

As much as i’d like the eu to be a federation it’s not quite there yet. At the moment it’s just a mechanism for europeans to dominate each other without starting wars.

> manipulated by external actors

The irony of this comment!

Well op does have a point. A certain country is very active in supporting nationalist movements in europe and isolationist policies in the us. The age old divide and conquer. It is a real threat and not a right vs left issue. This is a matter of collective security as the motives behind division have been repeatedly stated: expansion and domination. But i do agree with your sentiment assumed from previous comments, neither right or left leaders have an effective solution to the bigger issue.

Von der Leyen did not refer to "sabotage", "fascist organizations", "external actors". There's a reason that she talks in vague terms about "things going in a difficult direction" and that is that there's nothing more concrete.

> There's a reason that she talks in vague terms (...)

She did not. You're trying to pass off a conspiracy theory by omitting context and taking quotes out of context, including erasing parts of the quote.

If you're still confused just go learn about Victor Orban and Hungary's recent regression into an totalitarian dictatorship that's profoundly illiberal and outright a sock puppet of external actors such as Putin's Russian federation. Go learn about it's destruction of Hungary's independent judiciary and attacks on fundamental human rights, which go against fundamental principles of the European Union, and learn about how the EU has been reacting to this sort of illiberal drift.

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