Pompeo presumes to tell sovereign nation of Hungary that he knows better than they do how to pick their friends. For example, Hungary knows US friend George Soros isn’t their friend. At height of 2008 financial crisis Hungary was on brink of default due to illegal actions of Soros

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo presumes to tell the sovereign nation of Hungary that he knows better than they do about how to pick their friends:

“An authoritarian Russia will never be a friend to the freedom and sovereignty of smaller nations.” Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State

If anyone's "authoritarian" it's Mr. Pompeo who parachutes into Hungary and claims without evidence that "Russia" (which has only existed as a country since 1992) "will never be a friend" of smaller nations. The “smaller nation” of Hungary doesn't need Pompeo's advice on how to pick its friends. Take for instance "friend" of US State Dept., George Soros whose specialty is shattering “smaller nations.” In 2008 at the height of the financial crisis when Hungary was already weak, Soros unlawfully attempted to manipulate the stock price of Hungary’s largest bank just before the market closed on 10/9/2008. His actions caused the bank’s stock price to plunge and brought the country to the brink of default which was only avoided by Hungary taking out an International Monetary Fund loan.

In April 2010 a $2.5 million fine against Soros for his unlawful 2008 actions was upheld by a Hungarian court. Of course by 2008 Soros was already a convicted felon for insider trading in France in 1988:

4/23/2010, “Hungary Court confirms $2.5 million fine on Soros fund,” Reuters, Budapest 

“New York-based Soros Fund Management LLC will have to pay a fine of 489 million forints ($2.5 million) for unlawful trades in shares of OTP Bank OTPB.BU, market regulator PSZAF said.

PSZAF said on Friday a Hungarian court rejected an appeal in a final ruling against the fine handed out in March 2009.

The fine related to a complicated series of deals just before the market closed on Oct. 9, 2008, which PSZAF said improperly influenced the market and led to a plunge in the price of the shares of the country’s biggest bank.

The deals were struck in a period when Hungary’s financial and capital markets were roiled by the global crisis, and affected a stock that heavily influences Hungary’s BUX .BUX equity index, PSZAF said last year.

In October 2008 Hungary became the first European Union member forced to turn for aid to the International Monetary Fund.

Soros Fund Management LLC was founded by Hungarian-born businessman George Soros.”
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Added: Soros says he’s “sincerely sorry:”

3/28/2009, “Soros fined in Hungary for stock manipulation,” Bloomberg via Hurriyet.com, Budapest 

“Billionaire investor George Soros’s Soros Fund Management was fined 489 million forint ($2.2 million) for attempting to manipulate the share price of OTP Bank, Hungary’s largest bank, the country’s financial regulator said. 

The Soros fund attempted on Oct. 9 [2008] to “send out false or misleading signals about a security’s supply and demand or its share price“ and short sold OTP shares, the regulator, known as PSZAF, said in a statement late Thursday. The short selling caused the shares to drop 14 percent in the final 30 minutes of trade, the regulator said.

Short-sellers sell borrowed securities, hoping to profit by repurchasing them later at a lower price and then returning them to the owner. Budapest-based OTP is Hungary’s largest lender.

The plunge in OTP shares was part of a “significant and strong attack” against Hungarian money and capital markets, [then] Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said on Oct. 10 [2008].

[Gyurcsany resigned on 3/21/2009]. The same month, the central bank raised the benchmark interest rate to the European Union’s highest to defend the forint and the country secured an International Monetary Fund-led loan to avert a default as investors sold local assets during the credit crunch. 

Soros, chairman and founder of Soros Fund Management, said in a statement he was “sincerely sorry” his company made the trade.

The Soros fund has launched an internal investigation, he added.”
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Added: Soros 1988 insider-trading conviction in France upheld:

6/14/2006, “Soros’ Insider-Trading Conviction Upheld,“ NY Times Dealbook

“France’s Court of Cassation ended its review of a March 2005 judgment that found that Mr. Soros knew that Societe Generale was a takeover target in 1988 when he purchased shares in the bank.”…

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Added: Back to traveling salesman warmonger Mike Pompeo. Defense contractor Raytheon kindly advertised on same page as news article about neocon Pompeo inciting baseless Russia scares in Hungary:

2/11/19, “Hungary warns Pompeo against Western ‘enormous hypocrisy’ toward Russia,” Euractiv with AFP


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