Gyurcsány: Your Futuristic Flying Machines Terrify Us

Hungary's prime minister has never had a reputation for being particularly gifted in the public speaking department. But sometimes we get the feeling that Ferenc Gyurcsány should simply stop speaking in public, unless he is equipped with very well-prepared talking points. What has us worried this week are the apparently off-the-cuff remarks Gyurcsány made on Saturday about the somewhat pointlessly controversial Zengő radar station. According to the normally Gyurcsány-friendly Népszabadság, the PM may have revealed state secrets during his talk. And not only that, he seems to have sounded like an idiot while doing it.

The alleged secret-spilling involved Gyurcsány's assertion that "the Hungarian border is extremely open from the South," because of the lack of the radar, and that the always-exciting Paks Nuclear Plant is of special concern. He then said that the country's security problem became evident when a "test flight" was held in which a low-flying light plane arriving from the south got up to Dunaújváros without being picked up by radar. "Flights under three hundred meters are very difficult to see for us, and below one hundred meters, [we see] nearly nothing," Gyurcsány said.

We're not sure whether Gyurcsány's loose lips counts as a security risk. (Constitutional lawyer György Kolláth told Népszabadság that information regarding the country's security abilities and limitations can constitute a state secret, only if the secret's "owner" - the defense minister - classifies them as secret.) However, we can certainly see why some would be concerned about the PM making it known to our southern enemies that we are totally vulnerable to attack from the air.

But what really has us concerned is that, despite his fears for the country's security, Gyurcsány said his government is not planning on building the radar station in question, and instead thinks the project " should be re-discussed." Then again, maybe he is more worried about a land invasion from the north...