It doesn't take a Metternich to see that such claims are untrue and politically unwise. Whether the war in Iraq was justified or a serious mistake to be condemned outright, there is little doubt that the timing and circumstances of the former dictator's execution have deepened Iraq's internal crisis and fuelled opposition to the US's Middle East policy. There is nothing wrong with condemning this policy. There are heated arguments in America about the country's recent foreign policy and the right way forward. But the newspaper article in question is in my view baseless and and unworthy of a newspaper with a great past. Furthermore, it is harmful to our national interest, and simply excruciating for Fidesz.

It is becoming ever clearer, even if few in this country have recognised the fact, that Russia has used energy policy to make itself once more a serious international player. This has implications not just for the disturbingly named Russian 'near abroad', but for the whole of Europe. The EU is unsure how to react: members states hesitate between responding with a united common energy policy or whether each member state is better served by reaching separate deals with Russia in an attempt to guarantee its own gas and oil supplies. There are concerns that, as Putin suggested when he visited Budapest and Prague in the spring, that Central Europe will be forced to choose between Russia and America. The world may be blind to the fact, but the Gyurcsany government has made it choice: the old owners, family friends, today's business partners: Gazprom's country. That's why Gyurcsany is ignoring Visegrad, turning against our Polish friends, and looking on with indifference as Romania successfully works to strengthen its position as an ally of Washington.

It is in Hungary's interests to cultivate good relations with Russia and to trade with the country for mutual advantage. We also need to secure oil and gas at a reasonable price. That was the Antall government's policy, as represented by the bilateral agreement we signed 15 years ago, which has somehow been forgotten in this country. But it is not in our country's interest to procure all the energy we lack from or via Russia.

It is still unclear where Russian foreign policy is going. It depends not just on Putin and his associates, but also on Russia's partners. We have no influence, but the EU can - if it acts concertedly. And the US has a lot of influence. The US is the only state which is in a position to confront a possible future Russia that tries once again to bring neighbouring and more distant states back under its influence. For this reason, Hungary must pursue an Atlanticist foreign policy. Not against the EU, but alongside it.

I have been opposed to the Magyar Nemzet 's views on foreign policy for some time now. During World War II, Sandor Petho's newspaper voiced its opposition to Nazism, reflected Hungarians' sympathy for the Allies, and it had a particularly good handle on foreign affairs. Today, that same paper regards the vague concept of globalisation as the main danger - and by this it means capitalism, which already exists, whether we like it or not. Fighting against this is just luddite tilting at windmills.

The Magyar Nemzet 's journalists have spent the past few years telling their readers that the US embodies globalisation, for which reason it must be despised. For this reason, we are given a daily dose of apologia for Putin, hymns of praise for the neo-Marxist presidents of South America and we are invited to cross our fingers for Fidel Castro's swift recovery. Conflict in the Middle East is seen as a struggle between the pro-American devils and the Mohammedan heroes. On 29 December 2006, Gabor Stier, the paper's foreign editor, condemned Washington's policies in the post-Soviet sphere in a leader discussing the dispute between Gazprom and Minsk. It is curious that the paper and its readers see themselves as right-wingers but take their arguments from the prophets and newspapers of the western Left, sometimes even from extremist anarchist groups.

Like every Hungarian government's since 1990, Fidesz's foreign policy is strongly Atlanticist. But this will be undermined if the newspaper which - rightly or wrongly - is seen as the party's quasi-official organ lays into America on a daily basis. This is not about our assessment of President Bush. Quite simply, it is idiotic to approach the policies of the most powerful country in the world in this way. Magyar Nemzet 's foreign policy is one of isolationism.

Géza Jeszenszky