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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán claimed to have secured a “financial shield” from US President Donald Trump following a private meeting in Washington, echoing Trump’s recent bailout of Argentina’s Javier Milei, according to Seb Starcevic and Michael Statford’s [ [link removed] ]report [ [link removed] ] at Politico.
Orbán suggested the deal would neutralize EU financial pressure and prevent Hungary’s economy from being “strangled.”
Hungarian media speculated the arrangement involved a currency swap between central banks, similar to the $20 billion stabilization pact Trump approved for Argentina. Opposition leader Péter Magyar demanded transparency, questioning whether Hungary was facing near-bankruptcy and criticizing Orbán for seeking US loans instead of unlocking €8 billion in frozen EU funds.
The article cited Hungarian media that quoted their premier as saying, “Certain Brussels instruments that could be used against Hungary can now be considered ineffective,” later adding: “The notion … that the Hungarian economy can be strangled from the financing side, can now be forgotten … We have resolved this with the Americans.”
The article framed Orbán’s maneuver as a strategic bid to offset EU estrangement and bolster his reelection prospects amid rising domestic opposition.
In another show of solidarity with the far-right Hungarian government, the Trump administration exempted Budapest from US sanctions on purchasing Russian energy.
If You Read One More Thing: Human Rights Campaign Drops Weapons Funding
For The Intercept, Lex McMenamin [ [link removed] ]covered [ [link removed] ] the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) confirmation that it has ceased accepting sponsorship from defense contractors Northrop Grumman and Raytheon (now RTX), following sustained pressure from LGBTQ+ and Palestinian solidarity groups.
Activists accused HRC of “pinkwashing” by aligning with companies profiting from Israel’s war in Gaza, where weapons produced by these firms were allegedly used. Groups like the Gender Liberation Movement and Adalah Justice Project led the campaign, supported by public figures including actors Indya Moore and Hannah Einbinder.
Protests outside HRC events and celebrity condemnations intensified after Oct. 7, 2023, the day of a Hamas-led attack and the beginning of Israel’s two-year war on the Strip. While HRC acknowledged the sponsorships had ended, it did not clarify when or why, nor did it commit to rejecting future defense funding or endorsing an arms embargo.
Activists vowed to continue pushing for accountability, framing the move as a partial but significant victory in a broader struggle for justice.
First Syrian Leader to Meet US President in the Oval Office
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met with Trump in Washington, DC, on Nov. 10, 2025, marking the first-ever visit by a Syrian head of state to the White House, according to Sean Matthews’s [ [link removed] ]report [ [link removed] ] at Middle East Eye.
Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda affiliate who led the Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in toppling Bashar al-Assad in 2024, had recently been removed from the US terrorism blacklist.
Trump praised Sharaa as a “strong leader” and pledged support for Syria’s reconstruction. The visit, though low-profile, reflected growing US-Syria cooperation, including potential military integration with Kurdish forces and de-escalation talks with Israel.
Despite skepticism from Egypt and the UAE, Sharaa secured backing from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. However, economic recovery remained elusive amid lingering US sanctions and investor hesitation.
Deep Dive: How Vulnerable is the US to Cyber Attacks?
In a recent analysis [ [link removed] ], the US Army War College’s Parameters journal [ [link removed] ]has taken a hard look at America’s cyber incident response architecture, arguing that the absence of a designated lead agency and inconsistent coordination mechanisms left the homeland vulnerable to escalating cyber threats. The report’s authors examined three major cyberattacks — SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline, and Change Healthcare — and concluded that “the fragmented US cybersecurity framework … undermines national resilience to cyber threats.”
The authors emphasized that while technical vulnerabilities often dominate cybersecurity discourse, governance failures were the true Achilles’ heel. “Characterized by overlapping jurisdictions, policy gaps, and varied guideline adherence,” they wrote, “the fragmented US cyber incident response led to the compromised handling of three of the most significant recent cyberattacks.”
The report traced the evolution of federal cyber response doctrine, beginning with Presidential Policy Directive-41 (PPD-41), which created the National Cyber Incident Response Plan (NCIRP). Under this framework, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leads asset response, the FBI leads threat response, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) provides intelligence support. However, the authors noted that “no single federal agency possesses all the authorities, capabilities, and expertise to deal unilaterally with a significant cyber incident.”
Even when incidents met the threshold for forming a Cyber Unified Coordination Group (C-UCG), coordination faltered. In the SolarWinds breach, Russian actors infiltrated Orion software used by 18,000 customers — including the Department of State, DHS, and the National Nuclear Security Administration — yet the attack went undetected for nine months. “The volume of security issues being identified over the last month [has] outstripped the capacity of Engineering teams to resolve,” an internal SolarWinds document warned in September 2020.
The federal response was slow and disjointed. Although CISA issued an emergency directive and the National Security Council deemed the attack “significant,” the government failed to appoint a lead agency to coordinate the response. “Once the C-UCG disbanded, no federal entity continued to coordinate the response and ensure compliance with mandatory statutes for cybersecurity,” the report explained. The newly created Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) remained vacant during the crisis, and state and local agencies had “limited or no access to federal response assets.”
The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in May 2021 further exposed systemic weaknesses. DarkSide, a Russian-based criminal group, used compromised VPN credentials to steal 100 gigabytes of data and shut down fuel distribution across the eastern United States. Colonial Pipeline paid a $4.4 million ransom, despite CISA guidance discouraging such payments. The Biden administration unexpectedly designated the Department of Energy as the lead agency, bypassing DHS and TSA, which traditionally oversee pipeline security. “There were no DOE representatives at that hearing, leaving their role and capability to lead a cyber response in question,” the authors noted.
Private sector autonomy complicated federal coordination. Colonial Pipeline declined CISA’s technical assistance and hired Mandiant instead. The report observed that “as a private company, Colonial Pipeline maintained the right to address the issue without assistance from the federal government,” likely to avoid scrutiny over noncompliance with cybersecurity standards. This dynamic, the authors argued, reflected a broader failure to enforce cyber hygiene and breach reporting across critical infrastructure sectors.
The Change Healthcare attack in 2024, which disrupted medical billing nationwide, underscored the stakes. The report warned that “the compromise and loss of personal private data from US citizens in cyberattacks has become a national security concern,” yet the US still lacked a “whole-of-government approach to incident response.”
Among the systemic failures identified were “[i]nadequate implementation of cybersecurity frameworks,” “[i]nadequate cyber hygiene enforcement,” “[o]verbroad access controls” and “[i]neffective incident response and “recovery plans in private industry.”
The Department of War, despite its homeland defense mandate under Title 32, was not activated in any of the three cases. The authors noted that “this failure likely stemmed from a lack of knowledge of the capabilities of or the process for engaging National Guard entities,” even though Guard units were conducting cyber exercises during the SolarWinds breach.
The report called for reform. “Successful incident response relies on a lead agency construct,” the authors wrote, urging policymakers to designate a clear federal authority, strengthen public-private coordination, and enforce compliance with cybersecurity standards.
Without these changes, they warned, “the nation’s ability to respond swiftly and effectively to cyber incidents” would remain compromised.
Show Us the Receipts
At Inkstick, Winthrop Rodgers [ [link removed] ]reported [ [link removed] ] that decades after achieving semiautonomous rule, Iraqi Kurdistan’s citizens remained disillusioned with their region’s future. Entrenched dual-party control by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), economic stagnation, and violent factionalism have eroded democratic hopes. A brief oil export breakthrough failed to restore trust, while August clashes between PUK leaders Bafel Talabani and Lahur Sheikh Jangi underscored elite impunity. Civil society and independent NGOs suffered under partisan co-optation, and Turkish military incursions — enabled by KDP complicity — devastated rural livelihoods. Despite widespread frustration, voters continued supporting ruling parties, trapped by patronage and limited alternatives.
In a new op-ed, Chloe Shrager [ [link removed] ]covered [ [link removed] ] Trump’s Oct. 30, 2025, call for renewed US nuclear weapons testing via Truth Social, citing Russia’s new nuclear missile component test. His ambiguous directive alarmed experts, who warned it could destabilize global norms and provoke an arms race. Survivors of past US tests, particularly in the Marshall Islands and Missouri, recalled devastating health impacts. Shrager took aim at Trump’s statement, arguing that it was reckless, historically ignorant, and potentially catastrophic.
At The World, Ola Barry [ [link removed] ]featured [ [link removed] ] an initiative based out of Milan’s Opera prison, where inmates build violins from wood salvaged from migrant boats wrecked off Lampedusa. Guided by master luthier Enrico Allorto and supported by Arnoldo Mosca Mondadori’s House of the Spirit and Arts Foundation, the initiative offered rehabilitation and remembrance. In February 2024, the Orchestra of the Sea performed with these instruments at La Scala. Migrants and musicians alike described the violins as vessels of emotion and resilience. The initiative hopes to find musicians who will play these instruments outside of Italy.
Support Nonprofit Journalism, Support Inkstick
Inkstick’s nonprofit newsroom is participating in the Institute for Nonprofit News’s annual NewsMatch fundraising campaign again this year. Between now and Dec. 31, your donations [ [link removed] ] will count as double — if you give $100, NewsMatch will match your support. Last year, we raised $6,000. Now, we’re hoping to raise the maximum of $15,000. Will you pitch in [ [link removed] ] to help Inkstick continue exposing the war profiteers, would-be authoritarians, and political grifters undermining democracy?
Critical State is written by Inkstick Media in collaboration with The World.
The World is a weekday public radio show and podcast on global issues, news, and insights from PRX and GBH.
With an online magazine and podcast featuring a diversity of expert voices, Inkstick Media is “foreign policy for the rest of us.”
Critical State is made possible in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

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