George Szamuely
Hungarian-British political commentator
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Szamuely (born 1954 in Hungary) is a political analyst and Senior Research Fellow at the Global Policy Institute of London Metropolitan University. He is the author of Bombs for Peace: NATO's Humanitarian War on Yugoslavia (2014) and has taught at universities in New York, Budapest, and Belgrade. Educated at the London School of Economics, he has contributed to numerous publications including The Daily Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The American Scholar, and The National Interest. He is the co-founder and co-host of the political commentary show The Gaggle and a regular contributor to the RT programme CrossTalk. Szamuely was born into a prominent Hungarian intellectual family; his father was the historian Tibor Szamuely (1925–1972) and his great-uncle was the Communist revolutionary Tibor Szamuely (1890–1919).
Biography
He was born in Hungary to Tibor Szamuely (1925–1972), of a Hungarian Jewish merchant family, and Nina (née Orlova; 1923-1974), of Russian parentage.[1] His great-uncle was the Communist revolutionary Tibor Szamuely (1890–1919). His sister Helen Szamuely, was a prominent figure in the founding of the UK Independence Party.[2] He was educated in England at University College London and at the London School of Economics. He received a PhD from London Metropolitan University.[citation needed]
He worked for some years as an editor at the Times Literary Supplement and at The National Law Journal. He was also a weekly columnist at the New York Press.[citation needed]
Political views
Szamuely has been an ardent critic of United States foreign policy, arguing that the reality is the diametric opposite of the lofty rhetoric. The professed humanitarian aspirations invariably lead to extremely non-humanitarian outcomes.[3][non-primary source needed]
He has been highly critical of the workings of the United Nations tribunals, in particular the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. He argues that the tribunal and human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch foster conflict rather than reconciliation and serve the interests of Western powers and those of their allies by targeting their opponents, while ignoring or minimizing their, often far more serious, crimes.[4][better source needed] He has expressed doubts as to whether the International Criminal Court would ever be willing or able to administer impartial justice.[5] He has argued that Serbia's actions in Yugoslavia have been unfairly misinterpreted.[6]
Szamuely's history of NATO's intervention in the Balkans, Bombs for Peace: NATO's Humanitarian War on Yugoslavia,[7] is published by Amsterdam University Press. Monthly Review writer Gregory Elich described the book as "a revealing and sharply argued analysis of Western intervention in the Balkan wars of the 1990s."[8]