 7/5/2010 - AHF participates in Capitol Hill policy seminar on energy security, "Coercion in the European Energy Sector: Implications for the United States." The Seminar was held on June 24, 2010 and sponsored by the Central and East European Coalition (CEEC) in cooperation with the Congressional Caucus on Central and Eastern Europe and focused on how the lack of a unified European energy policy promotes division and coercion vis-a-vis the use specific energy reserves,
especially in Central and Eastern Europe and the implications for U.S. security and foreign policy. [read more]
 7/25/2008 - American Hungarian Federation Participates in CEEC Meeting with Senator Schumer: Discusses Russia "Hegemony" statement... The American Hungarian Federation and other members of the Central East European Coalition (CEEC) met with Senator Charles Schumer (D–NY) this week. The purpose of the meeting was to seek clarification of statements contained in Senator Schumer’s June 3rd Wall Street Journal article that were susceptible to the interpretation that he condoned Russian designs on Central and Eastern Europe. [read more]
 6/19/2008 - American Hungarian Federation Helps Plan and Participates in Successful CEEC Congressional Policy Discussion on Central and Eastern Europe... the Central and Eastern European Coalition (CEEC) sponsored a foreign policy roundtable discussion and reception on Capitol Hill. The purpose of the discussion was to analyze issues of interest to the members of the CEEC, including U.S. relations with Russia, enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and energy policies impacting the region. [read more]
 6/11/2008 - Sen. Schumer suggests return of Russia's hegemony in Central and East Europe... AHF sends letter and calls on community to express its concern. On June 3, 2008, Senator Schumer (D-NY) published an article in The Wall Street Journal entitled "Russia Can Be Part of the Answer on Iran." In this article, Sen. Schumer suggests that stronger economic sanctions would help deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The effectiveness of the sanctions, according to Sen. Schumer, will require Russia's cooperation. [read more]
 3/5/2008 - American Hungarian Federation Participates in Meetings With Senator Obama’s and Senator Clinton’s Foreign Policy Advisors...The Central and East European Coalition (CEEC), comprised of 19 national  organizations representing more than 22 million Americans, including the American Hungarian Federation (AHF), discussed a number of policy issues with presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton’s advisor, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Also present at the meeting was Mark Brzezinski and Lee Feinstein, Senator Clinton’s campaign National Security Director a Senior Fellow, U.S. Foreign Policy, and Deputy Director of Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Thereafter, on Friday, February 29 the CEEC met with Anthony Lake, Ph.D., senior foreign policy advisor to Senator Barack Obama. [read more]
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 3/3/2008 - American Hungarian Federation Raises Issue of Vojvodina Hungarians With Senator Senator Clinton’s Foreign Policy Advisor, Ron Asmus...[3/4/2008 - CEEC Press Release] On March 3 representatives of the 19 member organizations of the Central and East European Coalition (CEEC) spoke via conference call with Dr. Ron Asmus, foreign policy adviser to Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign. The discussion, which was a follow-up to a meeting with Secretary Madeline Albright and Senator Clinton's Campaign National Security Director, Lee Feinstein held last week in Washington, DC, touched upon numerous issues of concern to the member organizations of the CEEC. [read more]
 3/29/2006
- The American Hungarian Federation helps organize congressional
reception with the Central East European Coalition (CEEC). The
CEEC is a coalition of 18 national ethnic groups. The CEEC was a major
player in the first round of NATO's enlargement and promotes democratic
development in the region. The CEEC operates by strict consensus because
of the great diversity of members.
 The
reception's main focus was concerns over political developments in Belarus,
the former Soviet Republic, and Russia`s support for the policies of President
Alexander Lukashenko. The opposition says President Lukashenko, who has
led Belarus for more than a decade, has become increasingly authoritarian,
suppressing free speech and jailing democratic dissenters.
 With
elections in Belarus the main topic of concern, CEEC member Iryna Vidanava
delivered a speech urging democratic reform. She wrote, "This election
and the events after it are a victory for the Belarusian people. It is
a victory of freedom of spirit, of a strong desire for democracy and freedom.
The regime has suffered a defeat because the people overcame fear to express
and defend their opinions in the face of overwhelming state propaganda,
intimidation and repression. The regime is afraid of our people: it destroyed
a tent city with 500 kids in the dark of night, sent thousands of armed
troops to beat peaceful demonstrators, and put more than 2,000 people
in prison. Lukashenka has not appeared in public since, and his inauguration
has been postponed. The authorities do not disclose the number or names
of those arrested." [download
her speech]
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 3/16/2006
- The American Hungarian Federation participates in protest
over anti-democratic developments in Belarus. In a show of solidarity
with fellow CEEC members, demonstrators gathered in front of the Belarusian
Embassy in Washington, DC on March 16 to protest against the authoritarian
regime of Alexander Lukashenko, and to offer support for the people of
that country. A week earlier, Belarusian opposition leader Vincuk Viacorka,
was arrested. Later that evening, a candlelight vigil was held by students
and supporters at Georgetown University.
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5/11/2005 - AHF reacts to President Bush's
call for democratic reform in Belarus and urges the President to make
a symbolic gesture by participating in 1956 commemorations in Hungary:
The Washington Times
Letters to the editor
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050510-084731-7448r.htm>
President Bush's acknowledgment on May 7 in Riga that the "captivity
of millions in Central and Eastern Europe will be remembered as one of
the greatest wrongs of history" was a bold and historically accurate
statement ("Bush urges elections in Belarus," Page 1, Sunday).
Mr. Bush, who did not mince words in Riga, should make another highly
symbolic gesture to underscore his message that the freedom of small nations
should not be expendable. He could do this by participating in the 50th-anniversary
commemoration of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, to be held in Budapest
next year. The Hungarian Revolution was the first major challenge to Soviet
imperialism in Central Europe after World War II.
While the world watched, a small nation desperately sought to regain
its freedom and succeeded in threatening the badly shaken Soviet leadership,
unmasking the true nature of Soviet-imposed communism, turning former
apologists of Stalinism worldwide and contributing to the collapse 34
years later of the Soviet system and Russian domination of Central and
Eastern Europe.
That collapse completed the liberation of all of Europe -- a liberation
postponed by the division of the continent 60 years ago. Celebrating the
Hungarian Revolution would commemorate the triumph of freedom and democracy
over totalitarianism and constitute a fitting capstone to the Moscow celebrations
this month.
Mr. Bush's participation would be greeted with great enthusiasm by Central
and Eastern Europeans who were deprived of freedom for decades as a result
of "one of the greatest wrongs of history" and would strengthen
America's ties with its new allies.
FRANK KOSZORUS JR.
President
American Hungarian Federation
of Metropolitan Washington, D.C.
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Find Your Representative!
CEEC member organizations:
American Hungarian Federation
American Latvian Association
Armenian Assembly of America
Belarusan-American Association
Bulgarian Institute for Research and Analysis
Congress of Romanian Americans
Washington Chapter, Czechoslovak National Council of America
Estonian American National Council
Georgian Association in the USA
Hungarian American Coalition
Joint Baltic American National Committee
Lithuanian American Council
Lithuanian American Community
National Federation of American Hungarians
Polish American Congress
Slovak League of America
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America
Ukrainian National Association
Links
Downloads on NATO
 Most of these are .PDF files. If you do not have the free Adobe Reader, click the icon.
- April 29, 2003 - US Senate Testimony: "NATO Enlargement: Promoting Western Values, Strengthening the Alliance." Calling attention to minority protections. before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
- March 25, 2009 - US Senate Reception on the Occasion of the Policy Reception in Honor of NATO and Its Enlargement - : Remarks of Frank Koszorus, Jr.
- April 2009 - CEEC statement on NATO Enlargement and Supporting the Open Door Policy.
- July 2007 - Hungary's Accession to NATO: An expanded report by Frank Koszorus, Jr.
- October - November 1997: The Debate on NATO Enlargement:
Hearings Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Testimony of Frank Koszorus, Jr., President, AHFDC. An interesting exchange with Sen. John Kerry.
- June 20, 1996 - U.S. Policy Toward NATO Enlargement: Hearing before the Committee on International Relations,
United States House of Representatives 104th Congress, Second Session: Testimony of Frank Koszorus, Jr., President, AHFDC.
- June 2007 - Hudson Institute Panel: Enduring Strains of Communism
in Central and Eastern Europe
- March 29, 2004 - On the Occasion of NATO Expansion, Corcoran Gallery of Art. AHF Remarks by Frank Koszorus, Jr.: NATO
Enlargement and Minority Rights
- October 24, 2003 - AHF Memorandum on Romanian President Iliescu Visit
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