Three Fat Lies

I was recently returning from Bulgaria where I’d been to a funeral. Traveling alone, the radio served as a companion. I enjoy listening to Bulgarian radio, but once I’d crossed the Danube and was back in Romania in the late autumn light, I switched to Romanian stations.

Poor journalism

One talk show caught my attention and not in a good way. There were two hosts, both household names,  and another senior journalist who was on the telephone. The two hosts allowed him to ramble on and speak nonsense without interrupting him except to say „interesting.” It was very poor journalism.

The topic was the economy and the journalist who was on the phone presented three big lies, none of them new.

These are lies that circulate on social media and are regurgitated in the media. They appear to be part of a disinformation war that is being waged against Romania.

When I told a colleague about the lies and where I’d heard them, he simply said: “They are playing the Russian game.”

Lies

So what are the lies?

• Klaus Iohannis is loyal to Germany, but not Romania.
•  The only reason Liviu Dragnea was sent to prison was because he upset the multinationals
• Romania is a colony.

Let’s start with lie number three first. The idea behind this is that Romania is a victim, exploited and maligned and that the alliances it is a member of, the European Union and NATO, treat Romania with utter contempt. The word ‘colony’ aims to evoke feelings of anger, rage and helplessness.

I have lived in Romania for 30 years and I cannot imagine how life would have been for Romanians had it not joined, first NATO and then the European Union. I do not intend to defend these two alliances (they can do that themselves). I will merely make a few observations.

Western alliance

Romania needs badly to be in a big Western alliance, for security, for financial reasons,for freedom of movement, for political and for historical reasons. Romania wants to belong, not be cast adrift in a No Man’s land. I remember the national anguish when it failed to join NATO along with Poland and Hungary in 1997.

Romania’s fractured political class may disagree on many things, but Romanian membership of the EU and NATO is a principle all political parties agree on (possibly with the exception of AUR).  They are the bedrock of contemporary Romania.  Does Romania wish to be Ukraine, Moldova or Serbia?

Romania’s president may be too ‘sober’, or even too ‘normal’ for some people’s tastes. Sure, there are things he can_ and ought _to be criticized for, but the idea he is somehow loyal to Germany rather than Romania is ridiculous.

Good relations

Romania is lucky to have a leader that speaks German and English fluently and has good relations with a number of foreign leaders who respect him and consider him a reliable partner. There are people and countries who wish Romania didn’t have good relations with West European countries and the U.S. and want Romania to be isolated and vulnerable.

Like the majority of Transylvanian Saxons, Klaus Iohannis could have emigrated to Germany any time in the last 45 years, but he didn’t.  Iohannis isn’t a ‘touchy-feely’ person in the way his predecessor Traian Basescu was.  But I have a hunch he has a deep and dignified patriotism in the old-style Transylvanian way. The kind of patriotism that isn’t showy and doesn’t shout to be heard.

Leaders

Romanians have a tendency to loathe their leaders, some with good reason like Nicolae Ceausescu (though inexplicably some profess their love for him). Some loathed Basescu with a passion and now Iohannis. I don’t understand these feelings. I find them tiresome and irrational.

As for Liviu Dragnea, he had a raft of cases and still faces investigations. He was convicted of using his influence as a government official to procure fake jobs at a child protection agency for two women working for his party.